Just want some reassurance that I'm doing the right thing to get a handle on Kenzie's barking...

We live in a 2nd floor flat but we don't have a lot of neighbours (it's a strange set-up which I won't go into here). Whenever Kenzie hears a door slam shut or a loud noise from one of our neighbours, she'll bark - sometimes just a little bit and sometimes manically.

I understand that she's being a good watchdog and it's also in her nature, so I don't wish to stop her barking all together but I would like to have it a bit more under control. For instance she barks a lot when someone rings our doorbell which I am fine with, but I wish she wouldn't bark at every noise from our neighbours. I should probably say that she lives (or loves!) our neighbours so I think some of the barking might be excitement.

What I'm currently doing is giving her a warning when she barks ('Quiet') and then if she keeps going I pick her up and put her in 'time out' (the bedroom). After I let her out from time out (usually after about a minute, although if she's whining I wait until she's quiet) she doesn't usually start barking again, but long term it doesn't feel like she's barking any less.

Do you think I'm on the right track and I just need to give it more time? Or is there something else I can do to control her barking a bit more?

Thanks

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I'll watch this thread with interest - we're doing similar with Zipper, if he barks at the window or in the garden he goes into his crate for a time out, however I don't think we're making any real change in his behaviour.

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A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

Putting a dog in a timeout does very little, if anything.

Dog (when they are in the house (generalising here)) bark out of defence, territorial, environmental and most often a combination of all of them. Hard to say without seeing the dog - as it could be other things too......

BUT timeout will do nothing, if very little as the 2nd post found out.

WHY? because timeout puts them in a place that they WANT to be in. i.e. away from the stress (the knocking etc.). So in fact, by moving him/her away from the situation, you are rewarding your dog for barking.

I bark, the danger goes away.

Teaching a dog to bark, and then quiet works if a dog is barking out of pure frustration or has a good level of obedience with the handler (so the dog will put the handlers needs/wants before his/hers).

WHAT TO DO THEN:
teach your dog - obedience, sit, come down, stay.
dog barks at the door, tell him to come, lay down, stay. If he disobeys, correct.
DO NOT corrected/punish for defending your property or you.

The BEST way EVER is to positively associate strangers/door knocking with something like food. especially for 'guardy' dogs, i would have to work particularly hard with - and if poss, at a very young age.
Fit a new doorbell and associate that with juicy chicken.....

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My dog used to bark at anything going past, which thankfully isn't very often. I used the command 'go find' and throw a treat on the floor. He then comes away. If he continues to bark I walk into the kitchen and he follows. He rarely barks now.

Mine bark in the garden sometimes if they can hear neighbours out there doing things, I found what works with mine, is to go out say nothing, walk around totally unconcerned, walk back, pat them on the head with a good boy/girl for telling me and walk straight back in and they shut up and are fine.
It removes the onus on the dog that its their job, and the fact that Im unconcerned then alls ok, Their job is a couple of barks to tell me, I check it out everythings fine, end of.

There was a neighbour with a collie who barked at the window at people going past, and no amount of shouting or telling him to quiet worked, in fact shouting can make them worse as it can be interpreted as "joining in"
I told her to get up, say nothing, look out the window, pat him on the head do the good boy for telling me and go and sit down or go about their business unconcerned. I did get very doubtful looks, but they did try it and it worked.
Trouble is with things like window barking, and/or neighbours going back in, is that as far as the dogs concerned barkings done its job. The people were going to carry on past anyway, and the neighbour was going in when they finished what they were doing anyway, but to the dogs mind, Bark, the thing they barked at goes so it works, and it then becomes rewarded behaviour.

With barking in the garden, bringing dogs in after one or two barks, and keep repeating it has worked, they do learn that if they want to stay out there and its something they like and find rewarding, they do learn usually with enough repetitions and eventual association that, barking means they come in and not barking or only once or twice means they get to stay out.

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I simply distract the dog. Often calling them to me and rewarding is enough.
Shouting when your dog barks just makes them bark more as they assume you`re joining in. Believe it or not, a dog doesn`t understand the word shutup.
I would not punish a dog for barking because one day you`ll be glad he did. You just need to be able to stop him.

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I should have said that I have tried going and 'checking' on what she was barking at and saying thank you like you suggested SDH but that didn't have any effect - she would still bark which is why I moved on to trying time out.

I don't think her barking is really 'danger' barking but more excitement barking - if someone rings our doorbell she barks like mad but with her tail wagging and can't wait for them to come in, likewise if she hears my friend downstairs she barks and barks but then whines I think because she wants her to come up to say hi.

ETA I don't ever yell at her. I tell her a firm 'quiet' in a low voice, and like I said here I did try doing the 'thank you' in a cherry voice too.

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I wish next door's parrot knew that. Every time my dog barks out there, or her own dogs bark, the parrot tells them to shut up! I can ignore him and go back indoors, but what to do about the parrot?

Not much use advice wise, I'm afraid, but I thought it was worth mentioning

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Nice post.

In regards to the desensitisation of sounds, I would take a look at Kikopup's video here, although this is much easier to prompt due to the sound being her washing machine:
YouTube - ‪Dog Training- How to train your dog not to bark- Episode 1‬‏

This is the most desirable option. I can see how barking can be useful for you, but it is very hard to control it if you want different responses to different sounds. It's like the guard dog who is aggressive to people on its property, but then bites a 'friendly' person. A very slippery slope indeed!

I had a similar thing over the last few nights. when we went to bed my dog started barking but when I checked downstairs I couldn't see anything so thought he was looking for attention so ignored him and after a while he shut up as I didn't want to reward the behaviour and encourage him more.
However, last night I was in our bathroom upstairs when I heard a dog down the street bark which set my dog off.
I ignored him at first but his barking got louder and he sounded quite distressed so I realised that he was getting upset because he couldn't alert me to the danger, so decided all he needed was reassurance that I had heard him.
I went downstairs and he looked releaved, so I gave him a cuddle and said 'it's OK, now settle and go to sleep - good boy'
He instantly settled down and I didn't hear another peep out of him. I think he just needed to know that he had alerted me!!!!!! I understand though that each situation is different, but they are not always doing it out of bad behaviour