How much does your dog bark?

[thevelvetcurtain]

Trying to gauge how normal our dog's reaction is to visitors.

Female, spayed, 1yo. Rescue from abroad, we got her just as the major lockdown hit in December/January so we were only able to properly socialise her in the house from April/May, plus not regularly due to lack of family and friends in the area. She barks every time people come to visit, for a long time, and only calms down once she's went on a walk with them.

She also barks on behalf of her sister who is a more recent (and very scared) rescue dog, as she's protective of her. We're trying to work out how much of her behaviour is normal, and if socialisation classes would help as this doesn't happen outwith the home - just in the house or garden.

Thanks in advance!

2yo spaniel. Never barks when out and about, only at home when heightened arousal. Barks when someone comes to the front door but stops when told. Will bark sometimes if a neighbouring dog barks but again will stop when told. We did have an issue with him barking at next door dog but he is growing out of that now and again would always stop as soon as told to.

Our labrador barks if he wants to be let out for the toilet or if he wants his dinner. He taps us with his paw to get us to get up off the sofa. He is so cheeky. He never barks any other time.

mine is barking just now,
she can obviously hear someone, and yes my ds has arrived

Our sprocker barks when she's in playful mode. Our cocker barks only when the NDN's dogs bark....... which seems constant at the moment They have been away for 2 weeks and are now back...... it was bliss

2 yr old Border Collie and a 1 yr old Border Collie/Huntaway cross here. A Huntaway is a New Zealand cross breed that herds by barking 😫. The Huntaway is very noisy and barks at every delivery. He is improving with visitors though, leaves them alone after initially being a bit noisy. Our full Border Collie also barks at deliveries but is much quieter overall. They actually don't bark much in the garden!

Have you any support or advice from the rescue charities. Dogs usually bark at the door, when they see people approaching the house. Barking once people are admitted to the house needs training out.
A lockdown rescue from abroad is likely to struggle. You’ve added another scared rescue before your first dog has really settled.
Find a good training group, join and commit to taking your dogs. Train separately, walk separately.
Teach quiet - difficult with two unsettled Dogs but a good trainer can help. There’s a big rescue x breed from Romania in one of the groups I’m in. He was a reactive barker, could seem scary but a year on, he’s a lovely, calm boy

Never. Remarkably quiet dog!

Ours barks to be let out and that’s it. He might do one bark whilst playing with us occasionally. He doesn’t bark when people come to the door or go past and he doesn’t bark when he hears other dogs thank god as there are 3 houses on our street whose dogs bark/ yap constantly so it would be chaos if he did.

Ours is hit and miss with the door but has stranger anxiety and as a relatively new rescue we've had to work around introducing her to guests.
We meet them on the street and let them go in first, seems to work well for her.
Initially we met people on a walk but then elderly MIL came and it was raining. Our dog doesn't do rain so we thought we'd chance a meet and greet on the front and it worked!

@larkstar

5yo springer spaniel - never once heard her bark in any situation in or out of the house.

4 year old Springer here- I think he’s barked maybe 5 times in his life. I didn’t realise this about them- I only have one friend whose Springer barks regularly .

Bearded collie mum here.
Our boy barks a lot.
Postman, ice cream man, binmen, when anyone knocks on the door, when it's playtime, etc. He particularly dislikes the poor window cleaner. We have his armchair next to the window so he can look out.

Certain words too, if we count out loud he goes nuts. Also animals on the TV.

He's a total softie though, he just likes the sound of his bark.

Cavalier King Charles rarely barks. Everyone comments on how quiet she is.

She may bark a few times if the next door neighbours dog barks, but he rarely barks too. Got dogs either side and both don't bark much.

Even as a dog lover, I hate dog barking, it rattles my brain!

Thank you everyone for the really interesting range of perspectives, as well as the advice.

So far we have tried everything suggested on the thread including meeting people outside, and keeping her on a lead and close by until she has calmed down. She will usually take about 15 minutes with these tactics however we've found if a guest leaves the room and then comes back it starts all over again.

She gets better with every visit and we are in the process of moving closer to family and friends so we're planning on building up the exposure quite rapidly once we do so. It really can't be easy being a lockdown dog no, especially with some past trauma history.

I forgot to say she is probably a collie cross terrier so it also sounds like we might just have two particularly barky breeds! I have to say if it was obvious what she was when we first adopted her we probably wouldn't have went for it as I do also find barky breeds really difficult.

her arch enemy goes by, barking, or even if not barking, my ddog will know she is going by and bark

My 3 dogs bark at anyone at the front door. But they will stop on command (which is Shut Up, not a great one, I know!)

The black lab then slinks away once she ascertained there is no food to be had. The JRTs can be a bit jumpy and wiggly but will stop if the visitor bends and says hello with a quick stroke.

My dog is a Lurcher. He never used to bark at all, but since we had a new shed put in at the far end of our garden, he now gives one really loud, deep ‘WOOF!’ when the squirrel sits on the roof of it and looks at him. Always just the one loud woof, then just stands there looking indignant! None of my dogs, all different breeds, types and mixes have ever barked at the front door.

Kikopup has a video about how to train dogs out of barking at visitors. I haven’t watched it for years, but her methods are humane and usually really effective..

He's passed away now. He wasn't much of a barker. He'd bark if he wanted to be let in/out and if he was out and next door's very yappy dog started up, he'd bark back. I followed a policy of, if he barked in the garden, he came back into the house.

People across the way have a Finnish Spitz which is like a fluffy red Fox. Very cute but man does it bark. All day long pretty much. Stands at their gate and barks at nothing. It's outside most of the time but even when they take it in I hear it barking still.

I couldn't cope with that.

Spaniel puppy 6 months barks once to be let out/in for toilet, barks to tell me if there is a fox/cat on the shed roof.

She doesn't bark at the front door but she will wake up and look out the window if she hears our gate creak, she's not a good guard dog though as she stands at the window smiling and wagging her tail!

She does however bark at us for attention if she wants to play and also if we shut her behind the gate while we are eating... this is getting better though.

Neighbours either side and over the back all have dogs and most bark, particularly when let out for bedtime wees lol it's like a chorus of dogs! Next door has a springer spaniel and it barks a lot compared to the sprinters upthread that don't bark! He barks when anyone goes past their house, knocks at door, in the garden, when they out he howls, luckily there is usually someone home so the howling isn't too often.

Medium sized rescue spanish terrier, only barks occasionally to make me let her in the garden or if shes fed up waiting for a walk.
Also barked to alert me to a snake skin she saw.
Other dog is a staffie and occasionally barks in her sleep or in play but really rarely, but she does make other whimpery funny noises when stressed

Mine barks loads... but tbh, knowing how much other people’s dogs bark or don’t isn’t particularly useful.

It’s whether it’s causing an issue or not.

I don’t particularly care if Dog’s bark because there’s someone at the door, I do care that he carries on barking at people once they’re in - so that’s what we’re working on.

My chihuahua barks at

People walking past the house (he stands on patrol on the back of the sofa)

Ice cream van.

Anyone who comes to the front door.

Hes a Barking little twat

SO FUCKING MUCH. Drives me mad. Only downside of having poodles tbh.

2 year old pointer. He barks if someone comes to the front door or if there's a fox in the garden. Otherwise he's very quiet.