Kaji usually growls when I'm sleeping. He's letting me know there's an intruder* but he doesn't let the intruder know we know he's there.

*intruder is usually one of my brothers getting in really late. ;)

I played the "Here comes the airplane" game too much with Cookie, and now she gets right in my ear and barks to tell me she wants to be hand-fed. I kind of feel bad that I give in sometimes, since feeding her like that is pretty fun.

If you have done some training in this area please let me know what you've done!!! My little Hannah barks a lot for attention and it can be very annoying. She will go to this really high pitch bark if I ignore her. I know not to fuss or shout at her but sometimes...especially when my husband is around. He hates the barking. I try to do things with her like playing and walking and brushing and she will quite down but there are times when I just have other things to do. I know better than to give her snacks because it rewards the barking but sometimes that can be the easiest way to calm her down for 2 seconds. She barks for any and every reason you can think of.

We live on a main road, When we are at the front and back doors in the morning or at night he barks at the neighbours for attention so they will come pet him.
He barks for the whole time though if someone in a neon work vest passes or when the window cleaner is cleaning windows in our house, or the neighbours at each side or across the street.
He barks when you tease him with a toy he wants, all acceptable I think, I would like to be able to train him to stop, like when I am sick and he barks at the window cleaner for 15 minutes.

Gi is a barker. DH gets out of his chair, she barks. A church mouse outside breaks wind, she barks. She barks at all and everything. Doorbells or telephones, on the TV or in the house. I have tried, the can with the pebbles, the squirt bottle, the scolding, I have even had to cover the bottom half of the windows facing the front of the house so she could not see outside. We are working on one of the training excerpts that was on this page, using the word "enough". Working some but when she get started, there is no stopping her. She has gotten so bad she now has Buster barking at the drop of a hat....

I don't mind when my boys bark to alert me to something, as long as they stop when I want them to.

I do mind when they play their barking game in the car. It's like "spot the license plate." They bark at school buses, motorcycles, UPS trucks, and large trucks. The problem is Max could win a contest for loudest, sharpest Yorkie bark on the planet. :p He knows the power of his big voice, and he loves showing off.

I'm thankful that Max doesn't bark all day because he is way too loud.

Draco barks for attention, but it's never constant. The only time he really barks is when I arrive at home I can hear him when I'm opening the gate but when I get to the door he's just excited. Or if I have him fenced off in the living room he'll give a bark or two.
Then it's also when someone is leaving, but that varies. It's only if it's the person he's being giving all the attention to. He doesn't really bark for any other reasons.

OMG my cat Lucy has taught Gizmo how to bark constant. When I first got him, I used to comment on how quiet and polite he was haha. Now Lucy has him constantly barking :-( by the way does anyone know how to stop it? And just a little extra info, Gizmo absolutely loves loud noises and squirt bottles, so those things won't work :-) I'm considering investing in an ear plug company lol.

Your cat taught him? LOL :yelrotflm

Max was quiet until he was 6 months old. Everyone was determined to teach him how to bark.

If Gizmo is randomly barking, not out the window at something work on the "quiet" command. Or use "enough" firmly. If he complies, give him a small treat.

I let Max and Teddy bark at the doorbell, but if they don't stop, I announce that I am leaving. Then I leave the room and they quit.

There are several threads and I think a sticky post in the training forum with more ideas.

I'm very security conscious, and encourage my guys to bark.

Actually, that encouragement is mainly for a new Pup, just to get him started. Fortunately, I have two Adult animals which already know what's important and not. Having them as teachers is really helpful. I check out almost every "alarm" from them, praise highly when they're right, and just downplay it when they're (infrequently) wrong.

Lilah will bark when someone arrives home (a guest or a resident) and it can get excessive but for the most part is curbed when I express that I am displeased with her behavior. My oldest daughter makes a big deal out if us coming home and I continually remind her that that encourages an insane dog and she guiltily ceases. Lilah barks at the cats but I don't really want them in the house so as frustrating as that can be- particularly if they sneak in and lurk around in the middle of the night, I know she knows I don't want them in and feels that se is supporting me and fulfilling her duty, which is great. At night she will growl a bit, sometimes bark usually not Too much and I trust that she knows there is something happening, we live rurally. Lately though she is hyper sensitive at night and for good reason! We have had Wiley raccoons theiving our livestock and packs of coyotes howling very nearby. She has seen my guy jump up in the night and run out to protect our stock and she is on high alert. So that said, I feel that lilah barks appropriately for the most part at this point. Oh! And se is getting over a short lives phase of barking at everyone she saw anywher we went, that was annoying and I realized that I need to up our socialization experiences. She went on a business trip with me to an animal supply trade show and that seemed to do the trick :) I am concerned though, I would really like to get a second yorkie and I am afraid that lilah will become a serious barker which I feel is offensive to others. As a mother of five young children it is way too easy to let another noise add to the background but I am hyper aware of our public presence and my children are (for the most part) very reserved in town but they feed off of eAchother and if one is having an off at it will effect the whole crew, I worry that a pair of yorkie could become offensive all too easily. Especially if I am away and they are feeding off of eAchother without direct correction which of course is not the primary mode of existence but does happen. Comparisons of multi yorkiefamilies vs single yorkie families? Anyone have a quiet guy until he had a friend or a happy one until his lifelong buddy joined the picture? Please share :)

Oops yappy not happy, darn auto correct

Yes haha. My 10 yr old cat Lucy who used to sleep all day, has decided Gizmo belongs to her and doesn't want the other 2 cats to be his ferns. She knows his barking scares them, so as soon as I get up, so does Lucy :-) she sits right on the floor or anywhere for that matter, and growls and hisses at Gizmo while just calmly waps him on the head occasionly, continuing the growling and hissing, till she gets poor little Gizmo so worked up, that he barks and barks and barks. I will chase Lucy to go upstairs and as soon as I sit back down, here comes Lucy right back at it. This goes on all day and until Gizmos bedtime :-( as much and as many was I can think of to reprimand Lucy for getting Gizmo in this state, she just will not stop teasing him for anything.

What is funny is I found these sweet potato and pumpkin teething rings today for Gizmo, and once I gave him one of them, he ignored all of Lucy's tactics till he was done with the ring, which took him a couple hours to chew it up and eat it lol. I called my husband at work and told him to go back tomorrow and buy all they have HAHAHAHA. Also while Gizmo was eating this ring, one of my other cats Bruiser was able to walk right past Gizmo to the kitchen and to go potty, with Gizmo paying no attention :-) that was the first time EVER Bruiser has been able to walk through the same room as Gizmo and not get chased and barked at. Lucy was just sitting right next to Gizmo looking very annoyed, like she thought her puppy was broken hehehe.

The stereotype for yorkies is that they are known to be barkers especially the females. I know there will be people saying well my doesn't. That is true and unfortunately there is a stereotype on that dog just like many other dogs. Again, that sterotype can be wrong especially since all dogs have different personalities. Many times they do take up the behavior of their pack leader as well. Also, there is the training portion.

So yeah there are lots of variables in this matter.

Leiloni is not a barker. She snorts and tilts her head back and forth when she hears noises. I love hearing her bark when she does. She's already 8 months and still has a baby bark. Just the other day my daughter had on a wig and a witches hat and she went nuts with her tiny bark. Gus on the other hand was a big barker. And it was loud. People who came to the door were shocked to see such a big bark come from such a tiny dog. If the kids were outside riding their bikes, skating, or even making a lot of noise he would be acting a fool runing back and forth barking. That's when it got a bit annoying