This is a repost of an article I wrote in 2014 (July 7) about the motivation behind barking. Since it’s been five years, and since barking plays such an important part of our experience with dogs, I thought it would be fun to repeat it. I’ve done some minor updating, but the post still focuses on the age old question Why Do Dogs Bark? Seems like the answer should be simple, right? But, it gets a bit complicated when you start to think it through, including the reminder that adult wolves rarely bark, adolescent wolves bark more often, and that barking is energetically expensive and therefore has a “cost”.
From July 7, 2014:
Have you seen the stage play, Sylvia, in which a man brings a stray dog home from the park and adopts it? The dog is always played by a woman, who often barks at appropriate moments. Except, as a person playing a dog, she doesn’t say BARRR RARRR or WOOF. She says HEY! HEY! HEYHEYHEY!!!
I saw the play with a girlfriend, another dog lover, and we both thought that “Hey!” was a brilliant translation of dog barks. Not to mention being hysterically funny. Every time we saw each other for months afterwards we’d bark HEY! HEY! HEY! at each other. And crack up like school girls.
But what motivates the dog to bark? We don’t know, but there are two primary hypotheses from ethologists about what is going on when they do. Hypothesis one suggests that barks are examples of “referential communication,” in that each bark refers to something specific, like an approaching visitor, or a desire to play. In this case the dog is providing information to the recipient(s). In the case of the visitor, it could be “Stranger coming, need back up from the pack!” and/or “Stay away from here unless you have authorization!” We know that at least some animals communicate in this way, including the well-studied Vervet monkey, who has different alarm vocalizations dependent upon the category of danger.
This parallels the hypothesis of Sophia Yin, DVM, MS, who argues that the barks of domestic dogs are related more to context than to the dog’s emotional state.
2) The second hypothesis about dog barks is that they do not specifically refer to a person, place or thing, but are expressions of the internal state of the dog. That is the argument of Kathryn Lord, PhD, who made a compelling case for that interpretation at the 2014 SPARCS conference in Rhode Island. Dr. Lord cited the well-known “Morton’s rules,” in which high, “thin” sounds (narrow band) correlate with fear or affiliation, and low, “thick” (broad band) sounds relate to threats. (See page 114 in Morton’s article.) Morton noted that barks, common in many species including deer and monkeys, are sounds that combine the features of both fear and threats. They are used by a variety of animals when in danger, but when they are also unwilling, or unable to run away. They are most common when predators approach a nest or an animal’s young, and thus the adult is in danger but can’t run away without losing its young. You can read an abstract of this argument here, or find the entire article online if you have access to the journal.
What is important to note is that both hypotheses allow for the receiver to be able to distinguish the context in which the bark is given. We all can tell a play bark from a threatening bark to a stranger, because for one thing, it is higher pitched. (Which, of course, follows Morton’s rules.) However, knowing that your dog is barking at a stranger approaching the house, instead of barking another dog away from a bone, does not tell us what the noise actually means to a dog or why she is doing it. It does mean that we have learned to associate a particular bark with a particular context, but that could be because the dog is specifically signaling “stranger coming” or is expressing ambivalent emotions that correlate with “Uh oh, trouble coming, I’m worried, pack, come back me up!” along with “You! Stay away from here.” Or, of course (and you knew this was coming), it could mean: HEY! HEY! HEYHEYHEYHEY!!!
Here’s Maggie saying something like that when I knocked on the door as if a visitor had arrived. (I evaluate her face as looking both nervous and expressing a mild threat, which fits Morton’s rules and how she behaves until she gets a sniff of anyone new and then is thrilled to see them. We’re working hard on counter conditioning her to visitors, which involves lots of treats being thrown in the driveway. Tootsie and Willie love it, they get to search for the goodies along with Maggie. (Note: The photo below was taken not long after we got Maggie and she behaves very differently to visitors, although there is still a small component of discomfort when she first sees someone approaching.)
I would argue, however, that there are other reasons for a dog to bark. One primary one, familiar to most dog owner’s, is to get attention. I suppose you could make the case that this is a kind of referential communication, less about emotional state than conveying a specific message, but perhaps not. “Feeling needy, need something, will bark at human to get what I want…”.
What do you think? Remember that being able to interpret your dog’s barks (and the research of Pongracz ’05 and Molnar ’06 suggests we are all pretty good at this, for an update see Pongracz 2010) does not tell us what message is being sent by your dog. Both hypotheses allow for nuanced interpretations. Neither hypothesis is exclusive–it seems to me that both “referential” and “emotional state” could overlap and be conveyed simultaneously. You? A second question–where are you on the “I want my dog to bark” versus “I can’t stand barking” continuum? I’m pretty much in the camp of “three barks to alert me are great, but after that you can stop now”.
[By the way, this blog obviously is not about how to deal with a barking problem, but here are two books that do a great job of it: The Bark Stops Here by Terry Ryan and Help! I’m Barking and I Can’t be Quiet by Daniel Estep and Suzanne Hetts. (A great title if I’ve ever seen one.)
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: I went looking for the cats to take some photos on a cool, sunny Saturday afternoon, but couldn’t find them in any of their usual places. Not in their cozy house in the garage, not curled up in the director’s chair in the carport, not perched charmingly on the wall, nor in the barn. But I almost stumbled onto Nellie while walking back to the house. She was sprucing herself up amongst a new planting of decorative onions. We all need a little privacy when bathing.
