How do I get my dog to stop barking?

Rocky(St.Bernard x Boxer) barks at everything: if someone knocks on the door, if someone walks by our house, if he hears a loud sound, and now that the snow is here, all the kids are out on their sleds, and of course he barks at them.

It not only drives me crazy, but it wakes my kids at night. He knows to speak on command but this is getting out of hand. I think he is doing it as a form of protection, as he will sit right in between my legs while doing it, as if he is protecting me.

I have just been telling him no, but it is not working. Perhaps I am going about it all wrong as I am giving him attention by saying no, and maybe I should just be ignoring him?

Any help or ideas that I could try would be appreciated.

Hi Amber There are different types of barking, boredom, fear, request, this sounds like 'protection barking' .

You could try teaching Rocky to bark and hush on command to deal with this .
This is one way to do it...

First Rocky needs to learn what the words 'bark' and' hush' mean with a game .

Starting with teaching 'bark' and you are part way there because Rocky already barks when someone comes to the door so use that as a prompt .

Take some favourite/high value treats like chicken pieces and stand inside the door with Rocky,arrange for one of the children to stand on the other side of the door and ring the door bell immediately after they hear you say the word 'bark' , when Rocky barks praise him , say good dog in a pleased voice,
..now show him a treat while he is barking and say the word 'hush' and Rock should stop barking to take the treat, he can't bark and eat at the same time,
..let him sniff the treat and when he has been quiet for five seconds give him the treat and say good dog in a pleased voice.

Repeat the game until Rocky gets the idea.You can fine tune it to allow a certain number of barks before you say 'hush' to allow Rocky to do his job. When he has got the idea stop the treat and just give praise.

My present dog likes to sit on a chair-back in the window and watch for anyone going down the lane, she has been taught to bark three times ,it's quite funny if anyone passes, she barks three times and then turns to look at me as if to say is that ok ?

Also dissuade Ricky from being over protective, if he barks when sitting by you get up and walk away.

It does sound like 'protection' barking - however, I don't know your dog, but could it be fear barking and by sitting between your legs could he be looking for you to protect him?

I am going through the same thing at the moment and the advice you gave sounds great I will certainly try it. Seker's bark is most definitely protection barking, after 2 months of being with her 24/7 I know her like the back of my hand!
Thanks for that advice
Laura

Ozzys does protection barking also, I used the exact same method Minihaha recommended. It is essential if you are teaching a dog how to bark on command that they also learn how to stop. I am sure Rocky will learn quickly (especially with food incentive lol )

Ozzy has also learned now that it is not okay to bark every time someone passes by and learn the difference between the usual comings and goings of people and the unusual (ie someone creeping around at night). I stopped him doing this as it was going to drive me crackers! We used to live in a very quiet area with elderly neighbours and he simply wasn't used to children passing by and bouncing footballs etc.

Now since moving here I taught him to sit and watch out of the window and praised him when he was sitting quietly. Then just reinforced this daily, he now really enjoys peering out without getting shouted at all the time for barking!