There are at least five types of barking that are worth separating out because they each require different behaviour modification strategies if they are the cause of excessive barking. The five types of barking are:
- Alert barking
- Fear barking
- Demand barking
- Frustration barking
- Excitement barking and whining
Alert barking
Dogs are hard wired to announce when someone comes into their territory and most people want their dogs to bark at intruders. This often manifests as barking at the doorbell or a knock at the door but it could easily be a squeak of the gate, sound of delivery trucks, or stairs creaking
Barking at doorbells is an example of classical conditioning. The doorbell has a one-to-one relationship to visitors and your dog uses the sound to predict the arrival of a intruder.
Alert barking becomes excessive when it becomes overly frequent, prolonged, and disruptive to daily life. You can reduce your dog’s hair trigger or the length of the barking by breaking the association between door bell, knock or squeak and visitors coming to the house and teaching your dog to ignore the sound of the door bell, knock or squeak.
Fear barking
Dogs who are scared of something will typically choose to get away from that thing or scare it away by barking at it. Fear barking is a dog who is upset that a person or dog has come too close and they are telling them to go away.
It is different from alert barkers who are often happy to see strangers. Fear barking is not just announcing there is an intruder they find scary. Barking is a threat they want to keep at distance.
An easy way to tell the difference between alert barking and fear barking is to ask yourself, ‘once a visitor is in the house can they pat the dog? If the answer is ‘yes’ then the likelihood is it is alert barking.
If the answer is ‘no’ or if the reply is ‘it takes a little while for them to warm up’ then you most likely have fear barking.
The solution is to get at the root of that problem not just to treat the symptom of barking. If your dog is uncomfortable with people get professional help.
Attention barking
Dogs bark for attention because it works. Barking gets them attention, some food, a ball, or the door opened. Because it is such a successful strategy it gets learned like any other behaviour.
The problem with attention barking is it escalates. If your dog learns that barking for attention works they are going to do it more and more. You can accidentally reinforce this pattern when you try to get your dog to be quiet. Your reinforcement might come in the form of you turning and looking at your dog and saying ‘stop!’. You have just taught your dog to get you to come over and give your attention they have to bark.
The solution is to evaluate what reinforcement your dog is getting and break that pattern so that barking for that thing never gets rewarded.
Frustration barking
A dog looking out the window and seeing a dog across the street might desperately want to go over and say ‘hello’. Because he’s inside he can’t and instead he barks.
This is the opposite of fear barking. Instead of wanting the stimulus to go away, a frustrated dog has a clear goal but he is prevented from going over and getting the thing he wants.
Frustration is usually caused by external barriers – like a leash, a window, or a lounge that is covering a treat. Frustration barking is a sign that your dog needs more mental stimulation so they can channel their energy into something more productive.
Excitement barking
When your dog is excited about going to the park they may bark or whine. It also happens during play or when your dog is anticipating something really fun. While we all want our dogs to enjoy their favourite activities, when anticipation barking becomes excessive it can be a sign that your dog does not know how to have fun without you. Help your dog learn to have fun on their own with some bones or long lasting chews.
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