Its 2:00 a.m. and your dog is outside barking up a storm. Is it a stranger near your yard or someone trying to break into your car? No, he is saying "hello" to his little buddy in the yard behind you who is out for a late night constitutional. Deep sigh.

Dogs bark. It is normal and part of their communication behavior. Dogs can bark for appropriate and good reasons, to alert us to anything unusual. But dogs also bark for inappropriate reasons - at least from the perspective of their owners and neighbors. So, why do dogs bark?

There are several reasons that dogs bark. And, frequently you can tell the difference in meaning based on the volume, repetition, and tonal range.

Dogs bark to alert us and that is a good thing. We want our dogs to be watch dogs. Then there are the attention seeking barks most often used by younger dogs. This is usually a short, sharp sound.

Dogs may also bark to identify themselves to other dogs in the neighborhood. It is kind of like, "hi, I am outside now, it is a beautiful day, how are you?"

Dogs may also bark if they are anxious. This bark is higher in pitch and can become self-reinforcing. So, the dog continues to bark. Some dogs also howl like their wolf cousins. The howl is used to find pack mates who may be further away. In this case, you may be the pack mate and your dog is trying to find you.

If your dog’s barking is a problem, there are some training exercises that may help. First, you need to identify why your dog is barking. If he is alerting you to something, this is not a behavior that you want to stop. Beyond that, you can interrupt the dog’s barking by making a loud noise like shaking rocks in a can or using a whistle. As soon as the dog stops barking to attend to your noise, praise him and say "quiet".

Punishment will not stop a dog from barking - try reinforcing controlled behavior such as barking on command and being quiet on command.

There are also bark-activated products are you can use to interrupt barking when you are not present. These products respond to barking with audible and ultrasonic sounds. There are also Citronella-spraying collars that are effective with most dogs.

Electronic shock collars, while available, should be a last option you consider since they have the potential for injury to your pet.

Posted by Barbara.