Barking lessons from second grade

Oleg Sobol
Jan 22
8 min read

Say the following three words out loud: Their. There. They're. They're all the same sound, right? But, their meanings are very different. (See what I did there?)

In second grade, we learned that these words are known as homophones. They have the same pronunciations, but different spellings, meanings, and purposes. If we merely hear these words, without additional context, we can't discern the speaker's intended meaning. I didn't realize it at the time, but this second-grade grammar lesson turned out to be a present-day dog behavior lesson about barking, the quintessential doggie homophone.

The starting point

I wish dogs could tell me in words why they are barking. Believe me, I've asked! Not a single dog has given me a straight answer. The sound I hear might be a "their" bark or it could be a "there" bark. Sometimes, it's even a "they're" bark. Until dogs evolve to answer human questions with human words, the "why" is gleaned from shrewd observation. The starting point is to identify the results that barking produces for the dog and the contexts in which it occurs. What is the dog achieving by barking? When is the dog barking to achieve it?

For now, I'll go out on a limb and declare that dogs primarily bark for one of two reasons. In other words, one of two categories of results is at play in a given barking context. Dogs bark either to get good stuff or to make scary stuff go away.

Gimme the good stuff

Let's start with the category that humans usually describe as annoying rather than worrisome. Barking to get good stuff is often called "demand" barking, an unfortunate misnomer that suggests a sense of amorality, a human concept that is not applicable to dogs. Sure, this barking can be loud and repetitive. Yes, that can be annoying to humans. But, there's no nefarious motive or inherent wrongness to it.

This kind of barking simply has a history of resulting in good stuff, and dogs usually continue behaviors that produce good stuff. That's it. No value judgment about it. Good stuff includes food, treats, balls, tug games, butt-scratches, opening doors to go outside, interacting with other dogs, social connection with humans, and similar pleasurable results. Context tells us which good thing is relevant in the moment.

Here is a brief video with examples of dogs barking to ask for stuff. See if you can guess what good thing is relevant in each example.

So, how do we address this type of barking? It depends on the human's goals. I often discuss the following three options with clients. These options aren't mutually exclusive and can be used differently for different contexts.

"There's no universal law or moral principle that requires a dog's silence when requesting things."

Maintain the status quo

Continue to give the good stuff when your dog barks to request it. Yep, you read that right. This is a perfectly valid option to consider! Dogs are allowed to want stuff and to ask for it. There's no universal law or moral principle that requires a dog's silence when requesting things. Don't let any trainer or "I know dogs" friend try to convince you otherwise. If your dog's barking to ask for stuff doesn't bother you, then there's nothing to change. Easy peasy.

Get ahead of it

A dog who barks to ask for stuff is communicating an underlying need: "I'm not getting enough of that stuff." One aspect of reducing this type of barking is to address the underlying need before your dog asks for it. For example, if your dog barks to request a game of tug every evening at 7pm, try meeting that tug need ahead of time instead of waiting for the request. Although many requests are easy to interpret, some might be harder to decipher (like the purple toy example in the video above). The tricky part is figuring out the exact need your dog is imploring you to fulfill.

Teach a different way

Although dogs are allowed to want stuff and ask for it, humans are allowed to prefer a non-barking form of communication for making requests. To teach your dog to make requests a different way, reward her for requests she makes using your preferred method. Your preferred requesting behavior can be as simple as a glance, a chin on your knee, a chin on the couch, standing in the doorway, or whatever behavior your dog chooses that you appreciate more than barking. Reward the preferred behavior consistently, and when possible, with the specific good thing that your dog is asking for in that context. If your dog has a long history of barking to get stuff, this option can easily backfire without one-on-one guidance from a qualified behavior professional.

What about just ignoring it?

This old chestnut still gets tossed around by some as the go-to method for reducing barking. If only it were that easy. No matter what, do not simply ignore your dog's barking in hopes that it will go away. This rarely "works" because dogs with a long, successful history of barking to get stuff usually start to bark more loudly and more intensely if ignored. In turn, most humans eventually give the good stuff because they can no longer tolerate the noise. The result? The energy-efficient dog has learned that not all barking is created equal. Since barking loudly and intensely produces the good stuff quickly, there's no need to waste energy with a low-level bark anymore. Even if a human can tolerate the noise, this ignoring-only procedure can be an excessively frustrating experience for the dog and can result in negative side effects, including frustration-related aggression. Ignore the chestnut, not the barking.

Go away, scary stuff

The second category is typically more worrisome and accompanied by potential safety concerns. Barking to make stuff go away is rooted in fear of a perceived threat, often an unfamiliar person or dog. Fear serves an important survival function for dogs and other animals (including humans!). The fight-or-flight response to fear is the brain's ancient way of responding to a threat in order to increase the chances of survival. The brain prepares the rest of the body to either flee from the threat or face it head on. We humans experience this, and so do our pet dogs.

