When your puppy starts barking at you, it can be difficult to determine what their motivation is, but all behaviors have a function. That is to say that there must be some reason our dog is behaving this way. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all reason that dogs bark. Barking is a natural behavior for dogs, but the motivation behind the barking can vary from one situation to another, and from one dog to another. So, what are some of the common reasons our dogs feel the need to speak their minds and what can we do to reduce the noise?
Boredom
One of the most common reasons for barking, especially among puppies, is because they want your attention. This can take on several different forms, but generally, your dog is trying to communicate a want or need. Your dog might be hungry, thirsty, need to potty, want to play, etc., but what it often comes down to is simply boredom. A puppy who is bored may learn to bark for our attention, and frequently we unintentionally reinforce the behavior by giving it to them. If we want to minimize boredom barking, we need to address the root of the problem by giving our puppy adequate physical and mental stimulation throughout the day. Walks, play time, training, enrichment, and chew toys can all go a long way toward reducing boredom, but it’s important to be proactive and give our puppy these things when they are behaving appropriately, and not wait until they start to get restless.
If you’re too late, and your puppy has started to bark or whine, you have a couple of options. Option one is to just ignore them. You should be aware though, that if you have a history of acknowledging or reinforcing your dog for barking, they probably won’t just stop right away when you ignore them. Your puppy will likely go through what’s known as an extinction burst, where the behavior increases in intensity before they give up. Your puppy thinks “Why is this not working? Oh! you must not have heard me, let me try harder.” It’s really important that you don’t give in and reward your dog when the barking increases in intensity, otherwise, you’ve just made your problem worse. When your dog has quieted down for an appropriate amount of time, then you can give them what they want. Your second option is to interrupt the barking and ask your dog for a more appropriate behavior before reinforcing them. (“Fluffy, that’s enough. Go to your mat. Good girl, here’s a chew toy to keep you occupied”) We have to be careful with this option as well because it can lead to a behavior loop where your dog learns that if they bark at you, you’ll respond by giving them an opportunity to earn reinforcement. Neither option is perfect, which is why it’s important to be proactive to prevent the barking in the first place.
Excitement/ high arousal
If your dog is barking during play, it’s probably a sign that they are getting a bit over excited. While vocalization during play isn’t inherently problematic, it can be a signal that a dog is reaching an elevated level of arousal which we may want to avoid. At heightened levels of arousal, dogs may have a more difficult time responding to cues or settling back down, and sometimes, especially when a pair or group of dogs are playing together, these heightened levels of arousal can lead to escalation of unwanted behavior. The best way to avoid this over excitement is to teach your dog to take short breaks during play. Whether that means teaching your dog to drop a tug toy, or interrupting a play session with some basic obedience training, or pausing a fetch session to give your dog some cuddle time, inserting short breaks will help your dog to recover more quickly from periods of excitement or fear.
Frustration
Often, when our dog wants something, but they are prevented from getting it, they may start barking out of frustration. This happens occasionally during training sessions when our reinforcer is too valuable, or our rate of reinforcement is too low. If you’re training your dog with new, high value treats and they’re going bonkers, try using a less exciting treat or giving them more opportunities to win. Remember to do your best to split your criteria into small pieces, so your dog is able to understand what you’re asking of them. If they’re having trouble, come up with a way to make it easier for them.
One common form of frustration is leash frustration. This happens when our dog wants something, but their leash is preventing them from getting it. Barking isn’t the only frustration behavior you might see in this situation, but it is very common. You may also see your dog pulling or lunging at the end of the leash. In cases of leash frustration, we need to teach our dog that barking and lunging are not going to get them access to the distractions. Instead, they should be taught that getting access to those distractions will only happen when they practice appropriate behaviors like walking nicely, paying attention to you, or sitting. If your dog is experiencing any form of leash reactivity, we recommend immediately putting a stop to any on-leash greetings with other people or dogs, and booking a session to speak with your trainer so we can help you develop and follow a behavior modification plan.
Fear
Another common reason dogs bark is because they are afraid of something. Unlike leash frustration, whose goal is often getting closer to a stimulus, fear based reactivity tends to have the goal of increasing distance from the trigger. Fear can develop in dogs for a plethora of reasons. It could be caused by genetics, a lack of early socialization, or one or more negative experiences related to a particular stimulus. Most puppies also go through a couple of fear stages over the course of their development anywhere from 4 months to a year. If your puppy is less than 4 months old, it is pivotal that you introduce them to as many different experiences as possible in order to reduce fear later in their development.
Addressing fear reactivity is about changing a dog’s emotional response to their triggers. We want to change their current negative emotional response to a positive one by pairing the presence of that stimulus with good things, while simultaneously rewarding appropriate behaviors in the presence of the stimulus. It is very important that in this process, we avoid “flooding” our dog by moving them too close to their trigger. In working with fearful dogs, we always do our best to avoid letting our dog rehearse behaviors like barking or lunging, by working with them at a distance from the trigger where they can remain calm and willing to learn. Some trainers may recommend outdated methods which attempt to suppress unwanted behaviors like barking by issuing punishments such as leash jerks, shocks, or other aversives, but be aware that while these methods might be temporarily effective, they almost always worsen the dog’s emotional response to a trigger, and will likely lead to even more undesirable outcomes over time.
If you believe your dog is experiencing fear, it’s a good idea to work with a certified trainer or behaviorist to resolve the issue. In some severe cases, medication may be helpful in assisting with the process of behavior modification.
Regardless of whether our dog is barking out of anticipation, boredom, frustration, fear, or because they are trying to communicate a want or need, we should always try our best to be proactive in meeting their desires if we want to reduce the noise. Paying attention to context clues can help us better understand our dog’s motivation when they are speaking their minds. Were there any environmental changes that preempted the barking? What other clues can you gather by reading your dog’s body language? Is it dinner time? Time for a potty break? Hopefully this article will give you some ideas about why your dog might be barking and how we can change the environment to reduce the noise in the future.
