Best dog book in the world is 'The Culture Clash' by Jean Donaldson. You'll learn more from her than all the experts combined. What Donaldson does best is teach you to look at the world from a canid's point of view. When you learn to do that you will be better able to deal with him on his own psychological level of understanding. One thing you can do to stop the barking is to not pay any attention to the dog at all when he's barking, totally ignore him. Often, not always, he will realise that the barking is not doing him any good at all. When he quiets down, go give him a treat and pet him and say "Good boy" as nice as you can. Let him make the association between quiet and reward, barking and no reward. It takes time, patience and some trouble, but it's often productive.
This doesn't always work, though. When my Aussie boy, Bear was a pup we brought him home on a Saturday. Put him in a crate in the bedroom when we went to bed that night. He whined and whined and cried continually. I ignored him, like I did with our other pups, which had always worked before. Not this guy, he just whined and cried. Every time he would quiet down I thought, great, the behavior is self-extinguishing. But, he would be just taking a break and he'd start all over again. This went on for four nights and he wouldn't stop. I eventually got very tired at work and started to get desperate. How was I gonna shut this pup's mouth at night?
Finally, I took some advice on a little trick someone had cooked up for their whiney pup. I put his crate by my bed, put a blanket on top (for my benefit and his) and waited. He started to whine. I whacked the top of his crate as hard as I could with the palm of my hand. Made a loud noise, "Bamm!" He stopped. After awhile he started up again and I whacked the crate. He stopped and never did it again. I was amazed, after four nights of whining and crying he stopped from a simple little trick. The key to this trick is that he doesn't realise it's you making the "Bamm!" noise. All he knows is that he whines and cries and the world explodes. ("Hmmm, that's scary...," says the little doggie, "...I better shut up.")
My point is that all doggies are different and what works for 9 of them might not work on the 10th. He never made the connection between whining and no response/reward. But, he did make the connection between whining and a loud, unpleasant noise. "Oops, better shut up or I'll hear that scary noise again." Learn to think like your dog thinks and training will be much easier.
Balance love and disipline.
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