Barking Dogs: What's the Problem and How Do We Fix It?

Have you ever wondered why your dog can't seem to stop barking? What if I told you that understanding your dog's barking can offer insights into their emotional state? That's right! In a riveting conversation with seasoned dog behaviorist Scott Sheaffer, we unlock the mysteries of canine communication and dig deep into the root causes of nuisance barking. Together, we leave no stone unturned, setting the stage for a long-term solution to your dog’s incessant barking.

From aggression barking to play barking, we unravel the nuances that make each bark unique - its pitch, duration, focus, and even its connection to anxiety. But the conversation doesn't end there. Scott sheds light on whether dogs are aware of the annoyance their barking causes and how their focus impacts their barking. This captivating journey into the canine world is not one to be missed. So, join us as we offer fresh perspectives to help you better understand your beloved pet and their world of barks.

About Scott Sheaffer
Scott Sheaffer, CCBC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA, is a certified dog behavior consultant who has worked with thousands of dog owners and their aggressive dogs. Scott specializes in the assessment and treatment of fear, anxiety, aggression, and phobias in dogs six months and older.

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Scott Sheaffer's Dog Behavior Articles

Disclaimer
If you have a dog who is aggressive and dangerous to humans, it is important that you immediately consult directly with an experienced and certified canine behavior consultant who specializes in dog aggression to humans. Take proper measures to ensure that your dog is never in a position to injure anyone. The information presented in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is neither intended nor implied to replace the need for the direct involvement of an experienced and certified canine behavior consultant who specializes in dog aggression to humans. Scott Sheaffer, the Grumpy Dogs podcast and USA Dog Behavior, LLC, are not liable for any incidents or outcomes resulting from following the advice given in this podcast.

Transcript

Barbara Sheaffer: 0:00

This is Barbara Sheaffer, Scott's wife.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 1:48

Before we go any further, I want to introduce you a little better than you introduce yourself in the intro segment. Barbara has been working alongside me for the entire time I've been in the dog behavior business. Barbara and I were reminiscing the other day about how we used to drive from one session to the next all across town all day long. It was insane. I guess we were young then and didn't bother us. We only allowed ourselves 30 minutes to go in between these sessions all the way across town to get to the next session and it was absolutely crazy how we would do this all day long, flying across town for one appointment to the next. It really wasn't that fun at the time but just like everything else, it's a nice memory now. It's a good learning experience for both of us.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 2:36

For many, if not most, of our private sessions, barbara's involved in the education of the client as well as in the demonstration and simulation phases. It took us many years of working together with decoy dogs, decoy humans, fake dogs, inanimate triggers, etc. In order to perfect the behavior modification, demonstration and simulation techniques that we use today. Barb has really engineered all of this. I learned many years ago that it takes at least one other person other than myself when working with dog behavior clients and their dogs. A behavior consultant or behaviorist working alone with clients and their dogs to me is at a real disadvantage and I think it compromises effectiveness. So I'm really happy to have Barb working alongside me, and she knows the business so well.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 3:31

Okay, ready, here comes the corny part. I don't say this enough, but I wouldn't be doing this today without her. The dog behavior business. In addition to working with families and dogs, she also is the front line on most of our private client contacts and with other dog professionals and organizations such as Rescue, veterinarians, animal Services, etc. And I'm real happy to have her do that because she does such a great job. She has also been important in developing the large amount of training materials, videos, articles, podcasts, etc. That we use every day in our business, and we've used these for years, and she's constantly updating them too. I could go on, but I'm going to be quiet for once and let Barb take the lead.

Barbara Sheaffer: 4:15

Thanks for that, honey. I love you too. Okay, my first question why do dogs bark?

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 4:24

I always like to start a conversation about dog barking with one comment Barking is a symptom of a root cause. There is a root cause that is causing the barking. Doesn't it make sense that if we address the root cause, that that will reduce or eliminate the barking? Kind of reminds me I have a physician friend who asked me not too long ago what do I do to stop my dog from barking? And I answered maybe a little bit smart Alec he, but he got the point. I said, doctor, I have an up fever, how do I stop that? And he said well played, you've made the point and it is a good point. It's just one symptom and we have to dive into it a little bit deeper than that.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 5:11

It's not unlike a human baby crying. They don't just cry. To cry there is always some reason and, to continue the analogy, I don't think anyone would argue that we should just get babies to stop crying and not find out why they were crying in the First place, although after our flight yesterday from Pensacola to Dallas Next to that screaming kid, I would have been very happy just for the baby to stop crying. I don't really care what the root cause was. The parents could worry about the reason for crying when they got off the flight. Wow, that was a long flight.

Barbara Sheaffer: 5:50

I felt really sorry for the mom, but it didn't matter.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 5:54

We still wanted that baby to stop Screaming and crying if we only work to stop the dog from just barking, we never will get a long-term solution. All we will do is stop the barking in the moment, and it always resumes later. I've asked the following question to hundreds of clients over the years something like this, a question like this how long have you been trying to get your dog to just stop barking? In most cases, the answer is years, when we just seek to stop the barking and don't go any deeper than that, by yelling at the dog, for example. It's just a temporary fix and, as listeners to this podcast know, these kinds of techniques will sometimes work in the short term, but frequently actually make the problem worse in the long run. So not only is it not a long-term fix, but it makes the problem worse, and that's a whole another discussion that we've covered in other episodes.

