A dog is a man’s best friend, and there is no doubt about it. They are loyal, smart, cute, and affectionate creatures, always ready for a few cuddles even when they are a barker. And if you could have a chat with them after a long, hard day – every worldly worry might cease to exist. But unfortunately, that can’t happen, and we can only try to interact in puzzles.
Dogs try to interact with their owners through a series of growls and whimpers, and sometimes it could be scary or frightening. But, it always leads us to wonder what they are trying to say.
Developing an understanding with your dog can not only help you develop a good bond but also determine whether it’s sad or happy. Here is a short list of different types of dog barks, so you know what to expect from your pup.
Let’s Play Barking
If your dog is in the mood for a fetch or tag, it makes a posture where it bends forward on its front feet with its tail wagging high in the air. It’s a universal posture every dog makes when it needs to spend time with its owner, also known as the play-bow. You will notice a low-intensity bark that sounds like “Harr-ruff,” followed by a few short spurts of running and rolling over the ground to showcase its excitement.
Even among the let’s play barking category, the vocalization can vary as your dog can exhibit this behavior if it’s anticipating the start of a play session or watching other dogs play – assuming the cheerleader role.
The Alarm Barker: Continuous Rapid Barking
An alarm bark is to alarm the owners of an intruder or something happening completely out of the norm. It consists of a series of two to three sharp barks with pauses in between. The alarm could be due to a stranger passing by the house or a kid driving too fast.
Dogs with a high prey drive and the ones wary of strangers are overly sensitive to small noises and can start barking at the minutest of voices. The typical behavior associated with alarm barking is constantly peeking through the window or the door to locate the source. Before it changes nature and turns into territorial barking, it’s best to locate the source and help your dog stay calm.
The Territorial Barker: Repeated Harsh Barks
This type of barking is harsh and aggressive, and often continuous. That happens when a stranger or an intruder breaches the dog’s sacred boundary. The dog shifts its weight forward on its front legs and wags its tail nervously, accompanied by a loud shriek.
Territorial barking is mainly directed towards a stranger who doesn’t respect a dog’s boundaries but can also stem from fear. An intervention from the owner can help calm the dog as it can act as reassurance. From the dog’s perspective, it’s a safety and alert mechanism to avoid confrontation with the intruder. And, if you can intervene, it will help calm your dog.
The Excitable Barker
Dogs love playing with their owners and spending time with them. They often get used to a certain activity they love, like going on a walk in the evening or playing fetch. That leads to a habit, and when that time comes close, they start getting excited about it.
Now, as humans, we smile and are in a cheery mood if we are excited about something, but for dogs, the mode of expression is different. They start running, wagging, and spinning, followed by high-pitched and repetitive barks to showcase this excitement. However, some dogs are more sensitive to these arousals and can be overly loud.
The Fearful Barker
Fearful barking is often seen in dogs who aren’t socialized properly from a young age. Dogs of all sizes and statures can display the behavior, but the ones most prone to it are the shy ones. They are overly sensitive to small stimuli and react to them more dramatically than most dogs.
Fearful barking consists of high-pitched and repetitive barking, followed by runs in a circle. Most owners associate the bark-growl with German Shepherds, but any scared dog will bark and growl to show underlying fear. The underlying fear could be as small as a rodent to as big as a mail carrier who shows up occasionally but could very well be the trigger.
The best way to manage a fearful dog is to comfort it and provide an affectionate environment in times of distress. Try to sensitize it to the stressor, and use positive reinforcement to help overcome its fears.
Your best bet when trying to understand a dog’s bark is to look at the dog’s posture and the situation in which it is. If it’s in distress, try comforting it, or if it’s bored, go for a walk. But understanding your pup’s feelings is the gateway to establishing a good healthy relationship and ensuring it leads to a happy and content life.
