Dog Barking

What does it mean when a dog barks?

The bark is a dog's vocalization, and it can mean several things.

Barking is caused by the presence of stimuli such as strange people, dogs, sights or sounds, the owner's absence, or as an attention seeking mechanism.  Your dog may bark when he is alerting you to an intruder, when he is afraid, when he is playful, and when he is bored. 

The easiest way to control barking is to socialize your dog to make him comfortable around people, places and things and to instill in him a strong chew toy habit so that he is mentally and physically exercised and occupied. 

However, just as you would not attempt to completely silence a person, you should not try to completely stop your dog from barking.  Your dog just needs to learn some basic bark control such as when to bark and for how long. 

Regardless of the reason for your dog barking, your goal is to properly socialize him, to teach him to focus on something other than barking, and to teach him to speak and be quiet on command so you can control when and for how long he barks.

Click on the following links for tips to help you deal with Barking problems:

• Types of Dog Barking
• Driving With A Barking Dog!