When we ran the pet resort, one of the things that became increasingly difficult to bear as time went on, was the cacophony of dogs barking together, and yes, often, right in our ears. The General and I were fascists about not letting anyone into the kennel to disturb the dogs’ routine, because while they did quiet down pretty quickly once they got over their first sight of us and got on with walks or playtimes or whatever was on the agenda, the sight of a stranger, especially with a dog, would set them all off roaring. Once they were quiet, all the gods in the pantheon showing up together complete with lightening bolts and magical hammers, would not have been permitted to get to anywhere near the dogs and start them all off again.
“Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear.”
– Dave Barry
Why do dogs bark?
Their job is to bark at strangers to warn of danger. Anyone who takes exception to this is blaming the dog for doing what she has been bred to do. In the pet resort, we were resigned to the fact that the dogs would pretty much all bark when people other than us appeared at the kennel.
Barking is a form of communication and so it takes different forms, according to what they are trying to say.
We also expected the dogs would bark when we appeared. It was a form of welcome, and an expression of delight because they knew when we came in, frolicking would shortly follow.
Many dogs will bark at intervals as an adjunct to play. If you are holding out a toy or treat, they know you are teasing them by delaying giving it to them.
Some bark because they are demanding a specific action, or are excited by play. You can quiet them down by distracting them or giving in to their wishes.
Some breeds are noisier than others. Beagle are famous barkers, although we have known many quiet ones as well. Terriers can be persistent in making noise. Little dogs generally have a reputation for being yappy. A friend of ours who owns a Pomeranian subject to such fits, gives her a time out when she persists. Not all barkers are tiny dogs though. One of our most persistent noise makers was a Finnish Spitz.
There were the dogs who communicated with a gentle song. The Samoyeds and Huskies often talked to us musically to express themselves. A sort of “aroo” which could be an invitation or demand (“Aroo!), or a question (”Aroo?”), or simply an affirmation that they were there.
As opposed to barking, howling generally happens only in response to a specific stimulus – the sound of someone singing, or a siren. Or another dog howling. In the wild, wolves howl to announce their presence or to make contact with others.
Some dogs seem to get a sort of shivery enjoyment from the stimulus/howling combination, like this piano playing Beagle who torments himself by hitting a key, then howling.
Some of us can’t resist the impulse to induce a dog to howl for fun. Whipper was a Redbone Hound who used to board with us. We had a nighttime routine where we visited each dog in his room and stayed with them for a bit, patting them, talking to them, telling them their names and how many sleeps til they went home. As you began to pat Whipper he would start quietly going “Woo. Wooooo.” I’d start “Wooing” back. Whipper’s woos would increase until he finally broke into full voiced song. It was glorious. The more I laughed, the more he howled and thumped his tail. He was a showboat and knew exactly the response he would get.
Some hunting dogs howl to announce they are in pursuit, or have cornered their prey. Howling may also signify that the dog is hurt or in pain.
Some dogs will howl when they are sad. Taffy used to do it when John left him alone with me. Not that I took it at all personally. Nope. Not at all.
Howling dogs feature in the folklore and myths of many cultures.
The dogs of ancient Rome were said to howl before Caesar was slain. Virgil, another Roman, stated that dogs howled at the approach of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, ghosts and necromancy (the raising of the dead). The Irish Wild Hunt is led by a pack of howling dogs. So of course your dog will howl when the phantom hunt rushes by.
One of the most charming myths is a Norse legend that features both howling dogs and cats. Freya, who was the goddess of war and death as well as love and fertility (hey, love is a kind of battleground so it makes sense), rode around in a chariot drawn by cats. So of course, dogs would howl when the transportation felines went by.
In the movies, a howling dog is almost always a portent of impending death or disaster. When one sees a dog howling at nothing, it does send an atavistic shiver up the spin. Does the howling dog sense the presence of the Grim reaper approaching?
When used as a form of communication, both howling and barking are understandable and therefore tolerable.
But life can be rendered hideous by the dog who insists on continuously barking no matter where he is, or what the circumstances are. Some dogs, if they were awake, just seemed to be compelled to engage in periodic episodes of mindless noise making, even when you are standing right there.
Since we worked hard to keep our dogs happy, the sound of a mournful howl rising eerily over the kennel after everyone else had settled down to rest, engendered in me a deep resentment. I just spent twelve hours trying to keep you happy, occupied and comforted. And this is the thanks I get??
No matter how I reasoned to myself that I was anthropomorphising, the feeling was hard to resist. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth is an ungrateful dog,” I would soliloquize to myself.
If the howling or barking erupts because of a specific reason, then it should stop when the catalyst is removed. For example, when that beagle stops playing the piano, he’s stop howling. Once the visitors are inside the house and introduced to the dog, she will recognize there is no threat and stop barking.
But certain dogs just don’t know when to quit.
What can you do?
The easiest thing to do, if your dog is barking or howling beyond all reason at a specific stimulus, is to remove the object of her obsession if possible. Turn off the radio. Close the drapes so she can’t see the squirrel in the yard or the people passing by.
… of barking.
Give her a time out in a room where the windows are too high for her to see out of.
Otherwise, as with almost all training, it’s a question of applying behaviour modification techniques through a combination of reward and desensitization.
If you think your dog is barking to get your attention, you must never give the dog that attention while he is barking, even to tell him to stop. There is a school of thought that says if you yell at your dog to shut up, she’ll think you’re barking long with her.
Make your barking dog stay, even if you have to crate her. Sneak around the corner out of sight and the second she stops, come back in, praise her and give her a treat. Wait until she stops barking, even that takes an hour, and even if it is only for a second. As soon as she stops, appear with the positive reward.
A good command to teach for stopping barking is “Go to your place”.
