Papilion that barks ALOT

Question
I have a 3 year old female papilion, she is well behaved for the most part but very needy & definitely has seperation anxiety.  The problem though is she barks constantly.  Anytime there is another person around she will bark for at least a half hour until she starts to calms down & I know alot of dogs tend to bark when the doorbell rings but she goes bonkers & I can't calm her down.  Someone told me to use a spray bottle w/ water to spray her when she barks, others have told me to try different exercises with her & nothing works.  Is this just something I'm stuck with?  A neighbor down the street has a male papilion & he never barks, why does mine so much?  Thank you in advance.

Answer
Thanks for the questions, Lynn. Papilions are not noted for being quiet! :) That being said, there are ways you can teach her to do something other than bark out of control. She does it because she likes the "brain rush" that goes along with barking out of control.

The peoole who advised you to "try different exercises" were on the right track. Forget about using punishment to make her stop, for even if you succeed, you have no idea (nor do I) which obnoxious behaviors she will invent to replace the barking.

Interrupting by saying no or leave-it or any other number of tactics is really only one-third of your task. There are 3 steps for success, the first of which is to prevent and/or interrupt the barking. Follow the interrupt with step 2, several redirects, and then 3) praise or reward for compliance with the final redirect.

Anytime I am attempting to extinguish or diminish an unwanted behavior with the 3 step sequence, interrupt-redirects -praise, I would like at least one of the redirects to become "automatic" so that it eventually replaces the unwanted behavior and no supervision or interrupt is necessary. The original cue to bark (doorbell rings) becomes the cue to perform the automatic behavior.

With that in mind, I always choose to include a redirect that (from my print of view) provides the dog with similar
consequences as the unwanted behavior. How about a game of fast paced fetch? Find the toy is another great redirect.

It would be best to teach her the behaviors required for the interupt and the redirects before you insert them in "real-life." If your girl doesn't play fetch, teach her or substitute with another similar game.  

In addition, I would teach come and touch to use as interupts and redirects.  

I suggest beginning this program by teaching quiet or leave-it and teaching her to bump a two-finger target with her nose. This task requires the she give you her visual and physical attention, for she must come to you in order to bump your target.

In addition, you could practice go-to-place, lay down and stay. Take her through the grades. For example Grade1 is performing in a quiet location with zero distractions. Practice with no distractions and then slowly add distractions until she can succeed when the people are standing in the room (which might be grade2), when people are walking through the room (grade3), when people are standing by the door(grade4), walking in the door(grade5), knocking on the door very lightly(grade6), then harder, et cetera.

The exact distractions for each 'grade' will be different for every dog. Just remember to practice at a level in which she can succeed.

Her separation anxiety is related to this problem and it would be best to help her with that as well.

Check out these books - Beginning Family Dog Training by Patricia B McConnell, I'll Be Home Soon by Patricia B McConnell, Click Here-for a Well-Trained Dog by Deborah Jones.

Happy Training.
AT
p.s. Please rate this answer. Thank you.