Constant barking!

[Iverunamuck]

Interesting. My six month old black lab is almost silent. If she barks she startles the other dogs. It's almost spooky. LOL

[Maeve]

Thank you everyone for your tips and advice. I love the idea of teaching him to bark on command so I can work on a command to shush. As WhoopsaDaisy said, Angus is only 6 months old. The e-collar would be a last resort. I do train each dog 10-15 minutes three times a day. That way each dog gets personal attention and they get basic training (and tricks).
As for barking outside, we noticed he barked at the neighbor to get her to come over and pet him. Our other neighbor has a garden in-between and he never pays any notice of her. So my DH and I spent all day yesterday taking out a 3 foot section of grass next to the fence. We put in the beginings of a hedge (researched safe plants first). Then we put up a 2 foot garden fence until the plants are bigger. It is the same type of fence around our garden and he has been taught not to jump that. Already I have noticed a difference. He knows he can't get to the fence for her to pet so he isn't even trying to get attention (from the neighbor). It is a start plus some extra privacy.
I will increase his training and look at the treat games. We have already started to train "find it".
Thanks again for all the advice.

[MainlineMara]

The only thing I wanted to add, was at 6 mo Mara was also barking for attention and I think it's a normal phase for puppies to go through and test the waters. Mara would bark out of boredom and want us to play with her but the lesson we wanted to teach her was we dictate play time, not you. We got our trainer involved (just a phone call for advice but she knows Mara well) and we went with the let her bark training plan. If she got nippy, she went in the crate or we left the room and shut the door. It took a good few weeks ( and a LOT of patience!) for her to realize that barking won't get her attention but now (with a few more months under her belt) she no longer barks at us and is much better at self-play or getting our attention in other non-vocal (and cute!) ways.

I agree you should hold off on any specialty collars and see if 'old fashioned' training works first