First, make sure he knows the “Stay” command. Then throw a treat or toy onto his bed or into his crate and say “Go to your place” when he gets to the bed or crate. Then tell him “Stay”. Gradually phase out the treats.
Once he is going to his bed or crate reliably without a treat when told to “Go to your place”, you are ready to begin giving him that command when the stimulus that results in continuous barking appears. For example, the next time the doorbell rings, make him go to his place and give him a treat. The answer the door. Lavishly praise him when you return.
If she barks nonstop when she is out in the yard, never leave her out there unsupervised until she has learned not to do it. How do you teach her that?
Alway take her out on lead. If she starts barking, turnaround without saying anything and take her back in the house. I would also put a slip collar on her, and give her a correction while saying “No!” in an authoritative voice. I know that in this ‘positive only’ training age though, many people will feel that is harsh and cruel.
Although it seems counterintuitive to teach your dog to bark on command, this is actually another useful tool in the fight to stop him barking when you want him to be quiet.
Teach your dog to “Speak” by ringing the doorbell or doing something else that sets him off. While he is bark, repeat “Speak” . Don’t otherwise reward him. Once he is barking on command, teach him to be quiet.
Give the “Speak” command. When he stops barking, say “Hush” or “Quiet”, praise him and give him a treat. He will eventually realize that being quiet on the command results in a rewaard. Stretch out the time he must be silent before getting his reward. Eventually you should be able to dispense with the reward, and just give praise.
Another method is to introduce a different stimulus or behaviour inconsistent with barking.
If for example, your dog has a habit of lunging and barking at dogs you pass when out walking, the along a favourite toy, ball or a treat every time you go for a walk. Show him the toy, ball or treat before he notices the other dog and starts barking. Praise him and keep his attention on you. As you get close enough for him to see the other dog, give him the toy or treat. Once it’s in his mouth, he can’t start barking without dropping it.
If he does that, pick it up, turn around and hurry in the other direction speaking in a high, excited voice to keep his attention away from the new dog.
So if you can fix the barking or howling problem with these techniques, why are there so many barking or howling dogs?
The same reason there are so many badly behaved, untrained dogs in general.
Because, as with all training, you have to be consistent. You can never let it pass. The longer you let it go on, the harder it is to stop. Everyone in the family has to be on board. It takes a long time, and a lot of patience to do these things and finally see results. and too many people would rather yell at the dog, or even surrender them to a shelter than make the serous effort it takes to correct this behaviour.
If training is too daunting for you, there are a few tools you can try before you give up and resign yourself to life with a furry noise machine.
There are anti-bark collars that are designed to discourage your dog from barking. They have a small box with prongs that fit against your dog’s neck. When he prongs detect vibrations from your dog’s vocal chords the collar delivers either a small shock, a high pitched annoying sound or a spray of citronella into his face.
It’s aversion therapy. In theory, your dog learns that every time he barks, something unpleasant happens.
There are difficulties with these collars (aside from the questionable humaneness of the shock).
The handler has to learn to put the collar on correctly. Sometimes the prongs are too short and fail to detect the vocal chords vibrating. Some of the shock collars are remote controlled by the handler. that means that unless the handler is present and ready to trigger the collar, the dog’s barking will go uncorrected.
As the nylon collar gets older, it may stretch and sag, putting the dog’s throat out of reach of the prongs.
These collars may react to give a ‘false positive’ vibration, sending the aversive sensation when the dog is not even barking. The dog will have no idea why he is being subjected to a shock, noise, or citronella spray.
The collars can teach the dog to detest the stimulus for barking, and make them even more reactive. After all, not only is that hated neighbour’s cat on the other side of the fence, his appearance results in pain or discomfort. Now, whenever the doorbell rings, there is a spray of that nasty stuff in the face. Now strangers in the house bring with them an irritating high-pitched whine.
Do they work?
They can, if the users are prepared to understand what they have to do and use them correctly and consistently. In a survey of over 1,000 users of such devices, two-thirds of respondents reported some improvement in their dogs’ barking. The survey was conducted by PetSafe, which you may feel makes it less than reliable because they have a vested interest in selling such devices. However, the results seem to be born out by the product reviews on their website, where the collars on offer average between three and four stars out of five.
We had some dogs come to the pet resort with antibark citronella collars. We were never very impressed with them, but then in fairness, we never really made the effort to try to get them to work properly.
We preferred the Husher device.
This looks like a muzzle, but has some a fair amount of give to the mesh sides, so it allows for panting and even drinking.
The dog has to force his jaws apart to bark, so it acts as a deterrent. After a while they get annoyed with the effort and stop the noise.
You should not leave the device on too long, especially in the heat. While the dog could get a drink and pant, their ability to do so will be compromised by the Husher. Never leave it on the dog when you are not there.
As with head halter restraining devices, dogs generally will hate having this on their heads. On the plus side, they will be distracted from whatever caused them to bark as they struggle to get out of it.
The General’s Taffy dog was a barker (and howler). We tried the Husher on him and got great results. Mostly, because he hated it, so eventually just showing it to him was enough to make him turn away; disgusted, but quiet.
We bought a number of them in varying sizes and used them to some effect on the handful of really persistent barkers at the pet resort.
There are also devices you can hang up in a room indoors or outdoors which emit an ultrasonic noise to discourage barking. If outdoors, it may even stop your neighbour’s dog from barking.The sound starts whenever the noise of barking is detected. It stops when the barking stops. The reviews are mixed. Some love it; some say it is worthless. PetSafe does clearly state the limitations, and acknowledges that it’s effectiveness will vary according to the age of the dog (older dogs may not hear the noise), size and number of dogs for example. They do offer ea money back guarantee, so it might be worth a try.
One way or another, you can probably solve your barking problem. Keep looking for that technique or device at the end of the rainbow both you and your dog can live with.
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