Do Dogs Bark Unnecessarily or Excessively?

If you want to know why a dog is barking a lot, ask them why they're doing it

Dr. Stanley Coren's essay "A Quick Fix for a Barking Dog" with a subtitle that reads, "Here is simple way to temporarily control excessive barking by a dog," generated numerous emails this morning. Some of the words used to describe dog-human relationships caught my eye, and I agree with Psychology Today writer Katherine Compitus's response to Dr. Coren's essay called "We Should Watch Our Words When Speaking About Animals" with the subtitle, "The words we choose to describe animals affect our relationships with them."

Dr. Coren basically suggests that one way to stop a dog from barking is to use methods that their wild relatives often use to stop others from barking. He writes, "To quiet barking, the dominant animal places its mouth over the offender's muzzle, without actually biting, and then gives a short, low and breathy growl. The low growl will not be heard very far, and it is short in duration. The mouth over the muzzle is not actually inflicting pain, so there is no yelping or attempts to escape. Silence usually follows immediately." He then goes on to instruct humans how they can mimic these behaviors, assuming that from a functional—training/teaching—point of view, a dog's human can play the same role as could other dogs. We must be very careful when making this assumption.

Some of the comments on Dr. Coren's piece deal with his coverage of these techniques along with concerns about where we fit into our dog's social world. In "Dominant Alpha Humans Don't Garner Dogs' Respect and Trust" (subtitled, "Dominance 'training' causes stress and is a dog's worst nightmare") I cover in some detail the concept of alpha-dogs and where we fit into dogs' own ideas about the social organization of groups within which they live, leadership and dominance, whether or not dog form packs, and the importance of only using positive, force free training. I concluded, "Yes, dogs do form dominance relationships." "Yes, some dogs do form functional packs just like their wild ancestors, wolves, and wild relatives such as coyotes and jackals." "Yes, there are alpha individuals, but it's essential to use the word 'alpha' very carefully," and positive training is the only way to go.

Also, in addition to some of the techniques Dr. Coren suggests, during my thousands of hours watching mainly wild coyotes and wild wolves and red foxes along with free-ranging dogs, I also noted that a hard stare with no physical contact also could quiet down group members who were barking madly. Any sort of physical contact could have serious consequences especially when one individual is upset.

It's essential to take the dog's point of view, how they sense their world, and how they decide how to deal with what's happening to them

Dr. Coren's last paragraph reads:

"I wrote him back to remind him to only use this procedure to stop a dog from barking when barking is unnecessary. It is important to remember that we specifically bred dogs to bark because it served as a useful warning signal. So if your dog sounds the alarm at the approach of stranger, or even at the sight of a cat outside of your window, don't correct him. If there is no cause for any action, just call him to your side and give him a quick pet or a rub. By barking your dog is only doing the job of warning us which we designed him to do thousands of years ago." (My emphasis)

Here, he nicely covers the ground of why dogs and other nonhuman animals (animals) vocalize, for example, to warn others of impending danger or to get their attention for other reasons. However, the phrase "when barking is unnecessary" caught my attention because how can we really know when a dog (or other animal) feels doing something is unnecessary but does it anyway. They may simply choose to do something even if we can't understand why, or perhaps in certain situations the barking may be instantaneous and spontaneous because something is really bothering them.

The use of the word "excessive" (in Dr. Coren's subtitle) also can be misleading, because from the dog's point of view, their barking fit might not be excessive at all. Indeed, it might be just what is called for and the right amount, and they're not simply trying to bother or manipulate us.

I caution people to be very careful about saying that a dog didn't really have to bark or do something else or that it was unnecessary or excessive. It seems almost banal to stress the importance of taking into account the sensory worlds of dogs—appreciating how they differ from ours—and how what we think is unnecessary or excessive may truly be necessary from the dog's point of view.

The bottom line is simple: We must consider what's happening in a dog's head and heart, and take their perspective on the matters at hand.

We should accept that dogs will bark in situations in which it seems to us that barking is unnecessary or over the top. They may be smelling, hearing, or seeing something of which we are totally unaware, or simply feeling down and out or afraid. Perhaps they had a bad dream or perhaps they're hallucinating and having trouble figuring out what's happening and they're scared out of their minds.¹ Stripping them of their emotions and ignoring why they're doing something and what they're trying to tell us is the wrong way to go and mishandling the situation can be bad for them and for us.

Also, using "natural" methods to quiet a dog down given our unique relationships with our canine companions might work in some instances, but also can be counter-productive and possibly dangerous to a dog and their human. Only positive force-free methods should be used. They work, and I know this from personal experience with a dog who was a non-stop barker and who stopped barking incessantly after I learned two simple lessons from a dog trainer.

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Others have told me they too have had the same experience—some patience and using positive methods worked far better than yelling at their dog or using wild canid type methods. And the results were longer lasting. Three people told me that their dog didn't like being dealt with as if they were wild animals, and one nearly had her hand chewed up with she tried to quiet her dog down canid-style, as she aptly and politely put it.

I look forward to further discussions of the ways in which positive training can be used to cut down on what some describe as unnecessary and excessive bothersome barking. It's a common "problem" and I hope that force-free trainers will share the methods they successfully use with those who still resort to punishment-based methods.

Homed dogs especially, but to some extent numerous other dogs as well, are forced to adapt to human-dominated environs in which they lose numerous freedoms. Their ability to make choices about what they're allowed to do when, where, and with whom are severely curtailed. In many ways, they're frustrated captive beings—barking, sniffing groins and butts, eating or rolling in stinky things, and engaging in other entirely dog-appropriate behaviors are frowned upon or punished—and they lose a good deal of their dogness and individuality. These losses can be very frustrating to our canine companions.

Focusing on individual differences among dogs also is necessary, because there's a lot of variation in personalities and temperaments among them. Joe and Harry and Mary and Margo may bark for different reasons, so what works for decreasing barking for one dog might not work for others.

All in all, coming to a deeper understanding who dogs are and why they're doing what they're doing is a win-win for everyone involved, and it's the least we can do when we welcome them into our homes and hearts. One way you can find out what's happening to them is to "ask them" and learn more about what they're feeling by becoming fluent in dog—dog literate. It's the respectful and decent thing to do because it shows we really appreciate them as the amazing beings they truly are.