It's amazing how different these dogs are from each other.  Keely's becoming quite the barker, but i think it's mainly part and parcel of her going through a particularly challenging stage.  She barks at her toys when they fall on the floor - i dont pick them up for her, i tend to walk out of the room and shut the door behind me and wait until she stops barking or whining before i re-enter, or i just take the toy away from her.  She barks whilst waiting for her food (which can be some time esp just now cos she's on boiled chicken and rice) - i remove her from the kitchen and try to distract her.  She basically tries barking to get her own way, i'm sure it's just a test and we absolutely DONT fall for it, but i'm still concerned that this is something she sill carry on doing, especially as barking's really a self-rewarding thing for them.  I know they can be a barky breed (esp in the wrong hands) and i know there's times when barking is actually welcome - we are in the countryside but near a village which i'm sorry to say has a bad element (although they are in the minority) and we are part of a popular circuit walk for the village.  Basically i'm not against barking or looking to eradicate it.  I know you can praise the bark and introduce the "quiet" or "enough", but i dont think it's appropriate to use these situations where she is trying to get us to do something to teach "speak" and "quiet".  This is an area of training that i have no experience in as Kintra only barked at passers-by that she couldnt see through the hedge and i ended up deciding just to allow that because of where we live. Any thoughts? 

Hi There,

Hanna is ramping up the barking some. She has been barking more during our traning sessions. Im observing like you are when she barks trying to get some understanding .

Hanna has started to bark in between commands .

LOL!  can't say I blame her!   If I ask her to sit, then down, then sit , She'll do a "down" and bark at me . Today I could see she thought I was playing with her. She is big on barking at other dogs to get them to play as well as "Ive got the toy chase ME!

Shes got some alpha in her as she now sits very well in my lap when I drive She has even put her paw on the wheel at times. And she pulls on the leash . She doesn't want to miss a thing and wants to be in the driver seat !  After She can be out of her kennel in the front seat she won't want to be in My lap so she can see.

I don't allow this all the time.

My trainer said her barking at you is the equivilant of her yelling at you . This just adds to by short frustration fuse. Im looking at that now asking myself what fear is driving this in me.

When she barks at me,

I say NO ! Or stop our training sessions which means no turkey or chicken breast.

Or get gruff with her and this lets her know I'm not playing with her. I have not seen her bark at other people yet just me and other dogs or groundhogs who hide.

Sheena my last GSP NEVER barked at me once her entire life and never even nibbled at me. I tried to teach her to speak and she would only whine. She did eventually guard by barking which was good.

Hanna picked up speak quickly and she uses it! She's too young to guard bark. 

Great advice above.

Casey an I had a a real issue with his barking during training/play time, and taking the advice on this forum, this is what worked for me - I turn it into a game of 'no bark'

I hold a ball up, or something that he gets fired up about and would normally bark at - anticipating that he will bark. I pretend to throw the ball - multiple times - testing him to see if he will bark.

Once he barks - game over - the ball gets put away, I end the game and walk away with no words, and wait until he is calm before the I return to the 'no bark' game. In this exercise I am not testing whether he will catch the ball, but whether or not he will bark.

Yes, I didn't know any better as a first time dog owner - I originally wanted to teach the "Quiet" command, and this is how it went down in the beginning:

I say "Bark," Casey barks, I say "good," I give treat
I say "Quiet," Casey is quiet, I say "good," I give treat

It did not take him long to learn this at all, maybe three tries, at most.

And then Casey turned it around on me. He started following me around and offering this - continuously:

Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks, Casey barks

...Until I would say "Quiet", where he would then be quiet immediately and wait for his treat.

Funny dog.

(He loves attention too.)

Hence why I no longer use the word command "Bark."

 It really is a minefield trying to train them - it's like they're almost too smart to be trained as mere dogs cos they can work out a way to do what THEY want and still do what YOU want as well, and we end up having to praise and treat them regardless