We got back recently from the “rainy” Northwest, where to my surprise the grass was brown and they had experienced very little rain. In contrast, it’s like living in Ireland here in the Midwest. Our grass is gem-quality green, thanks to a lovely alternation of rain and sun. (Not so lovely if you are a farmer with heavy equipment. It’s been a nightmare for many agriculturalists, who haven’t been able to plant their fields week after week after week.)
It’s also ridiculous cool. I’m writing much of this article mid day Sunday June 16th, and it’s 55 degrees outside. Most years it would be hot and humid by now. But, as we all know, there’s no “normal” any more. But damn, it’s pretty now . . .
One last comment:
HEY! HEY! HEYHEYHEYHEYHEY!
HFR says
I’ve seen Sylvia 3 times! One of my favorite plays of all times.
I’ve got a barker on my hands. Big alarm barker. I wouldn’t mind if it weren’t for the jumping that accompanies the barking. He’s destroyed my front door and the blinds next to it. I think the barking that is the most frustrating is the one in the yard where he may see a bird or a critter on the roof or on top of a tree and then he will look up and just bark long after the critter is gone. A continuous, rhythmic bark that clearly has no stimulus. He appears to be just barking for the sake of barking. He’ll often turn around and look at me and then go back to barking. I always bring him in, since I’m sure it’s even more annoying to my neighbors.
So I think what I’m curious about is a dog’s ability to stop barking. When is enough barking enough? My older dog would go out in the backyard when he was younger and just bark and never know when to stop. I think he was bored (it was when I was at work). The more I notice it the more I think there are two different kinds of barkers: those that know when to stop and those that don’t.
And why is it so damned hard not to yell at them to stop when you know it’s useless and actually encourages barking?
lak says
My dog never made a peep until the neighbor dog moved in directly next store, our gates face each other and they are approximately 6 feet from each other. This new noisy puppy would bark a lot. Needless to say, now Noel will bark, not too much, but 100% more than she use to. She would always alert with a short bark when strangers were approaching. I thank her after the 4th or 5th bark if it appears she is going to continue and then tell her “it’s okay”. She generally stops then. This is when she is inside the house. Outside, I let it go unless it continues and they get a symphony going. I like that she alerts me when “someone” is out there when she is inside the house. And she never barks at family that she knows.
Yeah as a fellow midwesterner I have never seen so many vibrant shades of green this late into the spring. Actually I have never seen the spring so cold and wet, I keep saying it must be what Seattle lives with. We had temps in the 40’s again a few times a night, very strange! I almost turned the heat on in June, I believe that would be a record for me!
Barbara says
I can think of two things that really trigger our dog’s barking – a squirrel in the bird feeder and a strange noise, especially the sound of the doorbell. When he sees a squirrel in the feeder, his bark is high pitched and kind of thin, gradually becoming faster and more desperate sounding. It’s very distinctive and he won’t stop until I take care of the problem. If I’m in another room, I know exactly what the problem is. I think of it as his squirrel alert bark. (This has become a tedious game between the squirrel, the dog and myself. The squirrel jumps from the tree onto the feeder, the dog barks, I rap on the window, and the squirrel sticks a perfect ten point landing on the ground. Repeat as needed.) The doorbell, on the other hand, sets off a cascade of LOUD medium pitched rapid barking. I’m always startled by an unexpected doorbell so I would imagine our dog would be, too. This bark to me sounds more like the dog is initially frightened but he usually calms down when we meet and greet whoever is at the door. Definitely has an emotional component to it. Lastly, if you’ve always yearned to test your stamina to keep your dog quiet and calm, try having a new roof put on your house. Strange men talking, hammering, thumping overhead. The roof sounding like it’s going to cave in. Tarpaper and shingles flying off the roof past the windows. Yeah, dogs love that. To his credit, our dog Rocky must have come to the conclusion that after a half hour of barking, things weren’t going to change and everyone was safe, so he finally settled down and was reasonably mellow the rest of the day. HEYHEYHEY!
LisaW says
I’d add a third and fourth kind of barker to HFR’s list: Those that bark at something so they can be melodically called away and get lots of treats and praise (Olive does a pseudo fence bark so she can practice her best Rin-Tin-Yin come and get a yummy treat).
And those that bark as they get older and want something but don’t know what it is. Phoebe (almost 14) has taken to standing in the middle of a room by herself and bark and bark and bark. This after you’ve tried to get her to go out or offered her an array of her favorite things. She was never a barker except when she got super excited or aroused. I’m wondering if it’s an expression of frustration that she is a bit dotty. Her senses are willing, but her body is on a different plane.
We often say to Olive, “Don’t be such a noisy parker,” but that’s just for our amusement. What she responds to most often (which isn’t often enough) is “Nothing to do with you.” I’m in the less-is-more camp of barking.
Vermont has had the same weather as Wisconsin — cool and wet, which is fine with me but has caused some problems for our farmers and our forests — flooded fields, landslides, and fallen trees. And the vegetation is lush and beautifully dense. Normal is no longer a concept in more ways than one.
Terrie says
I have a dog who, if he hears certain types of music, he may start barking or howling along (violens always lead to howling), where he seems to be joining in on the fun. And sometimes he starts barking in his sleep, wakes himself and goes NUTS, and I’m not certain he even knows why he’s barking at that point.
