hi,can anyone suggest how i can stop my 13month old collie,River,barking so much,please?Ive never had such a barky dog.It started when she was first allowed out,anything strange,or not seen before,bark,bark bark,which I could understand,always told her "no",which she ignored,same as the gentle check i did at the same time.Shes fine at dog class,friendly with the dogs there,but,on walks barks at dogs,cats,some people,odd objects,I cant leave her off lead near other dogs because she barks and bounces at them if i do,which isnt nice for the other dog as it sounds aggressive,and Im sure shes not.Shes not so barky when walked alone,but i have 2 others and usually walk them together twice or three times a day,and havent always got time or energy to take her on a separate walk. Today she barked at a little girl on her own(on lead),its got to stop.Please,has anyone any tips?

I think they usually say to teach the dog to bark on command and at the same time teach the 'off' switch to stop.
I did this with Zuma - not that he is 'barky' anyway apart from someone at the door...and that is what he's paid to do :-D . and it works most of the time as he is allowed 2-3 woofs and then told sssh.  Only thing I found was that when I said 'sssspeak' he picked up on the 'sss'.....and promptly sat befor I finished the word..............I now use 'talk' instead :-D

Hello! I'd say ... teach 'speak' on command (for the barking obviously) then teach the off switch which is 'quiet' :-D I have a fabulous barker, she was destined search and rescue  and learnt to 'speak' extremely well. She now has 'speak' and 'quiet'. The quiet being taught by either putting food or a ball in her mouth at end of barking. Might take a little while but worth trying. ;-D

If barking in a class situation, then if she barks then I'd remove and put into vehicle or somewhere where she wasn't involved. They soon learn if they mouth off it gets boring!

We resorted to a citronella collar.  Bit expensive but worked a treat.  Said dog was like yours, barked for anything and also when we stopped to chat on a walk.  Totally unbearable.  When I started using the collar, I also used a command, 'quiet' when the collar went off(automatic not remote).  Now, she listens much better to the command as she never knows when the collar will go off.  She only gets the collar on in the house/garden but still obeys the command out walking now.
PS Should add, we tried the speak and quiet and it didn't work for us.  She was just far to 'in the zone' once she started barking that she wouldn't pay any attention.  The collar was the only thing that worked and saved me chasing her about like a benny hill sketch!

oh.great,thanks everyone id not thought of either of those,teaching speak,and quiet,or a collar.Shes usually quiet in class,luckily,but i think shes calmer there,after all the fussing(and wee ing and mopping)have been done.I suppose out walking takes her level of excitement up a couple of notches,and shes on alert,but barking at that poor little girl,who looked too young to be out alone,was the last straw,luckily she didnt seem bothered. thankyou,I will start the speak when i get back(and thanks for the tips on how to train the off switch,id never have worked that out!) and I shall look at collars later,too. much obliged!!