What are you shouting for?

 

 Why does my dog bark? How can I stop my puppy barking? Questions trainers get all the time! 

The answer to the first question is fairly simple, the second one needs work! 

Simply, barking is a form of communication. Dogs primarily have complex communications via body language, each nuanced movement of the ear or tail can indicate a meaning, a word if you like, and when those movements in the body, ears, tail, eyes head, are put together there is the sentence, lots of different movements make up the story! 

Often part of this story are vocalisations. Growling, barking, whimpering, whining, howling. All also add extra meaning to the commuication.

As humans we are vocal communicators and so we notice barking or growling first, when in fact this is often only a part of the message a dog will add, when all the other indicators have not worked, or the recipient of the message cant see the body communication, such as in the dark, or through a fence, or over a distance, our sense of scent and hearing is really not as good as theirs and so we cant tell what they have noticed and need to respond to. 

What  do they bark for?

Turid Rugaas in her book "Barking the Sound of a Language"  suggests it is to express Excitement, Fear, Warning, Guarding, Frustration and Learned (because it has been self rewarding, been effective).  There is also a breeed propensity, dogs bred to alert or guard will be more likely to choose this as an expressive behaviour.

Warning/ Alerting  barking is familiar to most of us, the arrival of a delivery will elicit a flurry of barking to let us know  our house is about to be invaded! single but firm WOOF This is a really useful behaviour actually and one that goes back hundereds of thousands of years as dogs worked for their dinner and warmth by warning of predators. It can sound loud and rapid , sometimes with a little growl or whine. this can tip over to super excitement if the visitor predicts good things (mine love the amazon deliveries as there are boxes to explore!) or it can become worried if the visitor is not familiar or makes loud noises such as knokcing the door.

Fear - by this we could mean being startled by a noise, espcially if the dog has some pain or discomfort, ear problems can create a startle bark to the smallest noise. a general worry, or uncertainty of what might be happening, or through to full panic or really afraid for their safety and ours. It sounds high pitched and can get louder and higher, often accompanied by other behaviours like pacing or running around, this is the barking we see with Fireworks or storms or from Separation worries.

Barking at scary triggers is a reactivity need and is not covered by this blog. it needs very specific support to change the fear. 

Excitement or Attention  this is the most common barking need in puppies. They find their world exciting and the more they enjoy the feeling of having fun and being excitied the louder and bouncier their barking becomes. This can lead to over excitement (over arousal) and then the puppy becomes bitey and struggles to think and manage themselves. Puppies also learn the power of attention barking quickly, this can lead on to Learned Barking  where their barking has got the result they wanted efficiently and consistetly, even if it is a negative response for them. 

How do we help them to learn to moderate it?

Barking is not only a common complaint from guardians about their dogs to professionals but it is also one of the main reasons there are complaints ABOUT our dogs from others.  This is especially true with separation fears and frustrations, that is a focus for a different blog.

Garden barking /window barking/ alert barking are the  next most common issues raised. This type of barking comes from worry or concern or a fear. The dog will react to an environmental trigger and as their body language response is ineffective they will need to use a vocal response. this is often something we are not aware of, or seems so everyday to us, such as someone walking along the road or a sound from next door when out in the dark. 

A word about Village chats!  Tilly my sweet girl loved a chat, and at 8pm some night (wherever we lived) would ask to go out for a wee, in fact she just wanted a local chat! It could be like 101 Dalmations! She learned that it would be interrupted, but we did not punish it or shut it down totally , it was part of her Being a Dog in a Human world, channeling her inner wolf!  She had a few sentences grace and then knew it was time to go in.

Each dog is different and some are really sensitive to specific worries, or need to check out the local dogs!

Learned Barking Once the behaviour has been successful it is more likely to be repeated as a first and early response.

 If the dog walking along the road disappears when our dog barks through the window, it worked , they told it not to be in front of house and the dog / postman/ delivery/dustman has left! Job done! Efficiently! 

The same for the puppy who, having been worried once , perhaps going out for a pre bed wee and owl hooted or mouse ran across the grass, or leaf fluttered down or local dog barked. They bark or startle or rush indoors and we come and support them, helping them feel safe, they can then learn to bark to get rid of the scary stuff right before they go out. They learn to feel safe proactively. 

Attention and Play Barking is similar. they can learn that by barking at you for play (or dinner or treats or a walk) gets what they want. Sometiems we dont even notice this is what they are doing and respond to just stop the barking - JOB DONE! quickly and efficeiently a bark for attention got it! 

Things to try 

• Keep a diary , date , times, how long, what kind of bark, what set it off, where does it start? what did you do? why did he stop? 
• Manage the environment to stop the behaviour being practiced, window film is a great protector for window barking, accompany the puppy and be supportive when they are outside, practice outidside being calm as well as fun. 
  
• Distract before it starts, break the chain, but beware of the trigger or bark predicting your attention!! Steve Mann has a great technique "to the Fridge" in the book Easy Peasy Puppy Squeasy.
  
• Learn an "All Done" signal such as a flat palm facing the dog. Use it in play, or for training time to indicate this is time to stop and settle down, add the settle down after,
• Learn "thank you" or "enough" to mean " Ive noticed you come here and Ill pay you. (Diane Garrod has a great You tube - 3 Bark Rule)
  
• Improve the focus relaitionship in general so the puppy/dog will be more likely to come and seek your support with confidence.  
  
• A word on Tools. Do not be tempted by antibark devices. Instead of helpiing the dog feel better they work by adding startle fear or discomfort to prevent the barking, thus adding fear to any other reason. 
• If it becomes too difficult and the dog is becoming anxious then seek the support of a professional. 

 

 This Blog is a tiny summary of what to expect  in the soon to be published book from Peaceful Paws. A unique new look at common puppy problems. With lots of ideas for games and activities to help, it will look at ways we can set up the whole family for fun and  successful relationships, watch out for more tasters.