Andrea Mauer says
I have one dog who initiates the barking through a soft “Oof””. I call her a false alarmist. Then her brother gets concerned, hackles up and looks outside to see while initiating his bark. The new boy, a big happy dog starts barking loudly (to fit in to the pack), it seems. Once it starts I will “shhhh” them, but if someone is really coming and not just someone driving by on the highway about a mile away, it becomes a cacophony. They were never this bad, but Carolina dog #2 is reactive to Carolina Dog#1 and the big new boy reacts to them both. So, I have my work cut out for me to redirect them and not have her start the whole thing. She is sly and sideeyes me sometimes before she barks, like she enjoys the reaction she gets. I think I may be reading too much into it, but she does seem very controlling in that way. None of the exhibit any aggression. BTW, Gary Larson did a famous cartoon years ago with various dogs barking saying “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and one baying at the moon “Heeeeeeeyyyyyy!”
Chris from Boise says
New(ish) Rowan – six months in – came to us silent, and has now found her voice. Fortunately we knew the first three months were too good to be true, but oh they were lovely. We’re currently working through demand barking.
Nine year old Obi is actually relatively quiet, especially for a border collie. He has one puzzling bark and two aggravating ones.
* recreational barking – the two or three well-spaced barks with no arousal, no obvious cause, just “to bark”. There must be a stimulus, as he’s not slipping into dementia, but we haven’t identified it.
* the “charge the fence and see if we can get the neighbor dogs to go ballistic” bark-and-rush. (This was SO annoying that we’ve – miraculously – pretty much eliminated it. For details on a solution that worked for us…including several weeks of consistent work…see my comment on Dr. Jen Summerfield’s blog: http://www.drjensdogblog.com/accidental-behavior-chains-are-you-training-what-you-think-you-are/).
* alert barking at things beyond the perimeter of the yard – and not quieting when I say “Thanks, Obi. Enough!”. I obviously need to think this one through and re-train, rather than escalating to Hey! Hey! HeyHeyHey! myself.
All that being said, it seems obvious (to me) that an individual dog can at times bark from an emotional state (eg when startled), and at other times be perfectly intentional (the fence-charger himself, who was very much in his thinking mind).
Beautiful photos – love the shot of Nellie.
Carol L says
Pretty interesting post. I had just remarked recently to a friend that now that I work from home for the past 4 years, I can now identify close to 20 different barks from one of my dogs. Though I think most of them are informational; squirrel in yard, bunny in garden, UPS truck in the drive, contractor truck at the neighbors, person walking on the street – which differs from person walking with dog on the street, etc.
I have lately noticed that duration of barking is related to whether or not my dog wants someone (or some squirrel) to take action. So I usually respond by getting up to get the package delivered, but have to wait out the squirrel in the tree to move on it’s own. I may be reinforcing the duration of barking with my response. Maybe I’ll change it up to see if it makes a difference.
Jessica says
I definitely want my dogs to bark a little, but I feel that it is easy for the on button for barking to get sorta stuck on, particularly in dogs with anxiety. One of my terriers had her voice utterly suppressed by a punishment that seemed mild to her fosterer (hose spray) but I believe was pretty awful to this particular dog. After several years of having her as a very quiet dog, I taught her to speak as part of a couple service dog tasks and she quickly started making a huge range of other vocalizations I never knew she had in her, from whining and crying when she wants something to adorable anticipatory growls to loud friendly happy yawns and playful grunts. The other terrier (they were adopted together with same origin) has anxiety and we’ve done a lot of work to learn to stop barking. He barks under his breath with his mouth closed when he is trying particularly hard 😄
Anton says
I have 4 dogs that are LGD breeds and find the range of vocalizations they use to be quite fascinating… We have everything from the very distinctive “snake” bark (different from barks about other predators and even different in itself depending on whether the snake is non-venomous or a rattlesnake) to the classic, “shut up because this is my problem to bark at”, to a bark whose only purpose is to make her brother howl so they can sing together. I love it all and since we are rural, we have no neighbors to complain! 🙂 Anton
Kat says
The way Ranger would bark and the way Finna barks are very different. Ranger barked to communicate something. Finna barks to express emotion. When Ranger barked I knew he needed me for something and when Finna barks I mostly tune it out since it’s about things that we’re about to do–go for a walk, go outside to play, etc. She barks because she’s excited and wants me to hurry up, she barks because my husband is moving around the house and she doesn’t know what he’s doing (I totally get this. She really hates not being able to predict what’s going to happen and he has no tells. After 30 years of marriage I still can’t predict him. I know it won’t be anything scary or mean but whether he’s getting up to go wash dishes or to go work on a car I can’t tell) Barking for Finna is really all about how she feels and there’s very little information to her barks that is relevant to me. Ranger on the other hand I’d always listen to him because he would be asking me to come support him in dealing with the unexpected, he’d need me to translate what he needed for my husband or children, or he wanted to get my attention for some reason. Occasionally he’d bark because he was excited but mostly it was to communicate some need. I admit it amused me no end that he’d ask my husband for something and hubby didn’t understand what Ranger was asking so Ranger would come to me bark once for my attention and then tell me what he wanted–I can’t really describe how he’d do that but he could look at me and the subtle shifts of his eyes and body would tell me what he needed. I’d then communicate that to my husband who would take Ranger out or get him a chew or whatever it was he was asking for. It got to the point where my husband would tell Ranger to “go tell Mom so she can tell me.”
