This video shows the goal behavior of Sunny barking once, and then coming to me for a treat and lying on her mat until the barkable moment passes.
To teach this behavior, you first reinforce your dog by calling them in the house and giving a big reward – can be food, or a game of tug or fetch. Start right next to them and gradually get farther and farther away. You can also use a word other than their name to reserve for just barking.
Once they are running to you full speed from anywhere in the house, have treats with you and be on the alert for the first bark. Then call them (or use the word you chose) when you know you have a good chance of success for them to pay attention to you. Ideally when you are very close to them and/or the threat they perceive is low. Have treats on hand because you can’t predict when something will trigger them.
If they ignore you, then you need to go back to reinforcing them for running to you. Don’t call them after the first bark until you are fairly certain of success or you will be teaching them to ignore you. Stepping back and reinforcing successful behavior is the best way to build a firm foundation before you move up to something new.
In this video, I heard a UPS truck outside so I knew it was going to happen. After Sunny barks once, i call her and Sunny knows that she is going to get a treat. Then I have her go to her bed and I reward her for being quiet. Some dogs will just bark to get a treat but I have only reinforced Sunny for barking at something specific and I keep her on the mat or otherwise engaged until whatever is causing her to bark is gone. It’s important to reinforce the calm behavior too.
The end goal that is shown here is that when she hears something – she barks once and then runs to me. You can also substitute the reward with a game of tug or fetch. Sunny barks about 14 seconds into the video.