Barking is How Dogs Communicate
I can't tell you how many times we got asked if we had removed the voice box from our dog Sandy. We adopted this senior pooch after she was found in the city streets and didn't know anything of her past and whether she innately wasn't much of a barker or maybe punished for this behavior as we really couldn't get her to bark. We tried to teach her to bark at our back door to let us know she needed a bathroom break; Sandy would go to the door and it looked like she might bark but seriously it was like she just blew some air out.
Boon on the other hand is a talker. So much so that her nickname at rehab is Madam Speaker of the House 🤣. She isn't an incessant barker but she has opinions that she readily shares verbally either through tiny squeaks, mini woofs, bigger barks and other sounds spanning the gamut.
Let’s face it: even humans differ on how verbose we are and our styles of communication. Dogs are no different. So why do so many humans tell dogs to stop barking? It's kind of like telling a human to stop talking. Ok so there some situations where it may be inappropriate to talk eg being at the theater, or inappropriate to talk at a loud volume eg times where we use our ‘inside’ voice, but generally speaking if situationally and socially appropriate we don't tell another human to stop
See Kao had a sharp bark that kind of felt like fingernails on a chalk board. It was annoying at best but more likely horribly aggravating. It was also her way of telling us that she was uber concerned about something –like BIG worries. Rather than silence her, our job was to figure out what the worry was and help her in some way or manage the situation so she didn't need to resort to basically screaming “I'm not ok”.
I’ve talked to several folks recently who have dogs who bark when someone drops off a package or knocks at their door setting off the dog alarm. A lot of them shrug their shoulders and say they just put up with the noise. The thing is several of these peeps sought help because they are about to add a baby to their household and maybe hadn't thought about how the dog alarm might impact a baby’s nap time. Here again I'm not suggesting that the soon-to-be parents just tell the dog to stop barking. We talk about why the dog maybe has big feels about the door activity and the range of options to address the situation from management of the situation eg like packages get left at a location where the alarm dog won't alert, or you post a sign telling folks not to ring the doorbell if that's the trigger, to behavior modification like teaching your pooch that they have an option to flight vs fight when they get concerned about door activity.
One of the common scenarios that I see which make me have big feels is being outside and seeing a dog on leash barking and the human saying “Shush Snoopy, shush, quiet, stop, no Snoopy, no, no, no”, you get the picture. A lot of people just don't know dog body language so they misinterpret their dog’s communication. In these instances, 99.9% of the time Snoopy is concerned, worried, yes fearful and is barking to keep the scary thing at bay. Well the thing is if we tell Snoopy to cut it out or worse yet punish Snoopy for trying to tell you he’s worried, you increase the likelihood that Snoopy stops barking and then moves up his ladder of escalating communication because his feelings haven't changed, he’s still worried about whatever is setting him off. Snoopy may now resort to growling, air snapping or worse yet biting. Poor Snoopy is just trying to communicate as a dog that he feels uneasy, uncomfortable.
I’ve met a lot of dogs who go from zero to 60 resorting to behaviors like air snapping or bites. I often wonder if they lived in a world where the humans couldn't hear their whispers for help or just misunderstood or misread these behaviors.
Some of you may remember a book entitled “Men are from Mars, Women from Venus”. Jean Donaldson’s book “The Culture Clash” illustrates a similar story that dogs and humans come from different places and humans often misinterpret dog’s behaviors. We could greatly improve in this front by growing our understanding of dog body language which is their form of communication.
If you don't already have a copy of Lili Chin’s “Doggie Language: A Dog Lover’s Guide to Understanding Your Best Friend” get it today – you won't be sorry and your pooch will appreciate it.
Cheers Tracy
Photo credit to our friend Carol: https://www.clooneydog.com/
