I'm being driven crazy by a barking dog!

I would say take him to a professional trainer, some people at work have had good experiences with this approach. A trainer who is good at what they do will teach a dog in a lasting way that will stick after the training has finished.

Might be worth a couple of sessions with a trainer and then take that advice forward as it will need to be re-enforced.

I'm not a trainer but as you'll have to undo a learned behaviour it might mean going back to basics and starting small, as in maybe just being able to get the bike out of the garage without a ruckus, and building on that.

I’ve tried many things (over the course of nearly 3 years) including shouting No when he barks and praising him when he doesn’t. I mean constantly over many rides.

I’ve tried stopping abruptly when he starts barking, saying a firm NO, and only moving off when he stops barking (pretty knackering when needing done so much on a ride)

Negative reinforcement (shouting no) is very ineffective, especially for barking as the dog just thinks you're barking too which just reinforced whatever is causing the barking.

Stopping and only rewarding him when he's quiet is the way forward. But don't make it a case of "stop barking and I'll give you a reward", otherwise that's rewarding the barking. It has to be a "I'm rewarding you for not barking". E.g. if there's a treat offered it has to be given either before the barking starts (does he look at you first to give a clue he's about to start, then give the treat then before he opens his mouth) or don't put your hand in your pocket untill he stops.

Might be worth engaging a professional dog trainer as the difference between rewarding the right/wrong behaviour can be very difficult as you're finding.

And yep it can be exhausting building a new behaviour. Just accept it's going to take hours of practice to get it. Being "weekend fun dad" isn't always a bad thing. You just need to teach him the correct rules of the game so he has just as much fun running after the bike as he does barking at it.

Our neighbours have a rat sized yappy thing.

Every time it starts yapping they click a clicker or shake a shaker or shout at it.

It just loves the fact that they're joining in with the yapping.

Over time, it has become even more yappy.

Don't be our neighbours.

Pro trainer could be a few hours and pounds very well spent.

PS we could never get our old hound to stop shagging all of our visitors legs. Dogs are madness.

The usual dog haters need not reply

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I’ve tried stopping abruptly when he starts barking, saying a firm NO, and only moving off when he stops barking (pretty knackering when needing done so much on a ride)

Training a dog with habits is painful but you have to do it.

Forget going for a proper ride. You need to train the dog.

Stopping when he barks is all you can do. I would even gently put my hand on our dogs mouth if she did it. Move off again and keep repeating. Give a very small treat if the the distance increases say double, but keep expecting more.

As a couple of other people have said 'negative' wont work which is the NO, behaviour extinction will work or you could even try replacement. What can he do that he can't do at the same time as barking? It's going to be a BIG job to stop this behaviour because its a learned response now, similar to the shagging of legs it would carry on even if the dog was neutered because the dog has learnt new people=I shag legs.

I think you need to pick one method as well and stick with it, right now you're confusing the heck out of the dog with the different methods. As we're told time n time again pretend you're playing a game where you can't talk and neither can the other person but they've thought of something they want you to do and you need to work out what it is in order to 'win'. Now imagine if that game master kept giving you mixed messages.

The dog has learnt that if he barks and acts like a loon you're going to ride your bike and behave like a loon too. You now need to paint a new picture, as someone else has said start getting the bike out and once he starts acting excited (even before the bark) put the bike away and ignore his behaviour and you carry on as usual. When he eventually starts being calmer you can move it futher out, then further, then turn the pedals...eventually in months to come you may be able to sit on it. In even longer to come you may be able to ride it without him barking at you repeatedly. Yep it will take that long and yep it will be that annoying.

My young dog (17 months) has started to do it when I start a ride, soon as it starts I sit still and completely ignore him until a nano second of silence, then I move. If it starts again I freeze and do the same again until he chills the chuff down. He's learning that excited barking means no riding, he's a vocal breed and it'll be hard work, even harder because I know full well my OH wont be doing the same each and every time but if I dont want him hollaring at me then that's what it'll take.

Only real time he quietens down a lot is when he’s knackered.

Anyone had anything similar and managed to mould their dogs response effectively around the bike?

Seems simple enough to solve. Get an e-bike and knacker him out.
If that doesnt work get a sur-ron.

Oh and also I dont think you need to think about treats to reward the behaviour you want, you moving and riding bikes is the reward in itself. When I'm working on loose lead walking and I standstill I dont reward when I move again, me moving forwards is reward enough. Especially assuming you have a primed 'good boy' cue.

Every time he barks, fall off your bike. He'll think it's his fault and after about the 53rd time he'll never bark again 😀

Dunno, but kudos to you for trying to sort it out.

Thanks all for your comments, particularly Golfchick and thisisnotaspoon.

It really makes sense what you're saying. Yes I'm sure I must be confusing him with mixed messages.

It's very difficult as of course I want him to have a great time with me but I really need to get some control of this as I'm getting more and more sick of him doing it and often wish I didn't have to take him to work with me etc.

My partner is the real dog enthusiast. I just tend to want him to not be a dick out of the box, but yeah, no point in us both not giving the same message.

I'll defo stop with the angry No! In fact I tried it a bit on the way home today, but it's really difficult when he won't stop, especially when everyone in the park is looking over and wondering why this bloke keeps stopping his bike and letting his dog bark in his face for ages! 😂

Cheers 🙏

If you went down the route of support, I can recommend Emily at https://maxcanine.co.uk/ .
Not sure where you're located, but she knows her onions if it works for you.

You basically have to stop riding the bike when he starts to bark.

Then start just being near the bike and reward for being calm then slowly build it from there, only riding it for a short time, seconds, reward for being calm then build up duration and repeat for a few years 🙂

I have similar problem with my arrow finding Lab, she gets so exited when doing archery, if people take to long to shoot she will bark and sometimes just drawing the bow will set her off.

When at the visitor centre at Sherwood forest she was barking at the Robin Hood statue as it is Robin with a drawn bow thats how much she loves bows and arrows lol

new people=I shag legs.

In our defence he was a rescue and came with a number of bad habits baked in. Leg shagging was fairly low down the hit list of problem behaviours - just getting to the point where we could leave the house without him destroying it was, well, an interesting few months.

Barking dogs really are the worst. So many peaceful evenings, ruined.

Could you try getting him to carry a toy or ball and just slowly bimble around the garden/park - then reward if he doesn't bark?

Barking dogs really are the worst. So many peaceful [s]evenings[/s] bike rides, ruined.

Yeah, noise pollution of any kind is an unfortunate thing we all have to put up with at times living alongside others.

Ours only does it when overexcited, but I'm dealing with it, hence the thread.

Could you try getting him to carry a toy or ball and just slowly bimble around the garden/park – then reward if he doesn’t bark?

Yeah, actually I often shove a ball or stick in his gob which helps.

Oh and also I dont think you need to think about treats to reward the behaviour you want, you moving and riding bikes is the reward in itself. When I’m working on loose lead walking and I standstill I dont reward when I move again, me moving forwards is reward enough. Especially assuming you have a primed ‘good boy’ cue.

When we are out walking with the dog we reward with treats - my wife did a couple of Canicross lessons with the dog & the idea is that it's not treat based as you get the dog to switch to work mode. For this the dog learns a few commands based on what you're doing & where you want it to be.