Why does my dog bark? The 10 types of bark and what they mean
Your dog barks because he wants to tell you something: barking is communication, always an expression of an underlying feeling or an attempt to achieve something. In our work we distinguish ten types of bark, from a happy greeting bark to a defensive bark, and each type asks for a different response. Some barks you simply leave alone. Others are a call for help that you always answer. Getting angry or correcting works with none of them: it raises the stress and keeps the barking going.
In short
Barking is a natural reaction to a change in the environment, or sometimes to something inside your dog’s body.
You recognize a bark by three things: pitch, length and frequency. Add the body language and the situation and you know what your dog means.
Not every bark has to stop. The play bark and the greeting bark are healthy and functional.
Work out the emotion first, then act. Anyone who only fights the sound misses the message.
Ignoring, correcting and handing over a chew right away are the three biggest pitfalls.
Barking is the loud part of dog language. You can see the quiet part that comes before it in the free webinar.
How to read a bark
You cannot read the emotion from the sound alone. For that you look at three properties:
Pitch. Low tones (growly) signal a threat. High tones (squeaky) point to uncertainty, or signal that it is safe to come closer. Pitch does depend heavily on breed and on the individual dog: the uncertain bark of a medium-sized dog can sound the same as the neutral bark of a small dog.
Length. The longer the sound goes on, the greater the chance that your dog is making a deliberate decision. Barking for a long stretch is confident and purposeful. Short sounds mean he is not so sure of himself.
Frequency. Repeated often and quickly means a lot of tension and urgency. More time between the sounds means less excitement.
Only when you add the body language and the context do you really know. A high, shrill little bark with a busily wagging tail and the ears pinned back can be excited enthusiasm, but it can also be uncertainty. Is his person coming home, or is the mail carrier standing at the window? That is what makes the difference.
The 10 types of bark
Type of bark | How it sounds | The emotion underneath | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
1. Greeting bark | One or two short, sharp barks at a high to medium pitch, sometimes repeated | Enthusiasm about someone familiar | Nothing |
2. Play bark | Clear, confident and neutral, with playful body language (front legs flat, rear end up) | Starting or keeping up play | Nothing, healthy behavior |
3. Excitement bark | High, often shrill, short barks; the higher and faster, the higher the excitement | Excitement as an outlet; tips over into stress when it climbs too far | Do not correct; with whale eye, ears pinned back or reckless jumping, take the cause away and offer chewing or sniffing |
4. Loneliness bark | Goes on for a long time, with deliberate pauses to listen for someone coming | Left alone when he cannot handle it yet; calling for his family | Stop leaving him alone until the cause has been addressed (see separation anxiety) |
5. Fear and uncertainty bark | Resembles the excitement bark, but higher and more frantic, sometimes with a shriek at the end | Uncertainty (still dares to investigate) or fear (no longer dares) | Never correct; get him out of the situation and take him under your protection |
6. Frustration bark | Monotonous, keeps repeating, sometimes ending in a howl or a whine | An intense need for something out of reach: you, food, going outside, contact | Always act: meet the need, or create distance and let him work it off |
7. Stress bark | Usually high and shrill; you can hear the stress in the sound | Stress as a result of something else: frustration, too much excitement, pain, fear | Find the cause; lower the stress in daily life |
8. Warning bark | Short and fierce at a sharp pitch, often followed by walking away | Has seen or heard something that may be dangerous; wants to warn you | Always respond: calmly name what you see, stand between your dog and the trigger, or give the hand signal |
9. Alarm bark | Two to four barks in a row, a pause, then again | Uncertainty; often follows a warning that went unanswered | Do not cut it off; take the cause away or move together to a quieter spot, and offer support |
10. Defensive or guarding bark | Resembles the alarm bark but slower in tempo and lower in pitch, sometimes with a growl in between | The danger is close; fear and stress, not dominance | Never correct, not even when he growls; get him out of the situation |
In summary: the ten types of bark are the greeting bark, play bark, excitement bark, loneliness bark, fear and uncertainty bark, frustration bark, stress bark, warning bark, alarm bark, and defensive or guarding bark. With greeting and play you do nothing; with excitement, fear, stress, alarm and defense you never correct but take the trigger away or create distance; with loneliness you stop leaving him alone until the cause is addressed; with frustration you meet the need or create distance; and to a warning bark you always respond, by calmly naming what you see and standing between your dog and the trigger.
