The truth is.... incessant barking is hell. It generates complaints from the neighbours when you go out, it's embarrassing if you leave him outside a shop, it terrifies friends and occasional visitors, and you frequently struggle to hear yourself speak during conversations on the telephone.

From the dog's point of view, of course, it's a Godsend, enabling him to convey exactly how he's feeling by varying his tone. Dogs bark for a variety of reasons, and in fact, the only time they won't bark to communicate, is when they are displaying submissive behaviour.
The biggest problem is that while barking to deter people from entering the owner's property is fine if there's an occasional intrusion up the garden path, but if there's a succession of people passing the property and the dog barks at them all, it can become an annoyance.
Unfortunately, owners often attempt to silence their dog by shouting at it, but as the dog's communication skills don't extend to understanding English, it simply assumes the owners are barking too, and continues undeterred, or even redoubles its effort.
Others discover barking makes their owner give them attention, if only to shout 'Shut up!' Eventually the dog may seem to develop an imagination, and bark at nothing at all, just to get a response from its owner. However, the main reason why dogs learn to bark excessively at every person who passes their territory is the simple fact that most of those people go away again. The dog doesn't realise they didn't want to come in - it thinks it has successfully chased them off.

For some owners however, their dog's company craving vocal behaviour is not limited to when they go out. No doubt you have visited a friend's house for a chat, only to find their dog drowns out the conversation by barking for ten minutes after you have arrived, or throughout the entire visit. In an attempt to stop the deafening barrage, your friend rugby tackles the dog, tells it to be quiet, or puts a hand down to stroke it. Of course, any of these strategies will simply encourage the dog to continue barking as soon as it is ignored again.

Plenty of couples also have to check carefully where their dog is before they have a kiss and a cuddle. If they are observed, their affectionate display is likely to be quickly terminated by an apparently jealous dog, shouting at the top of its voice. The same sort of attention seeking barking can occur if the owner is on the phone, watching television or concentrating on driving the car.

Believe it or not, one of the simplest ways to teach a dog not to bark is to teach it to bark on command. First, find a way of enticing your dog to bark. You may find it will bark out of excitement if you hold its food bowl up in the air, or you may only need to use a titbit, or a toy.
Tying your dog up safely may also increase frustration, and stimulate it to be vocal. When, with a bit of friendly teasing, your dog does bark, praise it and repeat the word 'speak!'. If you do the exercise often enough, your dog will associate the word 'speak' with the act of barking and you will be able to get it to bark on command. The point of the exercise is then to introduce the word, 'quiet!' or 'stop!' while your dog is barking, and give it a toy or food treat. If the exercise is repeated often enough, your dog will associate the signal to be quiet with the cessation of barking and a reward.

Reward is, of course, the best motivation of behaviour, so it's important to praise the dog at the time it's doing the right thing, not afterwards. This means rewarding it when it stops barking, and also when it doesn't bark in a situation, which would normally set it off. When your dog is lying quietly and allowing you to chat to visitors unmolested, or when your neighbours come home and your dog doesn't bark, you can praise and reward it, which will encourage your dog to remain quiet the next time too.

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