I have a 5 year old German Shepherd. She was a rescue dog. She will bark at everything......everything. People walking donw the street, cars, other animals...the clouds. I have let her down by not trying to work harder on this before. She is so intense,that she will not respond to anything. I'm thinking of one of those bark collars,that vibrate and has ultrsound. Has anyone ever tried these? They cost a lot of money and I hate to spend the cash if they don't work. Mike
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A shock bark collar might fix her.
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You have to ascert dominence.
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:-)
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Before dropping any money try vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Aim for nose and face when she barks and be fast ad consistant so she knows its the barking she is being punished for. Worked with my lab...
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The Dog Whisperer

It will give you the idea....
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I've struggled with dogs that I've had in the past, but I've never wanted to discourage the dog from barking completely because I WANT him to bark when somebody is at the door or otherwise trying to get into the house. I'm not sure how to train against the "bark at everything" behavior and enforce the "person at the door" behavior.

Sorry...no help here, but I would love to hear somebody that has a lot experience training dogs weigh in on this!
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You need to fix the problem and not treat the symptoms. Is it possible you don't spend enough activity time with your dog? You need to redirect the behavior.. your dog seems to have way too much energy and seems anxious.
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i do not agree with this. I had a beagle that would run around for hours. I mean hours, i took the dog for walks, i would let the dog run around for hours and i would play with the dog. But nothing helped with the barking or the miss behaving. First we tried the noise controller (put out a high pitch sound that the dog hates) this didn't work my dog figured out that she could get it to stop if she ran far enough away. We tried the shock collar and that worked. We would give her a short shock when she was barking or running away. It worked for the most part. BUT remember you will never change your dog spirit.
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The dog is not misbehaving, you need to redirect the behavior.. just because you walk your dog or play for hours doesn't mean the barking will magically stop. Your dog doesn't speak English so you need to train your dog by working with him. Usually such "bad behaviors" develop out of boredom and it's the only thing the dog knows so he continues doing it.

Negative reinforcement is a bad thing with animals.. and that's exactly what a shock collar does. I'll try to write something up later.

Big Maduro, where in OH are you? We foster, rescue and rehabilitate for SPA and Dogworks.
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I successfully used shocking bark collars for years with a terrier. I was a little concerned at first about whether it was humane so I made sure to shock myself with it before ever putting it on the dog. Little painful, but very brief and more startling than anything - even when you know it is coming. Supposedly, you can train a dog to eventually not bark even without it, but I never got to that point. I just used it every time I let him outside in the fenced backyard. He wasn't nearly as bad when on a leash, so I only used it when he was out by himself. It was years ago, but I don't think the collar was more than about 30-35 and replacement batteries ran a couple bucks. It was a great investment for me....and for my relationship with my neighbors.
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This is why I always had Basenjis....orderless/barlkess African dogs.

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DC, I like the positive reinforcement route. I can understand how you could get the dog to bark when you WANT him to bark (i.e. someone at the door) by using positive reinforcement, but how do you get bad behavior (i.e. barking at nothing) to stop by using positive reinforcement.

Very curious...thanks for the info!
Nick
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I have had one, they work good.

At first, the dog might bark a couple times before he decides that the outcome isnt worth barking.............

Worked good for me. Just be prepared for whining because if they cant bark, they may whine because they are excited.
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Many will probably disagree with me here.........

I have had great luck with SHOCK collars. You can control when they get nipped. If they are barking when they shouldnt be, give them a little nip. After a little while, they will get the idea. It could take up to a year of training like this before they figure out when they can and can't bark.

I have had great luck training like this and after a few months with some dogs, they stopped the bad behavior (some may take longer). I don't feel shock collars are bad or cruel unless you use them that way. It allows them to learn what they are or are not suppost to do. It's not like your hitting them with 220V .:-)
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This Guy knows what he is talking about. All a shock collar is going to do is cover-up the problem. The best way to get a dog to stop barking is to train him to bark on command. That way you can easily train him to stop, and praise him when he does bark. The dog will figure out when it is ok to bark and when it is not. Do a Google search on training to bark and you will find a lot of great information on how to start.
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I'm in Columbus. The lady we got this dog from kept her crated a lot of the time it sounds like. I've tried some different training techniques, like going out the door and knocking while my son commands her to sit and "quiet" I've tried getting between her and the fence with my body like the dog whisperer. Shake cans and others. I play with her a lot. She loves fetch and would almost rather do that than eat. When someone wlks down the ally,she charges the fence and goes nuts. I appreciate all the help.
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Be careful with those shock collars; they can malfunction when wet and continuously shock your loved animal and cause tremendous suffering especially if unattended for longer periods of time. This has happened to one of my best friends dogs in the rain; they were crying for half a day before I realized why and intervened. After removing the devices, noticed the spot where the contacts touched her animals were scarred and had all the hair burned off. Hated these types of products ever since - there are much better ways to teach an animal than electrocution.
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Alright so from what I'm gathering, Big Maduro, is that your dog seems to run the household (aka he's the Alpha) with behavior that in your lifestyle is unacceptable. Believe it or not, he thinks he runs the show, he's the boss, he's responsible for everything but that's because you're unknowingly letting him. :-) That's okay, 3/4 of dog owners seem to make that mistake.

With that said, I have a few questions and this starts with basics. Does your dog show food aggression? What is the feeding routine for your dog - do you feed him at certain times or is the dish always full? Do you play with him when he brings you a toy? When you walk him, who takes the first step into and out of the house? Also regarding walking - is there slack in the leash and how far is the distance from your hand where you hold it to the end of the leash? Does he walk next to, behind, or in front of you while walking and does he constantly switch sides? Do you also know and understand the instincts of the particular breed of dog you have?

Dog training and assessment is kinda hard to do over the internet lol but we'll see what we can do! :-)

Regarding the shock collars - I've seen many of them malfunction but even if they were 100% working without faults in no way am I saying they're cruel or anything, yeah it's a little shock but what I was trying to say is that the collar only inflicts fear and just covers up the problem you're having.. which can totally destroy the dog's personality. I'll compare it with a child so you understand.. keep telling a child when they make a mistake "YOU SUCK" or "You're worthless!" instead of redirecting and helping.. yes that child will eventually stop making that mistake but you know what, that kid will grow up to be a very insecure person and will not easily trust people anymore. To each their own, if a shock collar works for you, all power to you! :-)
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