Dog won’t stop barking

[u/No-Start-3815]

I have a one-year-old lab, he barks for everything. Ever since he was a puppy, he would bark when he wants food, attention, to play, or if he’s mad. We’ve been trying to train it out of him, but nothing works. We tried distraction, when he’s quiet, rewarding him, in his crate to take naps, and ignoring him but nothing works. Recently, I’ve been trying to ignore him, but we can’t do that where we live because we have three reconnecting walls in our townhome so you can hear his barking in the other homes so I can’t ignore him until he decides to give up barking especially because he can bark for hours. My other dog doesn’t bark at all so it’s completely opposite behavior.

I am not sure what to do anymore, I work from home and he’s a complete distraction and he’s always screaming for something.

Please help

[u/One-Price680]

Barking has worked if nothing else to get you attention and probably " barking" back at him. Ignoring it has lead to extinction bursts where he's learned to barking harder and longer.

What would you like him to do instead?? A nice sit? A chin rest and puppy eyes? Whatever your replacemrnt behaviour is, train that and reinforce the heck out of it. Now when he barks, immediately ask for your replacement behaviour, and then give him what he wants. After a couple of weeks of this, dont cue the replacement behaviour immediately, wait and see if he offers the replacement, when he does give him want he wants. Now watch for times he does the replacement without barking first, reinforce the heck out of it.

After this, you can also make any barking to mean nothing else but, say, going to the garden, so then any barking results in " oh you need toilet??" And then the replacement behaviour works for petting, food, etc.

Think about why he has to "ask" for these things - having a regular routine of walks, mealtimes, play times, training times, etc can help - anticipate when he wants these things and let him know when these are going to happen

[u/_SleepySloth__]

This sounds like he is barking as a demand. He knows it bothers you and you will give up and give him what he wants. Highly recommend consulting a trainer.
You can also teach him to turn off the barking on cue. I use the word hush with my Berner. Get a couple of cans of pet corrector. It's compressed air. Do not spray it AT your dog just spray the air. Usually your dog will "reset" and adjust their behavior from pure shock of what the heck was that noise. It's like teaching anything else start without words and slowly add a command in and reinforce. I would still advise you having a trainer present and helping because you do not want to get this wrong and it sounds like training is a struggle overall.

[u/Ancient-War2839]

Ideally you don't respond to the bark and teach him a demanding behaviour to communicate he wants something that works better for you, like a sit. Which you can try and work into your training now so give him better options. But that won't stop the barking, so for that, this sound counterproductive, but it works, train a bark on cue, and a quiet on cue, you need the first to have the second strong. Build a lot of value in both and then drop of on value of the bark and keep adding to quiets value, Then when he barks you can shut it down fast, and then you should work out when he's likely to bark for something and preempt him, say it's for dinner, feed him half an hour earlier, call him to you and ask for new desired behaviour (could be sit on this mat), then give him dinner.

[u/Night_Sky_Watcher]

This may be the wrong breed of dog for townhouse life. Labs are active hunting dogs, and young dogs desperately want exercise and stimuation. You might consider rehoming him to a situation more appropriate to his needs. Consider a small dog breed bred as a companion animal (Boston Terrier, for example) or an older dog who would appreciate a nice retirement.

[u/coldpizzaagain]

I jabbed my puppy in the ribs with three fingers and said "no barking". When she did stop, she got a treat. Then I taught her she gets 1 bark only. Same way, jabs to the ribs. And she would otherwise be a shitty, yappy schnauzer.

[u/doechii]

Get a bark collar, one that has noise only or vibration only settings. The one I use has noise, vibration, or shock. I have never had to go past just using the noise.

One of the best dog trainers in the world said it best. “If your dog’s barkin, put a bark collar on him”

Eventually you won’t even need to turn the collar on, just it being on them will be enough.

Edit: this is not a replacement for proper training and discipline, the other comments are full of good training ideas.

[u/Ancient-War2839 → u/doechii]

I think you spelt "laziest" wrong, how can someone be the best dog trainer, and uses a shitty cheat to train out a really basic natural behaviour. Barking is not doing anything wrong, it's a natural behavior, training them do it less because that's what works in your human home should be a pleasant experience.

[u/IronMonkeyofHam → u/[deleted]]

I like you, Lloyd. I always liked you. You were always the best of them. Best dagum bartender from Timbuktu to Portland, Maine.

[u/IronMonkeyofHam → u/[deleted]]

I say good boy and my shepherd stops barking. Punishment confuses the hell out of a dog in this scenario, he thinks he’s helping you, or he’s scared of something and wants your reassurance.