Ranger barked when there was a reason. The best story I have about that is once when Ranger and I and two other Therapy Dog teams were going to visit a secure facility where my husband works. We were waiting for him at pass and ID and when he came walking over to us he was wearing a hat. One of the dogs was startled by the hat and began alert barking summoning the pack, Ranger and the other dog, a bearded collie leapt to their feet with the beardie barking his own alert although clearly not having spotted the threat yet. Ranger scanned the area alertly looking for the threat but not making a sound. When he realized the problem was Dad coming he gave the beardie next to him such a look of contempt; this immediately silenced the beardie. The other dog barked for a couple more seconds before realizing that neither of the others was backing him up and were in fact looking at him with disgust at which point he stopped. Ranger and the beardie, who adored my husband, both rushed over to say hello and we had my husband take his hat off and put it back on several times until the other dog was relaxed and no longer worried about the hat. I was always struck by Ranger being prepared to support the alerting dog but not until he made his own assessment.
Amy Edmonds says
Having adopted or fostered many deaf cocker spaniels, I’ve also noticed that the deafies bark more. They can be bossy, too. They will let me know when it’s time to go to bed, or time to go out, and sometimes just seem to bark for no reason. I think it may be a response to auditory hallucinations similar to those that blind people get when the eyes don’t function but the visual cortex still does. One of my fosters did that until after double TECA surgery, so perhaps he was barking at pus or some other damage causing weird sounds.
One of my hearing dogs has picked up the bossiness. She will do it for treats, potties, or for me to get off the computer and go to bed. I have been working on this, and at the moment she’s in the bedroom asleep without me, but I’m not 100% sure she won’t do it again.
Amy Edmonds says
…. and another thing about deafies: They will bark when other dogs bark without knowing why they’re barking. I know they’re probably responding to pheromones because they’ll get up and go to the room where the barking is happening. I’ll have two dogs at the window and one in the middle of the room joining the chorus barking at the ceiling. Also, the deafie will keep barking after the hearing dogs have chased the squirrel away. This is how I figured out it must have been due to pheromones. It would have taken a moment for those to dissipate. For awhile one of my deafies had me convinced he could actually hear because he was so attuned to what the other dogs did.
Jana says
I have 2 barkers, but they limit their barking to critters in the yard, or people walking by out back. When they were 2 and 3 yrs, I had to have surgery and wasn’t very mobile. I’d already started the “yes I hear you, what is it” after a couple of barks and would get up and check it out or let them out to see what was bothering them, type of training, with praises when they stopped, but when my mobility was limited, I couldn’t get up to check. So I started keeping treats by my chair and after the first few barks, my verbal acknowledgement of what they saw, but NOT getting up, they started running to me, so I’d pet and praise and give a treat. But they weren’t getting to go out. To my amazement, that was the final piece of the training puzzle. They both stopped jumping up on the sliding glass door, both would run to me after the first few barks, and back to the door, but now would come back to me and settle down happily. Problem solved. I’m now mobile, but they are still just as good.
David Edelstein says
Our one-year-ago-rescued chocolate lab, Belle, also has a variety of barks. Most disturbing in the high pitched “pay attention to me” bark. I think translating the barks as “Hey” is pretty close to correct. Seems Gary Larson felt the same way: https://images.app.goo.gl/zQvGxhJU3ToVxvZ97
Orietta says
We had, I believe, a clear episode of barking to tell us there was a problem. Our labrador Bella was not a barker at all. One morning my husband put breakfast in her bowl without realizing that same was rotten (as she suffered from intolerances she was eating hake and corn mush), it was summer and probably the refrigerator was not cool enough. He put the bowl on the floor and went to reply to the phone or something like that in another room. Bella started to bark and when he arrived she continued to bark while looking at him and at the bowl alternatively. She had not touched the food just sniffed it, probably. When he took the bowl from the floor she stopped barking and followed him while he started to prepare a fresh breakfast… 🙂
Mary F. says
Trisha, how is it that you always post about something that is front and center in my life?
Not long ago, you posted about aggression, and we had JUST started dealing with our 8 month old Westie, who suddenly decided to growl, snap, and bite my husband anytime he approached me when the Westie was in my lap. (Protecting me?) We are now trying Calming Care…so far, it’s been wonderful – only one episode in almost a month! And the probiotics are helping his always messed-up gut!
Now you are posting about barking…we have a neighbor that HATES it when our dogs bark.
(She actually hinted that we should be using a shock collar!) Instead, we are working with a wonderful trainer. The funny thing about our pups’ barking is that it is usually aimed at that neighbor’s house (she used to have a dog, and I think our Cavalier King Charles remembers him…our Cavi is the instigator of most of the barking.) The other reasons that they bark are to warn us when a) the great big dog down the street is outside, b) neighbors are in their screened-in porches or in lit up windows at night, or c) someone is ringing our doorbell. So your description of “Hey! Hey hey hey hey!” is spot-on!
Right now, the name of the game is “patience, patience, patience.” We’re trying very hard to follow the recommendations of the dog trainer, and we have seen improvements. But I’d welcome fewer warnings from my four legged friends!
Mike Hancock says
We can definitely attest to the “get attention” theory. Our little guy has a time threshold for when we are eating at a table. It’s approximately 10-15 minutes. Once our time is up, our French Bulldog Fritz begins a daily routine where he demands our attention. It first begins with a whimper, then slowly devolves into a full blown barking fit. As soon as we make eye contact with him, he’s satisfied. 🙂
Ruth says
My little mixed breed barks for the usual reasons but not in excess. However, he does sometimes talk-back to me in specific situations when we do agility. Especially if I am asking for distance work, he will often stop and bark back at me. It’s a conversation: Me: go get in that tunnel! Lyle: I was thinking about it, but why aren’t you coming along? Me: Go tunnel! Lyle: You’re not the boss of me, I’m not going! Me: Go tunnel! Lyle: Fine, I’m going, but I’m not having fun! This conversation is usually accompanied by a lot of bouncing around by the dog and a generally defiant posture. If there is a line on the ground, as there is in competition, he totally understands that I stand on one side, he on the other, and we each plead our case about the situation at hand. He’s a wonderful teacher and enjoys sarcasm as much as I do!
nan kujolic says
Has anyone heard of barking becoming addictive?
