My dog tends to bark a lot when people and vehicles pass by our house. I don't mind that he is alert, but I would like to tell him no and actually get him to stop barking when I feel it is not necessary.

In one of Ed's videos he mentions that the best way to stop over barking is to teach the Bark or Speak command and then tell the dog NO BARK. Correct me if I am wrong on this one.

So, I decided to teach my dog to bark by repeating the command bark and rewarding him with some hotdog pieces. When someone passed by my dog began to bark. I then said bark and rewarded him. To my amazement he quickly picked up on it and was very happy to bark for a treat.

Then, I suddenly got nervous. Have I just opened up a can of worms? I am encouraging him to bark? Afterwards, he seemed less likely to stop barking. Also, I felt like I was sending mixed messages by telling him NO Bark. It seems like I need to wait a while to develop the bark command before I start discouraging it. This will temporarily make the barking worse, but what if that ends up being a permanent increase in barking?????

When my dog barks out the window and I think he's done enough barking I tell him "it's ok" or "its ok cujo" in a very "good boy you did an awesome job scaring those bad people away!" kinda tone of voice, if he keeps barking I'll tell him a lil sterner "ITS OK cujo", third time "PHOUI!! ITS OK!"... keep escalating it a lil bit, I know its not good to have to repeat a command, but when it comes to barking out the window, I strongly encourage it, if he barks at small children (which is rare) or other dogs (frequent) i'll be stricter on him n tell him to knock it off immediately. He caught on very quickly, when he barks out the window its like he's anticipating me to take charge, I used to run to the window n peek thru the blinds n tell him "good boy cujo!" n be there with him to ward off the bad guys outside, then when I was done looking and determined it wasn't a threat, I'd tell him "it's ok". Sometimes giving an additional obedience command to distract him a lil works good, I just tell him "c'mon" n walk away from the window n he understands.

You are right, once a dog likes to bark, they will bark alot - but teaching them an "its ok" command is awesome because you're not harshly correcting em for it. If you are doing PPD work with your dog then that same command will be used to tell the dog that the threat is gone, or that someone isn't a threat, which allows you to build some stability in your dog because you can communicate to him when something isn't a threat, that way he's not always gonna fire up on everyone. If I'm out for a walk with him n he sees someone off in the distance, I can see him start to posture and focus on them - I can have him fire up with one word, or I can let him know "it's ok" and he'll trust me when I say they are ok and go about his business.

Sorry, long post to explain a very simple concept, but just trying to convey the importance of teaching your dog an "its ok" command <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> It adds an extra element of control even for pet dogs that most pet owners don't have because they can't turn their dog off, people tend to get annoyed at the barking and silence it entirely instead of partnering with the dog and communicating your wishes with them.