It's hard to talk about, work with, or even think about dogs without broaching the topic of barking. Even the absence of barking is frequently noteworthy.
As a matter of fact barking can be a very big issue. The sort of issue can lead to dogs being rehomed or...worse. Coppinger and Feinstein ("Hark! hark! The dogs do bark ... and bark and bark"; Smithsonian 1991 - can't find a link.) once recorded a dog barking for seven hours straight.
Why do dogs bark? From an evolutionary context, that's a good question. While wolves and coyotes are capable of barking, it is very rare. Belyaev's famous foxes famously do, much like dogs. (Silver foxes normally do not bark very often.)
I can think of four main "types" for barks off the top of my head, and since that is exactly where this blog entry is coming from, those are the four I will list.
Dogs have very limited vocal abilities, so just like with a dog's body language, context is very important when interpreting a bark. What I find most relevant in terms of the bark itself is the tone and the duration. Generally speaking lower tones are more threatening while higher tones tend to be less so. Likewise, longer sounds tend to also be more urgent or threatening.
- Alert or "Hey! There's something going on over there!" Barking This tends to be a mid-to-high pitched bark, delivered in bursts of short barks. I hear this one whenever Caffeine hears a vehicle on our street that she doesn't recognize. (We live on a quiet street.) I also hear it when occasionally when Buddha hears an "interesting" siren. It indicates something new or interesting, but not necessarily threatening.
- Alarm or "I don't want to hurt you!" Barking - this is very low in tone and tends to start with a harsh growl. The barking portion tends to be longer in duration. This indicates something threatening or maybe even scary. Gage did this one a lot shortly after he came to our home. We hear it a lot less often now, but since he is fully grown with a huge, deep, chest, I have to say it's really effective. Last week a loose dog, while I was distracted at the far end of the classroom, walked up and apparently sniffed Gage's crate. The entire room stopped while the poor dog bolted back to her human very quickly.
- Distress barking - for a variety of reasons our dogs sleep in their crates more often than not. Twice now Caffeine has woke me up because of an emergency. (Each time one of the other two dogs had become ill...but that's another discussion.) The barking woke me up instantly both times. Problem is, I don't know exactly what it sounded like. (Maybe very high in pitch??) It does however, make me think of that one cry a baby has that instantly gets your attention.
- Play barking - I have two Border Collie mixes, and a few of my friends have Aussies, so I see quite a bit of vocal play. These barks tend to be high in pitch and very short. However they are less "clustered" than alert barks.
Any thoughts? Anything I got wrong or left out? Let me know!
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Very interesting! I'm busy
Very interesting! I'm busy trying to recall the barks my two do. Sheba is a GSD crossed with anyone's guess. She is noted for her deep voice, but there is one instance her bark goes very high-pitched and squeaky. That's when she's chasing something fast like a greyhound and can't catch up with it. Then we hear these silly yips coming from her. Frustration, I think. I don't remember her ever doing 2 or 3.
Teddy is a malamute, and he does number 2 if there's something really scary like a bag caught on a bush or a balloon! His barking isn't straight forward, but often gets mixed up with a howl. He finds it difficult to contain himself when too excited, and then he'll do these howl/growls.
Certain types of "aggression" from other dogs towards Sheba will evoke different responses from her. The other day there was a terrier doing a lot of low growling with some barks in it at Sheba, and she began to markedly sniff the floor.
Isabel
Dr Isabel Towers (Member APDT 00806) For dog training and behaviour work around Leeds and Yorkshire please visit http://bouncenpounce.bounceme.net
Look at Me!
I asked Kendal Shepherd about this recently at a talk she gave on the Dangerous Dogs Act and the Ladder of Aggression.
Her feeling was that a bark is signalling 'Look at me' and body signals offer the explanation. Interesting in the context of this great blog!
Karen Wild, Member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC)
Towards accreditation and better practice in the UK
Internal Conflict
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090714210137.htm
This study sheds a lot of light on why dogs bark.
Doh!
I had forgotten about that study! I definitely would have mentioned it. I may still in another post. While I think the "mobbing" call is probably pretty close to what I called the "alert" bark, I found most of the reports on the study very perplexing. I guess I would need to suck it up and buy the paper.
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Eric Goebelbecker
More barking with age?
Interesting blog and great photo. My comment is not about why my dog barks - It's definitely alert barking with new sounds, as I also live on a very quiet street. But, I'm starting to notice that my dog is barking more and more with age. He's a 6 1/2 year old Yellow Lab. He follows the "quiet" command well, but I find myself saying it a lot more than I used to. Any suggestions as to how to stop this from increasing?
Lisa Spector Co-Creator of Through a Dog’s Ear
More barking with age?
Difficult to say why it would happen more with age. Do you mean he is more apt to bark at things that he would ignore in the past, or that he is getting more exicted and barking more vigorously? Is it possible that your telling him to quiet is actually reinforcing the behavior by completing a chain?
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Eric Goebelbecker
various alerts
Hey Eric,
One could definitely expand upon the types of alerts, and the degrees or levels of threat percieved. As Eric well knows (we're personal friends, end disclaimer ;^), when our 2 dobes and Leonberger alert, the house lights up. There is the most common 'there's something out there' alert, generally the same with squirrels, turkeys, deer, etc. Usually only the dobes do this. There's the similar but less convincing 'hey, I *think* there's something out there', which only one dog will do, the other taking a quick look but not joining the alert. But let there be a bear outside the fence, and all three immediately take off like a shot, racing up the hillside in unison, that more intense alert/threat bark instantly recognized by my wife and I as the 'bear alert'. The 'another dog, another dog!' alert, also intense, but higher in frequency (both in pitch and barks-per-second) which also causes the three to take off, but obvious to the humans as excitement, not threat. And let's not forget the 'Mommy's Home!' alert, the most happy-excited of all.
One point I'm trying to make here is that there is a 'level of urgency' communicated between them, as witnessed by whether it's one dog, both dobes, or (now we're talking serious) something that get's the Leo off the floor.
The "mobbing" mentioned in the article is very interesting, if one of ours is outside and alerts, the other two will generally want to go out and assist, again with differing levels of intensity (run to the door and look, attempt to charge thru door, stand on deck and look, immediately run off deck, etc.)
Steve Bullwinkel
To answer your questions
Thanks for your advice Eric. I think he is more apt to bark at things that he would have previously ignored. I don't think it's more excitement or more vigorous barking. And, yes, I think it's very possible that I did start reinforcing the behavior as I used to reward him with a treat when he would follow the command "quiet". I now only use a "good boy" reward, but he never forgets where and why he was given treats. (He is a Lab!) So, I'm not quite sure how to stop the chain. On the other hand, he's really a terrific watch dog. I can count on one hand the number of times my previous dog (Golden Retriever) barked in his entire 14 years. It's been interesting watching both sides of the spectrum. As a side note, we do agility, and he's never once barked at an agility trial or practice or while running. He just doesn't ever "play bark."
Lisa Spector Co-Creator of Through a Dog’s Ear
Recognition is half the battle
Great post, Eric. I think it's important for owners to know what their dogs specific barks mean. My Lab has a big throaty bark to tell me someone's near the front door, but his distress bark is virtually a hound-like howl. When I hear him bark from afar, I know whether or not it is urgent for me to respond.
Sarah Westcott, CPDT-KA
www.doggieacademy.com