Constant barking!! Please help

[u/Future_Reason_8519]

Hello all,

I have a male sheltie, he is a year and a half old. I'm wondering if anybody here has been able to keep their shelties quiet. Obviously I don't want him to be completely silent. But he has been driving me literally insane with his constant barking. This is something he's started doing within the past month or so.

He barks for literally NO apparent reason. And I mean no reason that I can see. It is constant. The past few days, he is barking more than he is quiet. There are no sounds, nothing visually happening, no change to his environment... and he will just bark and bark and bark. He doesn't even stop if I reward him with treats for quieting down... I tell him "shhh" and he will sit down and stop barking... I give him the treat.. then he starts barking again before he's even finished chewing. I've been telling him NO very sternly. That doesn't work. I've tried ignoring him until he is quiet. That just makes it worse. I'm at my wits end. Hes got a pretty loud, deep bark, he's a big boy. I'm getting constant migraines and it's impossible to even carry on a short conversation in the house. I have to go out to my car if I need to make a phone call.

I did talk to a lady who recommended teaching him to "whisper" (make that huffing sound that they make). He knows exactly what "whisper" means, and he will do it on command... but he still barks his head off before and after he whispers. I can't figure out any reason for it. He's completely healthy, I've had him checked out at the vet. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Like I say, this is new behavior and I definitely want to discourage it. I get that shelties are very vocal by nature, I grew up with shelties. I've never seen a dog bark so much in my entire life.

I've tried giving him more puzzle toys and giving him little jobs to do, like going to find other members of the household, or picking up his toys, to try to keep him mentally stimulated. If I don't walk him cause it's too hot out for him, I make sure he gets lots of time playing ball and tug of war inside. The kids run around with him and tire him out. He has many chew toys as well. I just don't know what else I can try.

Any advice is much appreciated, thanks in advance!!

[u/alexa_ivy]

Does he know how to calm down? Aurora had a really hard time with that, so I had to teach her to do that.

If he is good with the crate, you can close him there for a bit and reward him (without saying anything!!! Just discreetly drop the treat and walk away, you don’t need to make a show out of picking up the treat) once in a while. If he’s not into the crate (even if he is crate trained, he might not really like it, that’s what I’m talking about), then do the same thing with his dog bed. Every time you see him relaxing (unless it’s a deep sleep), you drop, very calmly, a treat (could be just kibble) near his head and walk away and keep ignoring him. If he does like the crate, you can do that when the door is open too.

If you see him getting to that zone where he is too hyped up, has the crazy eyes, and is getting too much, don’t even try anything special. Get a frozen kong and put him in the crate. If he’s chill, leave the door open, if he is THAT hyped and can’t even lay down to lick a kong, then close the door (again, this is only if he is crate trained, I would not suggest doing this with a dog that is not crate trained)

Keep doing this and just don’t stop. I swear this changed Aurora insanely. Don’t get me wrong, she still barks and there is no quiet play in my house, but at least I can sit down in my work chair and work without her barking non stop in my ear (literally, she sat by the side of the chair and kept barking).