Dog Barking Sounds

Credit: Wikimedia Commons: {{Information |Description=OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- Norman, a 55th Security Forces Squadron military working dog, waits to be unleashed and go after his target during training April 17. The Offutt K-9 unit performs regular trainin

Learning what your pet's dog barking sounds mean will help you better understand your animal's dog bark,and what it wants or is feeling. Listen carefully to your dog's sounds, and watch the behavior of your pet, and you will understand what your dog is saying to you

Noisy?

A lot of people consider the dog bark sounds noisy and not good. But, why do dogs bark - the bark is a primary means to express certain things to others of its kind. Most people, being unfamiliar with dog barking, have no idea what the dog barks about.

Training

Training about barking should, like most other training, be done as a puppy, but it is never too late to train a dogs barking and good behavior. If you want to moderate your pets activity, you will need to reward it once he stops and is quiet, that way you are training the non-barking activity. You want your dog noisy only when the circumstances call for dog noise. Do not reinforce the barking by trying to pet him or talk calmly to him while barking, he will understand this to mean "keep it up," rather firmly and sternly tell the him "No!" and then call him to some other activity like "Come here" or "Get the bone", and only when he calms down reward the activity you really want.

Wolves and Dogs

While adult wolves can bark, their means of sending messages is primarily through the howl. Puppies bark, and so do young wolf puppies. The theory is that canines, as they parted from the common ancestor of the wolf, retained the juvenile characteristics of the wolf cub. Indeed, as they became domesticated from the wolf, the juvenile qualities of the wolf cub, like being submissive, would naturally be something that humans would want to keep in the animal, along with retaining the juvenile qualities which were sought also came the bark that juvenile wolf cubs make.

Attention!

A canine will try to bring to the master's attention something it considers important by barking. When it is barking to call attention to something that is happening in its environment, it will not stop until the event does, or the owner comes to see and reacts to the event. The bark in this case is not meant to show aggression or hostility, but only to serve to draw attention to something.

Alarm Bell

Humans domesticated the canine, and learned to use its bark as an early warning system. We first domesticated the pet in part as an alarm system for danger to the camp or village. Here anything that comes into the village in an unexpected way, or is at first recognized as something the master may want to know about, received reward when the barks told the master and warned him of the approach. Thousands of years of breeding for this behavior results in the familiar barking of your pet when you arrive home from a day of work.

Back Off Buddy!

There is also the more aggressive barking when a threat comes near, or if the it feels that its territory is violated and that it may have to engage in a fight. This bark starts off with a low growling sound, then barking increasing in loudness and may end up as a howl. This kind of barking needs understanding quickly and back off response from humans is in order.  If you are adopting a rescue dog, paying attention to the barks is important to understanding some of the trauma it may have experienced.

Attention or Bite

These two types of barking, the wake up and pay attention bark, and the look out I'm about to bite bark, are the major barks. They, in normal household circumstances, use the pay attention bark for getting many things they want.

What it all means Alfie

When hungry, or wanting water, to show excitement, stress, or fear, when he wants someone to play with him, these all use the pay attention bark.  Do not be fooled however, sometimes he barks just because he can. He barks to play. Like a child he makes noises when he plays.

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