At my home my dog will chase and race along the fence for the entire time the lawn guy is here and then she is so wild and hyped up that she actually tried to nip him when he came in. Normally a very sensitive dog, she seems to be in “another world” where input from me does not penetrate. Other times, when he hasn’t been mowing and just comes in, maybe to pick up a check, she is quite friendly to him. This excessive barking only occurs at my home or in my car.
I want to understand this so I can correct it as it’s a bad habit. Any insight appreciated.
Gayla says
Totally agree that neither hypothesis is exclusive. It seems illogical that the motivation would NOT be a combination of referential communication coupled with their internal emotional state concerning that particular stimulus.
I want my dog to bark. (It seems cruel to imagine taking that right away from her.) But I want her to use good judgement about when it’s appropriate and I expect her to stop after I have assessed the situation and assured her ‘that’s enough.’
Thank you, Chris from Boise for the link to the article. I’ve got a ‘stop barking at the dog next door’ behavior chain that I need to clean up! :>)
Susan Hudachek says
Looking for good ideas and suggestions for working with my 2 Collies and Aussie who bark at people walking dogs behind our fence. The people walking the dogs have been asked nicely to ignore my dogs and keep walking, but they think it is cute that the dogs talk to each other. If I go outside with treats, the dogs do not leave my side and I need them to potty and return inside. I do try and take them outside just one dog at a time, as if they all start barking it is more difficult to quiet them. My almost 3 year old Collie constantly barks for attention. We have been working on using the word ‘quiet’ and lots of praise and a yummy treat, but sometimes there seems to be no progress.
HFR says
And how about when the dog jumps up from what seems to be a deep sleep and goes tearing out of the room barking at who knows what. I swear, that annoys me more than the barking itself. I’m sure it’s because they can hear or smell something nanoseconds before I can, but, damn, it’s a good thing I don’t wear a pacemaker. I’d have been gone a long time ago.
Judith Friebert says
Hi. I am not a dog owner. I generally am ok with dogs but sometimes they scare me especially if they jump on me or bark threateningly at me. I am someone who loves animals theoretically and I adore cats and cows. Have a cat now. What bothers me is people owning dogs who seem to have no concept of how their chow barking might affect others. They just let them bark. I have dog owners on either side and spoke to both as kindly as I could. One was very defensive and said her dog never barks. Oh really? About two minutes later… WOOF! The 2 yappy dogs on the other side, the guy lets them out about 6 30 a.m. and yap yap yap. He said he would monitor them more closely..haven’t noticed much of a difference but he took a shot at the other people’s dog….now he is really loud!! Neither family takes their dogs for walks. They just let them run in the yard. Me? I guess it’s just too bad. I am in the minority. Dogs will be dogs…we can’t help it!!!! Grrrrrrr!!
Nannette Morgan says
Great post, Trisha! I have a question. What does “RHP” mean in the Morton reference link? I couldn’t find it in Google.
Re Barking – My two Siberians only bark when playing or trying to get the older one to play (i.e. my 5 yo male barks at my 12.5 female). My male will sometimes bark when I walk her and leave him home after his solo walk. It’s more a stress bark. The girl will bark if we are training and she wants her turn to
participate 😉
Jann Becker says
My goldendoodle, who turned 10 Sunday, seems to bark because it feels good, or maybe “there was a squirrel there 15 minutes ago, but let’s bark to be sure he doesn’t come back.” She gets into these “barkathons”–always has–that are really hard to interrupt and are a real pain at 11 PM after my spouse’s lights are out. As far as I can tell she’s not alarmed or upset; she just likes barking late on a pleasant evening.
This has been a bad influence on her little poodle brother, but he uses many more nuanced vocalizations for “What’s there? Is there something there? and the doggy subjunctive, “What would be there if anything were there?”
Peggy Perno says
My little Westie, George, passed away 3 years ago. He was nearly 13. He suddenly developed kidney failure. He was perfectly behaved except for trying to escape from the yard and barking. I could not control his barking. He barked at anyone or thing that passed the house and at neighbors in their yards. George would get into such a frenzy that I could not get his attention to apply any techniques.
I have a question on another topic. Do you think that dogs can be trained to alert their owner to an upcoming migraine? There is a rise in trainers who claim to be able to train service dogs to alert one hour before a migraine.
Ginny in WI says
We have two barkers: Scout, a 7-year-old female JRT, and Buster Brown a 6-year-old male JRT mix. At the time they joined the household we had 2 greyhounds, both retired racers. Now that was a culture shock on multiple levels. Greyhounds are a lot like living with cats–sleeping is a favorite activity and they rarely bark. You’d be hard pressed to find an easier dog to live with and I would certainly recommend them as great companions but, truth be told, I was a bit bored with the level of inactivity. And though I’d always favored big dogs, now that I’ve reached senior status, I’ve discovered that I really enjoy the smaller package. It’s great to be able to easily pick up my dog, and I love having my dog in my lap, especially on those cold winter evenings. And Scout is a total lap baby, so were both happy!
