To begin, my story: Several years ago I lost a wonderful Irish Setter because I did not have him trained to obey "come" off leash. It took me 4 years to get over the loss as much as I can. So I was looking for another Irish Setter, my favorite breed, when a client who got jailed needed me to take her dog Truman, an Irish Setter - Golden Retriever mix. So I enrolled him at a training school where for a flat fee you get private lessons until they are ready to go into class. This dog grew up with another dog who was the "alpha" dog and I was told he'd be lonely. So after dealing with a really good Irish Setter breeder I eventually got "Mac" when she took him back from the original owner because he was matted, filthy and blind in one eye. The dogs play great with each other. My latest visit to the vet, he marveled at how the dogs played an got along with each other.

Problem number one: I've got a fenced back yard with two big trees which the squirrels love. That sets Truman off barking like crazy in the morning. I need to solve that barking problem. I can't have him disturbing the neighbors. I've wondered about a no bark collar and would like information as to whether that would be appropriate or a good solution. After discovering this site and buying several of Ed's videos I now take a more careful and critical view of training and training methods. But still, I am a novice at this.

Problem number two: I work both dogs in obedience class. I've trained Mac to heel on the right side to keep his good eye on the outside where he could see anything that approached him. That was at the suggestion of the trainer.

Mac on either a sit stay or down stay will start barking. I've switched over to marker training, but the trainer is correction based and told me to "pop" Mac when he's barking, not quite what I want to do these days. On most exercises I am to the point where a simple "No" uttered softly will do and rarely do I need that. So I did click and reward when I got Mac to shush up by walking back towards him and saying "No." I clicked when he became silent. He is conditioned to the clicker and to "Yes" as markers. As yet the behavior has not ceased, when I step away then after a bit he starts his barking. He also barks and prances when he wants to play with other dogs (yes we do that awful thing about going to the off leash dog park.)

You are still working with the "correction-based" trainer?

You are using "no" for barking? Have you considered using a specific no-bark command?

The yard barking -- is this when you are there with them?

By the way, how is the recall coming? This is such a crucial command, as you know, and I'd hesitate (well, I would not do it, actually) to allow anyone to mess up my recall with corrections before the dog is 110% on the command.

Have you seen Ed's marker video?

Yes and no. I take them to an obedience class, but I use markers (verbal "Yes" plus treats" in the class. Truman spent a month with a bird dog trainer who used an e collar at the end. At the obedience class there is an open field and occasionally a fox or in one case 6 foxes appeared during an evening class. Truman bolted and one time and one time only I used a continuous signal to force him to return. Usually the dogtra collar is set at 11 (0 to 127 scale and at 11 I can hold it in my hand and just feel a tickle) On this occasion to get him back I had to turn it up to 35 and quit once he turned around. Since then, if a fox appears he has not bolted. Last Sunday he passed his off leash test (no collar) even though some low flying birds appeared. Before he would break and chase the birds.
Recall with him is not a problem, even at 200 feet away.

With Mac when we are alone in the early a.m. in the dog park, he is now into the game. He will heel and is looking for a click and a treat. No collar, no corrections and he is improving daily.
Squirrels in the back yard trees: It doesn't matter whether I'm in the back yard or not. Truman would climb the trees if he could and barks like crazy.

I've noted elsewhere that I have 5 DVD's including the Marker Training DVD and the latest DVD Ed did with Michael Ellis, which I think is the best of all of them. I hope to go to Michael's school in November.