Barking can also come from medication or an anesthetic, from old age (dementia, deafness), from a temporary life stage such as adolescence, or because your dog wants to let you know something: he needs to pee, or he is hungry.
How to stop a dog barking: this does not work
Ignoring. With attention barking, ignoring seems logical, but it is a dangerous pitfall. People are bad at it (our body language and our irritation give us away) and you risk what is called an extinction burst: your dog barks louder, faster and longer as a last attempt, you crack and respond after all, and he learns that he simply had to bark harder.
Getting angry or correcting. Negative attention is still attention to your dog, so the goal has been reached. On top of that it raises the stress and damages your relationship.
Handing over a chew or a distraction right away. Your dog makes the association “after barking I get a chew” in no time. Always build in a neutral step in between that has nothing to do with your dog (getting up, walking a loop around the table) before you offer anything.
Mistaking excitement for happiness. Jumping and shrill barking at the ball looks like enthusiasm, but it is often stress. If you keep stimulating him, your dog can tip over into obsession. That is how the familiar ball-obsessed dogs are made.
Does your dog bark at everything that passes the window?
Then you follow this step-by-step plan.
Break the habit. Write down the triggers and avoid them for a while, so your dog does not keep rehearsing the old pattern.
Lower the stress. Too much stress blocks learning. More sleep, more sniffing, less excitement.
Adjust the house. Block the view with window film or curtains, turn the couch around, put the radio on against sounds from outside.
Limit the space. Baby gates, interior doors closed, no unsupervised time in the yard.
Train at a safe distance. Sit behind the window together at a distance where your dog can watch without barking. Name every passerby objectively. Keep the treat in your pocket and only reach for it after your dog has watched calmly. Keep it short and boring. Boring is good, because that is when your dog feels safe.
From our practice
More than 30,000 dog parents have taken a Stressless Dogs course, and the question that comes up most often about barking is this: “My dog barks for attention all the time, can’t I just ignore him?” Our answer is the same every time: better not, because ignoring almost always breaks down halfway, and by then your dog has learned that barking harder works. Get ahead of the barking by predicting the moments, use the hand signal, and only offer a distraction after a neutral step in between. And feel free to grant his request when he still comes to ask calmly. A dog is a social animal.
When to get help
Barking that comes from real fear, from separation anxiety, or from situations in which your dog growls, snaps or bites is not something you solve on your own; work through that step by step with a professional. If your dog suddenly barks much more than usual, have a veterinarian take a look as well: medication, pain or old age can play a part.
Frequently asked questions
Can I speak to him sternly if he just keeps barking?
No. Getting angry is still attention to your dog, raises his stress and damages your bond. Look instead at what he is trying to tell you with the barking, and help him with that.
My dog always barks when the doorbell rings. Is that guarding?
It can be, but it can just as easily be uncertainty, stress or learned barking. Reacting fast, often and fiercely is not the same as guarding properly: a genuinely watchful dog does it in measured doses and does not tip over. Look first at which emotion sits underneath.
My dog barks when he is home alone. Which type is that?
Barking that goes on for a long time with pauses to listen is the loneliness bark, and it can turn into a fear bark. That is a sign that your dog cannot handle this right now. Read Separation anxiety in dogs: recognizing the symptoms and what to do.
Can I train the barking away completely?
Not always, and it is not necessary either. A lot of barking is useful communication. Sometimes we can never stop the barking entirely, but we can keep it in check and make it livable. A dog has the right to express himself.
Sources
Yin, S. and McCowan, B. (2004). Barking in domestic dogs: context specificity and individual identification. Animal Behaviour, 68, 343-355. Barking sounds different from situation to situation, for example when a dog is disturbed, when he is alone, and during play.
Read next
My dog growls: what is he saying?
How to recognize stress in your dog: the signals almost everyone misses
Barking is the loud part of dog language
When your dog barks, that is usually not his first signal. Before it he has already shown you all kinds of things: a look, a turned head, a lick of the lips, a moment of freezing. Anyone who learns to read that quiet part of dog language has to respond to the loud part far less often. In the free webinar Communicating With Your Dog you see that quiet part on video, and you learn the hand signal that means “I have got this.”
Do you want to tackle the barking itself, by reading every type of bark and answering it the way your dog understands? That starts with the Stressless Communication Course.
Thank you for reading, on behalf of me and all the dogs.
Dog Behavior Consultant & Natural Dog Trainer