I’m with you in that my preference would be OK, bark a few times, and then give it a rest. I’ve had limited success on that front. I tell the dogs, “ok, that’s enough”, and I chose those words specifically to remind myself that it’s not reasonable to expect a JRT to behave like a greyhound and almost never bark. Scout will often stop at that point, but Buster is another story. With him I have to interrupt him with a treat, but then he’ll usually go right back to yapping his head off.
Ah, Scout–just thinking about her gives me a burst of oxytocin! I love this dog beyond all sense and reason. Out of curiosity, I recently made a list of all the dogs I’ve lived with as an adult and was surprised that there have been 16. I loved them all on at least some level and Frodo the Malamute was my once-in-a-lifetime dog. Or so I thought, because I’ve been blessed to have a 2nd one–my Scootie Scoot. Frodo was 4 when I rescued him and only 7 when I lost him to hemangiosarcoma. Scout and I have had 7 years to form an even deeper bond.
Back to the barking. I’ve read about the different types of barking–alert, demand, etc., but I think they also sometimes do it for fun. Years ago we had a vet who called it “recreational barking”. There may be an element of boredom relief in it, but sometimes it looks all the world to me like they’re barking for the sheer joy of it. It reminds me of Molly the greyhound who loved to dig. She’d be tempted by any soft spot of ground she found, which we would always interupt, except for one spot where we let her dig to her heart’s content. She’d dig a big hole and lay in it, for the cooler temperature I realize, but she clearly loved the digging itself. My husband would periodically fill the hole back in and then we’d get to watch her dig it out again. If she saw that we were looking at her she’d stop, so you had to watch from the corner of your eye. Those front paws would be flying and her whole body would be tense like a wound up spring; her eyes would be squinty and her commissure would be back as far as she could pull it–the same look some dogs will get when you’re scratching just the right spot. Then she’d fling her hips around a few degrees to the side so she could get those front paws flying from another angle. No one will ever convince me that she was feeling anything other than ectastic joy at the time.
Sometimes the terriers’ yapping feels like that to me, the act of barking is reinforcing in and of itself. Hey! Listen to me! Isn’t life great?! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Ravana says
My coydog used to have very distinctive barks for different things he saw. There was bunny (which included deer), squirrel, cat (which included opossums and skunks), bird on the ground, small strange dog, big strange dog, dog I know, human I know and human stranger. Then there were the combination barks; bunny-bird (female mallard ducks on the ground), cat-small strange dog (fox), squirrel-cat (raccoon) and my favorite big strange dog-human stranger (black bear–thank goodness because the only other option there was werewolf).
My current dog’s main bark is “Get off my lawn!” unless he is barking at me in which case it is “Pay attention to me!”
Bron says
mine has a few things she goes off at. One is the postie on his motorbike who gets the hysterical high pitched barking – but which she will come away from for a snuggle if i call her to me. Two is the cat on the street, loud but not hysterical but nothing will stop her except going and getting her away from the window. Three is another dog or person on the street or someone coming to the door, or up the driveway that she sees, or who knocks at the door and she’s not yet seen. That’s more of a loud bark that doesn’t last long. Generally till she “scares them away” (they always leave)! Interestingly if she knows the person at the door (neighbour or friend) she doesn’t make any noise which is annoying as they are the times i want to know there is someone there, not when the local evangelists come to visit!!
I work at a shelter and there is barking there for lots of different reasons. its so hard to tell what they are trying to say!
Helen says
Huh. I will get hold of one or both of those books as I have a mini-poodle who LOVES to bark. I think there is another category of barker; like the verbose human he barks for fun.
We were at the beach at 7am Sunday the other day. Not one other person in sight. It’s the middle of winter. He was so excited when let off the lead he ran around in very large circles having a good bark.
Also agree with Lyn (i think it was) I have “cleverly” taught my bichpoo to see look at someone, run near them, bark, then run bark to me for a treat. Bad timing on my behalf has resulted in this state of affairs. The mini-poodle then says, ‘Oh good. We are all barking. Let’s have at it then!”
Maree says
I am with you on the emotional and contextual crossover. And about the adaptation to human communication. For my talky kelpie, it is also just joy.
Trisha says
Absolutely agree some dogs bark in the context of what I think of as “happy arousal”. And oh yes, the unintended training result. Never happened to me, have no idea what you are talking about.
Trisha says
That is fascinating. Wish you had recordings! Brings to mind the research on vervets I mentioned who bark in very different contexts (ground predator, aerial predator, etc), as well as the research on Prairie dogs who also have very different barks for different objects approaching their dens.
Trisha says
Love the phrase “recreational barking”! And agree absolutely that barking itself can be reinforcing. Hey!
Trisha says
Interesting question Peggy, but I’m not qualified to answer it. The folks at the Working Dog Center at U Penn might be able to. I certainly think it’s possible, but I’d sure want to see well researched proof.
Trisha says
First comment I’ve ever heard on a doggy subjunctive, and I think you’ve made my day!
Trisha says
I’m guessing it stands for Resource Holding Potential.. but just guessing from the context.
Trisha says
Ah Judith, I am a dog lover extraordinaire, and I would hate living in between dogs who bark a lot. Honestly, you have every reason to be unhappy about the situation. I have had clients who recorded the dogs next to them and than made a formal complaint. That’s not going to make your neighbors happy, but if you’ve already tried talking to them sometimes it’s all you can do. I would suggest recording them and then playing it back sometime (over pie? cake?) so that they get a sense of what you are actually listening to. Good luck, my sympathies!
Trisha says
Or could they be dreaming? I think that’s a possibility too. You?
