How to stop excessive barking?

I just got a 4 year old australian shepherd mix a few months ago and he's great. For the longest time he wasn't much of a barker, but now he is but only if there are people/dogs/etc close to our property. I didn't mind it before until now since he just constantly barks when neighbors come to say hi.

i've read the best way is to teach them to speak and then quiet and I've tried, but he seems very nervous about barking with me around inside the house. His previous owner used to use a shock collar on him so I think he's a bit scared to bark at me. Is there another way I can go about fixing his excessive barking if I still fail at speak and quiet command?

What has kind of worked was me holding him tightly and comforting him, and tell him he's being good when he finally stops barking. I'm not sure if it's a good approach or not since I'm still new to owning a dog.
any tips would be appreciated. thank you.

You could try the methods that kikopup uses


She has several videos on barking. The important things is not to give up the training when it regresses, as that is only natural. If you want to monitor your progress, keep a diary of the barking and compare the first page and a page 14 days later - hopefully you will be able to see that things improved.

Good luck and don't give up. Both you and your dog will be happier.

And if it suddenly seems to get worse instead of better, don't despair. All dogs have their off days where they suddenly seem to act like they have had no training at all! And then next day they are perfect.....

okay! Got it! Thank you for your replies. I'm going to give it a try. I'll update this if it goes well. Thanks again.