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We all have experienced the situation in which dog starts barking at us for no reason when we are outside either in the park or on the road.
You start to panic when there is no reason for dogs bark. For years, our domestication process and selective breeding has allowed our dogs to develop their barking abilities.
Later, Barking was further enhanced in dogs to scare away intruder and also to help the owner of sheep’s to keep them in flocks.
Although natural for dogs to bark, whine and howl at times, Dogs bark mostly to gain attention, to communicate or simply out of excitement.
At times, it is so embarrassing that our dog starts barking at someone well known to us.
Dogs Barking Reasons
Given below are the 7 reasons why dogs bark in detail
1. Boredom Barking
They try to seek attention of their owner by barking when they have nothing to do.
They need a walk in the park, proper play time, toys and puzzle to engage themselves. Few dogs are clever enough to bring an object with them just to give you a hint of what they want.
Since dogs easily become part of the family once they start staying at home, it becomes important to give them attention, care and enough play time to avoid them getting bored.
2. Anxiety and Fear Barking
This type of barking usually takes place when there is some intruder or an unknown person coming inside the house or near the dog.
It is more of a defensive barking as there may be no visible route to escape when they are in a state of panic or some other dog is nearby.
Their body shape at the time of bark decides what kind of fear they are having, if they are fearful, then their tail will be between their legs, head position will be low and hair’s on the back will rise.
If it is a bark for the territory, then the body posture will be straight in attention and tail pointing upwards.
3. Barking in Pain
Dogs bark when in pain and this is there way of expressing their feelings, the sound generated is such that it is an indication to their group to come to his rescue or get him relieved from the pain.
This kind of bark can often be heard when the dog comes under any object or is attacked by some other animal.
The sound generated is usually of higher level and when the dog is touched the intensity might increase further.
If you are unable to identify the root cause of pain, then it is better to get the pet checked by the vet.
4. Barking in Excitement
This bark usually takes place when the dog sees his owner or hear his voice after a period of time and this indicates how excited the dog is.
In this situation the tail starts wagging and the position of the head is high. Dog come running towards his master and even jump into the lap to show how happy he is.
Smaller dogs tend to start spinning to show their excitement and should be treated with affection to increase the bonding between pet and owner.
5. Hungry Barks
When the dogs are hungry, there tends to be a long string of single barks with pauses between them.
They either knock on the door if you are inside or barks depending on the situation. In such scenario they become lethargic and less energetic till the time they are not given food.
They wag their tails and the ears point downwards. Once you provide them with the favorite food they will realize that barking is the signal for getting favorite food and it will become habit.
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It is important to train your dog by developing their intelligence level and how they differentiate between different scenarios. Since the owners don’t pay much attention to the dogs barking which in turn becomes a habit.
A dog trainer should be consulted who trains and turns his barking habit into debarking. But if we go with the procedure of debarking then it will be like tying your dog’s mouth because in a potentially dangerous situation this is not feasible.
Pros and cons of debarking
You will avoid major embarrassment in some situation where some dogs bark excessively without any reason while on the other hand it may be a problem if the dog or the pet owner is in danger.
Meeting your dog’s emotional need for companionship and play will allow the two of you to form a strong bond together.
Also read Best Ways to train your puppy