Trisha says
Barking is a tough one, it really is. Almost all dogs will eventually potty even if you have treats in your pocket. Try looking away from them, walking around, not looking at them, not saying anything. Keep going out every 10min or so when you know they need to go to get it started. That might help some at least.
HFR says
I would be interested in a study on whiners. My barker is also a big whiner. Wakes up in the morning and softly whines until I get up. I had another dog who also tended to bark easily and also loved to whine. I wonder if some dogs are “talkers”. Those who are just wired to communicate vocally. Altho my Sheltie never whined and they are champion barkers. Humans tend to interpret whining as being hurt or complaining, but not sure that’s what it really is. Maybe it’s just yearning, but that’s probably a human take too. One of those things I’d ask my dog if we were gifted 10 seconds when he could understand English.
Trisha says
Love the link to Dr. S’s post on behavior chains Chris, thanks so much for including it. And oh yes, chains are soooooo easy to train without realizing it!
Trisha says
Love the distinction between motivations or “message” of the barks! And I’d cut off a finger to have a video of the story you told about Ranger and his look of contempt when the beardie was barking reflexively. Oh that Ranger, what a dog!
Kat says
Trisha, I can’t provide a video of Ranger’s look of contempt to his barking beardie buddy (try saying that three times fast) but I thought you might like this photo of the two of them together. Any time they were walking together they walked like this. It was like they had magnets pulling them together. I’m told it’s a Beardie thing and wonder if it is because with all the hair beardies don’t have the best peripheral vision so if they walk together like this they can each scan one side easily. https://www.flickr.com/photos/33350160@N02/37037678195/in/photolist-YqTMmx-XtwX4N-WuTXS2-VnFsqh-UjGv6c-RqiUNQ-PzoeTX-QeQ9NU-NoUuPn-NoUqaT-P4Myto-NoUXLD-PpzDgf-NXHBfK-NK63dB-Lm1c6P-Mib6Bp-Lm1efi-M8gaWU-M8fJJu-LkTExr-LRm6i9-KZwyQQ-KCqi4M-JgeKnH-JLFdQG-JVBu1s-JVELrh-K5RkMz-J9qLCQ-HrigyN-J2EiyK-J2Fiqg-GnQRnD-FGNo5G-FLVfq6-FF41rv-EuPc8v-DWjHkP-ARpWxc-BpVZNs-AuEsUu-xRCjX9-xMCuXo-yJE1jt-ys3jaj-w8j1aj-wnzXJ9-uDvbHJ-vAuFkX
Laura says
I’ve probably said this before, but my dogs have had the bark sort of trained out of them. It’s not as though they don’t bark at all, and I’ve had friends who’s guide dogs were barkers out of harness, but I think the emphasis on lying quietly and being quiet during their time raised in the home as a puppy, as well as moreenforcement during formal guide training really compels them to stay quiet. At least that’s my thinking after observing them for so long. My first, Marlin, found his bark after he retired. It’s funny, he almost seemed happy and relieved to be able to do that. It wasn’t obnoxious, so I just let him do it when he felt like it. My second, Torpedo, was a fear barker. He’d give a low woof whenever he saw something that scared him. He’d give his alert woof in harness, but was much more controllable when I’d tell him to be quiet then, as opposed to when he’d give the same bark out of harness. I have heard Seamus maybe bark 5 times in our entire time together. He’s done it when startled out of sleep, when startled by a knock on the door, and once, when I wasn’t paying attention to him and he needed to go out. Other than that, he only barks when playing and I think he’s just super excited and having fun. All of that being said, he is the most vocal dog I’ve ever had. I don’t know if it’s his golden retriever half or what, but he’s grunty, whiney, yippy in dreams, and all sorts of other vocalizations, except barking. It’s like he thinks he shouldn’t bark, but any other noise is game. Still, I love him, and I don’t mind his many noises. He’s talky, and reminds me of my childhood dog, Laddie.
Judith D Thompson says
Trisha—I wish I had read about this in 2005–2012. I read “Other End of the Leash” in 2006 when we got our second golden retriever (out of hunting line—which we were warned not to do this if we were not hunters). We were running a employee camp at the time down by a lake. Sadie had a very high prey instinct and was always jumping at kids on the volleyball court or jumping at fishermen practicing they’re casts. Your book prompted be to go to a trainer which somewhat helped. Sadie had a habit of barking at rocks—sometimes for 10-15 minutes! She loved to out into the lake (about 2 feet from shore) and find a rock and bark at it—then we would wade out and leash her up and drag her out. When we would take her up on the hill away from camp (off leash)—she’d find a big rock and start barking. We got a third golden (this time very well chosen) when Sadie was about three and this calmed her down a lot—-but we could never stop the “rock barking” other than to leash her and take back to our enclosed porch. Love your books—you’re YouTubes, and this blog. We’re raising our 5th golden now—got her at 7 weeks (15 months ago). At 73—this has been a physically a real challenge– physically and emotionally— but she’s turning out beautifully. It’s been harder on my 78 yr old husband. But he now wants to get a champion for her! I treasure your advice and have mentioned you to many dog oweners.
Diane says
We are actually trying to teach our dog to bark. So far my husband trained him to bark at the breakfast table for “Scramblers”. ( I did warn “be careful what you ask for”.)
Really…my dog just sits at the door when the pizza guy delivers. The delivery person actually has to ring the bell for us to know he’s there.
Didn’t get thru all the comments because I cracked up at HFR’s Pacemaker line!
