Why dogs bark
Picture this, youre walking in the park, minding your ownbusiness when suddenly a dog comes up to you and starts barking.You start to panic because there is no reason for this dog to bebarking at you.
Why is this dog barking?
Dogs bark because we humans want our dogs to bark. For years ourdomestication process and selective breeding has allowed ourdogs to develop their barking abilities. Wolves dont bark, sothrough genetic engineering and the selective breeding process,dogs these days have the ability to retain juvenilecharacteristics. This is through the process known as neoteny.
Humans have chosen to retain the infantile traits of wolves likelarge heads, flat faces, large eyes and of course the ability tocommunicate, barking. Barking was further developed in dogs inorder to scare intruders or to help the master out (i.e. onfarms to assist in gathering the sheep).
Most dogs simply bark to communicate, to get attention, orsimply to show their excitement. Training and lifestyle areimportant factors in teaching the dog how to communicate withits master.
Dogs are extremely social animals. Wolves themselves alwaystravel in packs are usually never alone. Bringing a dog intoyour family is basically like bringing a wolf into a pack. Itbecomes a part of the family. Try not to leave it aloneotherwise it will feel as if it was abandoned by the pack. Dogsare like having a baby in the house. They need love, attention,and someone to be there to take care of them. Like people theyneed a companion to blossom. Meeting your dogs emotional needfor companionship and play will allow the two of you to form astrong bond together.
Sometimes having a second dog in the house can minimize thebarking and minimize the loneliness. Although this may berewarding at some
times, it can also be a pain. Your best betwould be to maximize training of your dog when it decides tobark. Sometimes having two dogs may cause havoc because they mayteach each other to bark more. From the example above, dogs whobark at people are trained in a specific way. Everything boilsdown to how the owner trains their dog. If you reward the dogfor barking, then the dog will understand that its a good thingto bark. If you dont reward the dog for barking, the dog willunderstand that its a bad thing to bark. If you are trainingyour dog to become a watchdog, sometimes their barking can bevery selective and discriminating with certain people. Sometimesthey may just bark at anything they see. It is important totrain these dogs by developing their intelligence level and howthey interpret various events.
Dogs who simply bark because of activity or excitement arerelatively hard to eliminate. Most of the time these dogs areunaware of their barking and in turn becomes a process that ishard to eliminate. You must turn to a dog trainer who teachesthe dog to debark.
Debarking can be somewhat inhumane because the dog is trained tolet out a low, raspy bark which cannot be heard from more than afew feet away. If you consider the process of debarking your dogyou must weigh the pros and cons. It can be beneficial in thesense that your dog will no longer be the irritating dog on theblock who barks at anything he sees but may be a problem if thedog is in danger. As an owner you would want to know where thelocation of your dog was if it was in danger.
About the author:
Cindy Frendo runs her own puppy training and dog training schoolfrom her hometown of Ottawa, Canada. She also runs her ownwebsite at puppytrainingrevealed.com
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