Thanks for the video, I watched it

I still think however that it's not scared or danger barking but excitement barking - the doorbell means people have come to say hi, the noises downstairs are made by my friend who she loves...

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I think you are probably giving your dog a little too much credit - no offence intended, dogs as a whole are not really capable of drawing conclusions such as those you suggest.

I totally agree with edidasa. With barking the important primary thing to do is to work out the cause and function of barking. Its also important to understand that barking is self rewarding on many levels. I bark scary thing goes away/stops (whether due to the barking or not ) plus barking is self calming so helps reduce stress.

With reactive barking, which this is, her response to sounds is reactive, I play a version of Look At That (Leslie McDevitt, Control Unleashed) but instead Listen To That (LTT)!

There is background work needed here too, as suggested, such as impulse control exercises, calming work and so on. More here: Crazy Canines | Pet Central's Pawsitive Dawgs Blog!

Also setting up training situations at other times rather than just waiting for it to happen and hoping to be ready. So you could have your friend, via mobile phone, bang the door or you could use simulated/recorded sounds from for example youtube or findsounds.

I will give you a breakdown of this LTT exercise to get you started:

Phase 1: classical conditioning - teaching that sound goes good things happen no need to alert. For example, bang of door, immediately click and toss treat.

Practice until you see a Yippee response to noise i.e. noise then doggie: "where's my treat" rather than barking.

Now it may be necessary to start off a little easier and that's why I like to use sounds the volume of which I can control e.g. from my computer, iPod etc.
This is likely as your dog has had practice and much rehearsal with this behaviour and is getting easily wound up. So right now it may be best to work on the lowest volume sounds and when you get that Yippee response gradually increase volume still working on Phase 1 until we get to a point that you can use the actual sounds in your building.

Phase 2: once the yippee response is in place you can up the ante.

When sound goes off, doggie should look to your for treat - this is now what you click (or mark with a YES!) and reward. No longer mark the sound but the behavioural response of the dog looking to you.

If you choose to you can up the ante further by adding a different alternative behaviour such as go to bed, mat etc.

I would also work in the great impulse control exercise speak/shush; more here: Day 19 | Pet Central's Pawsitive Dawgs Blog! (scroll down).

I hope this helps

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar

if its excitement, teach your dog a sit/down stay and have him do that when the door bell rings and people come in.

if he barks and breaks the stay:
1. teach him the person steps back and goes away (i.e. he doesn't get his reward of meeting someone)
(no corrections here, just vocal 'uh uh try again')
2. after a few weeks (?) [depends how much you can practice it with him, but minimum 50 reps] is to overlay corrections using a different word 'no', IF he breaks the stay.

you'll need to gradually build up, and BE FAIR - i.e. stays for only 2 seconds, and release for him to meet the new person. don't make him stay for 10 seconds and don't correct him if he's not ready for it.

OR, just don't let him meet the person if he barks. when he shuts up he can go meet them.

since it's been going on for a while, it'll take time for the behavior to minimize.

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Cambridge Dog Training School | G3 Dogs
www.g3dogs.com