Snake in a threatening posture with its tongue out

Some dogs might try a flight behavior first, which is to move themselves away from the scary thing. If flight doesn't work in the moment (the threat follows), can't physically be performed in the moment (prevented by leash or enclosed space), or has a history of being ineffective in similar situations, a dog might resort to a fight behavior. The goal of a fight behavior – which can include barking, growling, air-snapping, and biting – is to make the scary thing move away instead.

"We don't want our beloved pet dogs to feel compelled to fight off scary stuff on a regular basis."

This kind of barking can go by many labels: reactivity, stranger danger, protective, territorial, alert, watchdog, and others. And just like barking to get stuff, barking to make stuff go away can have a long history of working for the dog. After a few seconds of barking, the threatening mail carrier leaves the front yard, every single time. Although fear and the context trigger the barking, this history of successful results is relevant as well.

So, how do we address this type of barking? The overall goal is to treat the underlying fear. We don't want our beloved pet dogs to feel compelled to fight off scary stuff on a regular basis. How stressful that must be! By effectively treating the fear, stress is reduced and so is its barking byproduct. The best way to tackle this is through one-on-one guidance from a behavior professional qualified to handle fear, anxiety, reactivity, and aggression cases. My work with clients in this complex area generally involves:

Helping their dog avoid the scary stuff as much as possible, either indefinitely or temporarily until reaching a certain point in training.
Very gradually and carefully teaching their dog new associations so that the scary stuff becomes not-so-scary after all.
Teaching specific skills and routines to help their dog cope with stressful situations.
Liaising with their primary veterinarian and/or veterinary behaviorist when applicable.

Time to get off that limb

Remember when I temporarily went out on a limb and proclaimed that dogs primarily bark for one of two reasons? OK, OK, I'll come down from that limb now. Barking doesn't always neatly fit into my two categories. Sometimes, the results are ambiguous. Sometimes, the contexts are murky. Sometimes, additional factors are at play. Here are a few examples of the fuzzier areas of barking.

Pure joy or excitement

Do you ever get excited and just have to express that joy somehow? So do dogs. A dog might let out a little screech when her favorite human walks in the door. Another dog might bark like a happy maniac in the car because he knows exactly what fun place his chauffeur is driving him to. Think of this kind of barking as a vocal jump for joy. A purely happy "yay!"

The dreaded doorbell

Barking when hearing a doorbell (or door knock) certainly can be about making scary stuff go away. For dogs who are afraid of unfamiliar people, the doorbell can predict that a stranger is about to enter. But, what about dogs who love when strangers come over, yet consistently let out a brief woo-woo-woo-woo when the doorbell dings? If you ask three dog trainers, you'll probably get seven different answers. Perhaps the ancient need to make a potential threat go away is so ingrained in a dog's DNA that briefly barking when hearing an unexpected sound is almost reflexive (in a colloquial sense). Perhaps that brief bark continues because the dog is somehow regularly rewarded for it. In any case, for dogs who think strangers are BFFs who just haven't met them yet, this type of brief bark is rarely something that pet owners are concerned with changing.

Frustration

Barking to ask for stuff can sometimes escalate into a more stressful, frustrated request. The bark could get louder, more repetitive, and/or lower in pitch. Other behaviors may start to accompany the frustrated bark, including "mouthing" with no jaw pressure or even full-blown biting. What may have started out as a casual bark to request good stuff has turned into a plea for relief from frustration-related discomfort. You can see a little glimmer of this near the end of the video above when I pick up the harness. Thankfully, I know that professional barker very well. In his case, the response is more of a learned behavior and conditioned emotion related to the context, not truly frustration-related discomfort. But, it could have easily tipped over if ignored.

Reactivity on walks

Barking at dogs on walks, commonly called leash reactivity when accompanied by lunging and other behaviors, is chockful of nuance. For dogs who enjoy the company of other dogs, this barking can be a frustrated request to access the other dog, the good stuff in this context. These dogs are desperately seeking more dog-dog social interaction in their lives and are communicating that need by barking. Other dogs might be afraid of unfamiliar dogs and are prevented from moving away because of the leash. With flight unavailable, these dogs give a big ol' display of fight in an attempt to make the unfamiliar dog, the scary stuff, move away instead. Although the barking sounds and looks identical in both scenarios, the underlying need is very different.

"Until dogs evolve to answer human questions with human words, the 'why' is gleaned from shrewd observation."

The bottom line

Barking is more complex than it appears. Requests for good stuff are very different from attempts to make scary stuff go away. As a result, the behavior modification and training details are very different, too.

Although there is a lot to consider, remember that dogs who bark are not being naughty. They're simply communicating their needs the best they can. It's up to us to understand those needs, and in turn, the bark.