What happened was that your dog was barking, you said his signal to stop, and you mechanically created a situation in which he did stop. After he stopped, he got reinforced for it with a treat. First, the treat acted as a lure to stop him from barking, and then the treat became a reinforcement for being quiet. Be sure to do this when he’s not too excited to focus: don’t start these sessions when he’s crazed with excitement because there’s a big family and two dogs at the front door. Set this up in the early stages so that you have control over the situation to avoid making it too hard for your
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