Good Types of Dog Barking

Posted by Puppy Trainer on October 14th, 2009 filed in Dogs

My neighbor’s dogs barked all night-close enough and loud enough to keep me awake. There was a full moon out, and so were the area’s coyotes-yipping and howling and disturbing all the dogs that live around her. My own dogs barked when the coyotes first started in, but stayed quiet the rest of the night after I quieted them with a command. Apparently the neighbor’s sleep like the dead, because they never quiet their dogs at night.

As I thought about the all night barking, it was obvious that even though dogs may start their barking for a good reason sometimes, when it is out of control it is a problem just like any other form of barking.I felt like the owners were at least as much at fault as their dogs-if not more-for not correcting the problem.

Even though our dogs may have a good reason to start barking, as their owner it is my job to keep it under control. There are some very good reasons my dogs will bark, and I would not want to change that.

Check out these more acceptable reasons for your dog to start his barking. You can see that these reasons for barking are just part of a dog’s communication and are not dog barking problems derived from any behavior problems.

• One very good reason for your dog to bark is to warn you that something (perhaps a stranger or another dog) is coming your way. This type of warning is something you want to have from your dog, and so you will not want to discourage it. Having said that, your dog should be willing to stop his barking as soon as you tell him to stop. For instance, if your dog starts barking because he sees  someone getting out of a car in front of your house,  and you can see the person is not of any danger, you should be able to stop your dog’s barking  with a simple command. Of course if the visitor is someone you really don’t want visiting (your mother-in-law or something) you may decide to let your dog’s barking continue a while-(just kidding). The key is to be able to control the dog barking. Although these reasons for dog barking are OK, other reasons indicate dog barking problems needing to be controlled.

• A dog will bark when he is very happy and excited about something that is going on. When I play with my dogs, they bark at me and at each other-but all in fun. This is the doggy’s way of saying he is having a lot of fun, and wants even more. If one of the dogs starts barking too much from all the excitement I will then tell him to quiet down.  A little excited barking is one thing, but constant loud barking is quite another and should be stopped. Because your dog may develop a barking habit from too much excitement if you don’t limit it while playing, you need to pay attention to that.
• Often dogs will start barking when their master comes home. This type of excitement barking is typical, and not a problem if it is limited to a few greeting barks. My dogs always greet me at the gate when I come home, and I don’t mind a couple barks because that is all there are. If the dogs keep the barking up ,even after you’ve greeted them back, then it is not such a “good barking” anymore. If the dogs don’t stop barking very shortly after your arrival, the barking has become a problem, and needs correction.

• Your dog uses its bark sometimes to say it wants to play.  If they continue barking at you to play, they are actually bullying you in a way. I know because I used to be a sucker for this with my Lab, and she had me well trained to play ball with her whenever she wanted. this is not a good thing, because as the Alpha dog, you must be the one to decide when playtime starts, not the dog. Otherwise you are letting the dog be the boss of you, and that isn’t good for your ability to train him. Don’t let your dog bully you into playing-remember, you must be the leader, the Alpha dog.

I think you’d agree the above barking behaviors are not troublesome-unless they are out of control. However, most of the other reasons dogs bark create a disturbance and should be corrected.

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