Bonnee used to bark when she heard certain triggers; like the noise of another dog barking when she was in the garden
Like Mark has said, we taught her to respond differently to these triggers rather than bark - so now when she hears a dog barking in the neighbourhood, she runs indoors
We didn't use a clicker for this, but we could have done.....we used a verbal command and a reward instead
It meant that we had to be with her all the time in the garden, so that the training was consistent. First of all we watched her, to work out exactly what it was that triggered her barking. Then we could intervene at the right time, so every time we heard the trigger, we went straight indoors, asking her to come with us, and rewarded her for doing so. It took a few months, but now she is pretty good and will bound inside when she hears a dog barking in the neighbourhood
In contrast, both dogs bark wildly every time they hear the noise of a metal ladder clattering
I know that I will never be able to solve this problem unless I cancel our window cleaner
My dogs associate the noise of the ladder with the face of a stranger at the window, and they bark whenever they hear it. I'm at work when the window cleaner comes so I can't redirect the dogs behaviour