Vicki in Michigan says
HEY!! HEYHEYHEY!!! 🙂 🙂
I believe my corgis mostly barked to let the boss know something might need attention. If I ignored them, or didn’t attend to what was happening outside, they would keep barking. If I looked outside and told them “Thank you! I’ve got it now.” they would usually shut up.
My last corgi boy had the biggest difference between his play barks and his perimeter-watch barks. He had a high-pitched shatter-glass play bark. It was awful. Totally different from his deep round “person on the sidewalk out front!” big-boy bark.
With you on “let me know there’s something happening, then shut up.”
Our hound mix always joined the corgis in running to the window and barking. After the last corgi died, I thought he was deaf. There was no more “person on the sidewalk!!” barking. The truth turned out to be that he could hear perfectly well. He just Did. Not. Care. when people walked by. No more “HEY!!! MAIL CARRIER!!!” notification at our house…….
Diane Mattson says
Bridget barks at the usual stimuli, like people coming to the door or dogs barking outside. Come around 5:00, she’ll look at me, wander into the kitchen, wander back, look at me some more, and if I’m still not taking the hint, bark, “It’s time to make supper.” She also gives me a reminder bark if she thinks I’ve forgotten walk time. But if she needs to go outside, she will very silently slip over to the back door and lie on the rug. She never says a peep. She doesn’t scratch the door. I’ll just find her lying there, waiting very patiently, the quietest, most patient dog in the world….
Louise Peacock says
Drew has a ‘command’ bark -‘put the dish down NOW!’ or ‘open the door!’ types of moments. There’s a ‘frustration’ bark, a bit higher in pitch, when I tell him do something he doesn’t want to do, like go more than 10 feet from me. Then there’s a slightly deeper ‘alarm’ bark for people at the door, in the road, on the street; I have no idea if he’s alerting me, calling for backup, or warning strangers away. I’ve finally gotten him to stop when I ask — and that’s what I want; I actually prefer an alert to strangers.
William, on the other hand, had a purely social bark. He’d go out in the yard, put his nose in the air, and start to bark. Other dogs in the area would bark back. They’d exchange barks for a few minutes; then he’d just stand and listen to everybody else winding down.
Ellyn Kearney says
My service dog, Dexter, a yellow Labrador, has had an interesting relationship with barking throughout his life. I got him from a “breeder” – who I later discovered had no business calling herself such. Be that as it may, she told me he had shared a dog run with his brother Sam and often barked to induce Sam to play. Well, Sam was purchased first and the breeder feared Dexter would bark constantly. Instead, he ceased barking. When I brought him home, it became immediately apparent that he had been abused. He feared teenage boys/young men, leashes, startled when I stepped on a leaf and flinched when he saw a figure on tv raise his hand. Livid, I phoned the woman and let her know what I had discovered. Denial, of course. Crazy as it sounds, friends and I went into detective mode. We discovered that the woman had 2 sons, 18 and 20, who had a marijuana grow house on the property. (Hence the reason she wouldn’t let me go to her kennels.) Dexter was a year old when I got him and she had 7 more yearling males. Turned out her sons were tying them with leashes to the grow house door and antagonizing them so that they would bark, ostensibly trying to get the dogs to guard the weed. Dexter had ceased using his voice completely by the time I got him. Lots of love and positive training took away his fears, but he remained silent. Eventually, I really needed him to bark on cue as one of his service tasks, to let others know when I need help. Being a Lab, I knew food would be the only thing that could possibly coax a bark from him. Regular treats evoked nothing. I woofed, whined, barked holding tasty treats in front of him, just waiting for ANY noise to reward. At last, a tiny whimper! TREATS!!! A PARTY OF PRAISE!!! Again and again, I waited for something slightly louder & more akin to an actual bark. Suddenly, he barked once… a gorgeous, deep throated bark that surprised him! We celebrated that bark like a homerun at the World Series and then he just let loose! Dexter barked and barked and barked for joy! As a therapist, I saw a dog with PTSD-like symptoms finally realize that he had a voice and could use it and ENJOY it again. I can’t think about this without crying, it was such a powerfully healing moment. For a little while, he would give a cautious sideways look at me when asked to bark, as if to say “Are you sure?”, then he would bark more than necessary just because he could and it felt good. Now he barks when requested, sometimes to invite another dog to play and often in his sleep. He will never bark at the doorbell or a knock or a stranger approaching at night, but that’s fine by me because the most important thing to me is that he found his voice and his confidence again.
Trisha says
Well that’s about the most beautiful story I’ve heard in I don’t know how long. Thank you Ellyn and Dexter.
Charles Couturier says
The dog is an emotional creature (e.g. Temple Grandin).
There are probably as many variations of emotional states, that there are flavors of vocalization, not just barks.
Sometimes, with special breeds, such my Shiba Inu, the difference between barking and not barking is almost non significant. I can perceive the emotional state, well before hearing the first bark. Barking then, in her case, since she does this only 10-20times per year no more, simply means that this emotional state is now more intense.
As Dr. Yin mentions, context is relevant, but context does affect concsiousnes (a dog will never bark at something without first being conscious to some degree, about this thing), which in turn yields an emotional state.
I can only talk about Sana, my dog, but when she does bark, it is usually after 20min of observation, trying to make some sense of a situation she can not understand. Last occurrence, our neighbours were building a jaccuzy outdoor. She could see human head tops, hats, hear noises, but without understanding what they were actually doing.
Barking in this case, as well as any other behavioural displays, meant one and only one thing:
She was thinking out loud.