When we got Nanook he was already an adult and extremely well-mannered (except for the issues between him and the hubby). So when we acquired (more like saved) Luci from sister-in-law, I thought to myself, "okay, no problem. We can train her to be as good as Nanook". Chewing, mouthiness, counter surfing, jumping, etc.. all the normal puppy stuff we are handling, and she is improving (thanks to all the good advice here!). But the one thing that I really need advice about is the barking. She's actually fairly quiet when no one is home or if just one person is home. It's when we are all home. She will bark at the kitchen counter, the refrigerator (wanting ice), the tv, the couch... wants to play/ doesn't want to play, in her crate/ not in her crate, lots of exercise/rainy day inside... pretty much any circumstance. I wouldn't mind so much, except that it's usually after the kids have gone to bed. Plus she sounds like one of those yappy little dogs, which is getting on my nerves.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to teach her "be quiet"? So far I've tried teaching her to "speak" and "speak soft" hoping she would get the idea not to do it unless asked. That backfired. I've tried to ignore her and giving her attention once she's quieted down. That works for like 10 minutes. She is starting to get her husky voice (woo-woo). I was hoping she would bark less and husky speak more, but she seems to be bilingual in that aspect. Is this just another pup thing that she will outgrow if I keep working on it, or am I doomed to have a yappy dog?

My little guy barks too and sometimes it's just piercing! Ear splitting... I just give him a timeout in his crate. He tends to do it when he is seriously over excited and over stimulated. Usually 10-15 min in his crate with an antler or something to chew chills him out, it also chills out his biting. I was worried he would think it's a reward since he gets something yummy to chew on, but so far it seems to be working as a redirect. After a few minutes I open the door to the crate and walk away nonchalant and he's usually fine after that.

Also, if he hasn't gotten way too wound up, I can redirect with some training exercises. But sometimes that just causes more barking since one command he's learning at the moment is 'talk' Sometimes he just needs some alone time to calm down.