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!

Small 1 year old terrier. Never barks at us or people and animals she meets on walks.
Never barks at the doorbell but goes ape if she catches sight of someone approaching the door.
Barks a bit re territorial responsibilities in the garden and noises at night.

My first Labrador never barked. The second only barked at the doorbell. The springer spaniel rarely barks - twice a year tops.

It sounds like your puppo just needs more help learning to be comfortable around people, through continued positive exposure and training :)

My dog is a year old now (working Cocker), and he barks A LOT. He was poorly socialised, and he's very nervous of men and kids. He's unsure about new women, but warms up to them much more quickly. We adopted him five months ago, when he was 8 months old.

He barks whenever he hears noises outside the front door, outside the window, or on the other end of the phone if loudspeaker is on. He's also territorial about the car and will bark wildly at anyone who walks past, when he's inside.

All of the above, I consider to be problem barking. It means he's oversensitive to sounds, because he thinks every sound is a threat / worthy of alarm. We're trying to work on desensitising him to this. So far, no improvement - but I've been focusing more on other issues he has, so that's on me mostly.

He barks like crazy when our front door actually goes - but I appreciate this. That's normal for a dog. That's just "alert barking". Once I'm answering the door, he knows to go to his place and stay put, quietly (and he does this brilliantly).

On walks, he will bark and lunge occasionally, when seeing certain strangers (usually men). He does it when he feels threatened - for instance, if we're on a narrow trail, or if someone comes out of nowhere. This is gradually getting better through "look at that" training, but we have a way to go.

When someone enters the apartment, he goes absolutely postal. Similar to your doggo. What helps is either the person leaving the room (say, a contractor); or otherwise, having him on lead (for the person's safety), and letting him be close to us, so he has the ability to suss the person out.

We're planning to book a behaviourist to help us with his fear of strangers (which will help the barking). We've done lots of work with him in the 5ish months since we adopted him, but we want to make sure we're doing the right things. Sometimes it's difficult to know what's working and what isn't, as it can take a long time to start seeing progress.

Good luck with your doggo! It sounds like you really care for her, which is beautiful!

When she wants I’m from the garden I’d the door isn’t open - that’s pretty much it

One thing that helped a nervous dog I had, who got very barky and unsettled if someone unknown to her entered the house, was, if I was expecting someone, or saw someone approaching the door, I'd grab her lead, and walk outside. I'd walk straight past the visitor, telling them to go on in, and walk the dog in 30 secs later.
For some reason not apparent to me, she would be completely calm. Maybe she figured they were 'ok' as they had been allowed in, maybe she was only reacting out of a feeling she had to guard against intruders. Whatever, so long as a visitor was in the house first, and then she entered, she was calm.
And she did get better, with practice.

Ours (age 3) barks on command, when chasing a squirrel in the garden, or briefly if she sees someone she doesn’t know on our property.

3yo staffy rescue only barks at strangers and delivery people approaching the house, or strangers in next door’s garden. Has never barked outside of the house.

Meeting your visitors outside the house for a short walk to the end of the road and back before coming in might help?

Ours barks if people come to the door. And occasionally at large dogs in the park. Other than that, she's pretty quiet.

Neighbour has a dog. It barks when a butterfly farts, a feather drops from the sky... in other words all the bastarding time. Fucking hate them and the dog

What a funny word bark is...

2 yr old collie/lurcher/staffy cross.
He barks quite a lot - barks at people approaching, or walking by, a guard bark which I don't mind. He has an excited bark for play, a ball or stick, when the DCs are winding him up or when he is excited and people are ignoring him - that annoys me as his bark is LOUD and hits the natural vibration of my crockery so the cupboards vibrate.
He has a low huffy woof when his ball is stuck under the sofa, when he stares at us sending 'rescue my toy' thought vibes.
He never barks out on a walk, or hardly ever - but when we are doing canicross in a group he barks and whines almost constantly out of excitement and frustration.

I need to work on it basically, to control it and have a ssshh command. It wouldn't be so bad but he is so LOUD.

Mine never really barks.

The only time she barks is sometimes if she’s startled by something and that is a very high pitched bark, almost like a yelp.

Or, if she is really, really agitated and overwhelmed, then she’ll do a very low, quiet growl bark.
That is normally reserved for the vet.

Barks when the door is knocked (not at the door bell) and at people he doesn't know (workmen) coming in the house. That's it really. I'm not sure I want to train this out of him either.

Hardly ever, only if she is 'surprised' or warning. Eg if someone came and looked through the window. She doesn't bark at visitors or the post or anything. She is a black lab working lines

Visitors.
Young men in hoodies.
Fluffy dogs (mine is a fluffy dog!) especially Huskies (mine isn't a husky but is often mistaken for one)
Plastic bags,...

She's a pain in the arse sometimes but I love her!

we’ve got a lurcher, a whippet, and a greyhound and they only bark about once a year! there’s been a few times when one or more have been accidentally shut outside for about an hour and none of them even think to bark to tell us they’re out there 😂 they literally just sit and wait for someone to open the door or notice they’re missing. i love them to death but they’re right dopey things.

Mine doesn't bark at the door and would be a terrible watchdog as he gets very happy and excited when anyone comes into the house.

He barks at us for attention - particularly when he wants us to get his toys/a different toy, when he wants to go outside to the toilet, when he hears other dogs barking while in the garden. Sometimes when we are playing with him, he will bark as if he's trying to talk to us.

I find it really annoying tbh and am trying to get him to stop barking.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate them?

Bella is a pain in the backside for barking but it's apparently a breed characteristic. She positions herself at the window by the front door and barks at any car that comes on or anyone that walks past. She barks if anyone comes to the door but stops the minute I let them in. If I keep her from the front door she positions herself on the back of a sofa and barks from there, if I close the blinds she barks at any movement behind the blinds. I'm trying to teach quiet but not very successfully.
Out of the house she recognises the supermarket lorries and our local Hermes driver's van and barks at them if they are pulled up at the side of the road and she barks at anyone who might be knocking on somebody's door.
The only saving grace is that she clocks off at 6pm and settles down for a snooze and fortunately we live on a cul de sac so there isn't lots of movement.

Mine barks when next door neighbours dog barks. A neighbour a few doors away got a dog during lockdown that's always outside and barking, thankfully our dogs ignore it or we'd all be driven mad.
He will also bark when he hears a dog right outside, when someone knocks on the door or when he hears a strange noise at night.

@bunnybuggs. " do sympathise with people who have yappy dogs that react to a loose leaf in the garden "

That would be me then! It's a good job I love him to bits. I do hush him and lure him back inside before he pees off the neighbs.