Barbara Sheaffer: 6:57

Okay, that makes sense. Then what are some of the root causes for dogs to be barking?

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 7:04

Barb. That, of course, is a great question and it's kind of the essence of this whole episode and it's a question that all dog owners who have a dog with nuisance barking problems should be investigating. The reasons for it are not always black and white and sometimes they overlap. That's really a critical thing here. I'm gonna list a few reasons here in just a second what the root causes are, but remember, it's rarely just one. There's usually some overlap and a multitude of factors. I guess is what I'm saying here. The list for reasons is virtually endless, to be honest. But let me give you some of the common ones right now.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 7:45

Anxiety barking the best example of anxiety barking might be with separation anxiety, where the dog is stressed and is vocalizing. It's just stress by barking. When I say vocalizing, that covers whining, barking and a whole host of sounds that dogs make, and barking fits in there. All right, attention barking. This is also called demand barking, where the dog barks at a human in order to simply be recognized and acknowledged. And I like to call this kind of barking benign type of barking. It's not aggression. The dog is really not stressed in the way that it's under distress, but it's just trying to get your attention and since dogs are social animals, it's not altogether bad. It's not desirable, but it's not the end of the world when it comes to barking, although it can be annoying. One of the ways we know it's demand barking is that the dog always looks at the human's eyes or into the human's eyes when it's trying to engage the human while barking.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 8:55

Next one territorial barking. This is a common fear-based barking. The dog is fearful of a human or dog entering their space Normally the owner's home may be the backyard and uses aggression to keep them away, and this is aggressive barking. Okay, this is the first one that we've talked about. That is aggressive barking Fear barking this also fits in the category of aggressive barking, and it's the fear of various triggers, such as unfamiliar humans, and when I say unfamiliar humans, I'm talking about people that are unfamiliar to the dog. The dog is scared of them as a result, and the dog gets to decide who those people are, as we've talked about before.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 9:43

Other triggers, such as dogs, sounds and inanimate objects, such as moving cars, trucks, bicycles, et cetera. Just like with territorial aggression, the dog barks to keep these things at a distance, and since they move away or they pass by, the dog thinks that it's working and that behavior is reinforced. That's a whole other discussion. Next one is arousal barking. This is when dogs get excited and just don't know what to do with themselves, so they bark. This is absolutely not unlike how human children squeal and scream when they are excited about something. Well, maybe even some adults that I know too, for that matter. This kind of barking can occur, for example, at the dog's meal time. It can also occur when an owner returns after a long absence. It can happen during play, et cetera.

Barbara Sheaffer: 10:43

How do we know which one it is? And does barking always mean aggression?

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 10:49

Your first question about how we know what kind of barking it is, is really the key. It asks why is the dog barking at this moment or in this moment? If we know why, we can treat it. Here are some rules of thumb For determining this, and there's two. One the pitch, duration and frequency of a dog's bark can tell us why they're barking. For example, a high-pitched and repeated bark is usually playful Usually playful rapid barks with pauses can mean something is wrong, such as when they sense an intruder. We would see this in fear and territorial barking like we mentioned just a second ago, dogs have a large range of barks can help us identify what is causing the barking. And that really makes me think, barb, that we need to do an episode just on barking. It really is fascinating. They've done studies and actually I've done this in my seminars. Well, I'll just play a dozen different barking tracks and just ask the audience To guess what the dog is thinking. And you know what's funny, most people get it pretty right, which is kind of interesting, even non dog professionals.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 12:05

The second note I want to make about dogs barking is that one of the best diagnostic tools that we have is Noticing what the dog is looking toward when they are barking. If a dog is looking at a runner Someone running down the street and barking when you're out on a walk, their concern is the runner. If a dog is looking at a wall inside your home Nothing, nothing described while barking it's probably caused by a sound emanating from outside the home. The dog is just looking in the general direction of the sound. If your dog is looking directly in the owner's eyes, it is most likely demand or attention barking, as we noted earlier. Your next question, barb, if I recall, was does barking always mean aggression? The answer is no. Most dog barking is aggression, However, but some is not. It just really to answer that question really better Depends on the dog.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 13:08

For the dogs that I see in or that we see in our practice, most of their barking is aggression. So we see those kinds of dogs. For most pet dogs Maybe not so much could be attention getting. It really does vary from dog to dog. So when I say most barking is aggression, that would be for behavioral cases, if I'm really being accurate there.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 13:29

If the dog is barking to move something that scares them further away, it's aggression, the very definition of aggression. In other words, they're afraid of a dog or a human, for example, or a car passing by. This is the bulk of dog barking in my experience and in our practice. If the dog is barking to get attention, they want the thing they're barking at to come closer. This is certainly not aggression, is called a distance decreasing behavior.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 13:58

Barking associated with anxiety is, of course, also not aggression. It's a cry for help, if you will. And barking associated with play is also not aggressive, although some dog owners think it is. It can be kind of confusing. Dogs naturally can bark and growl when they are playing, but it is simply play based.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 14:19

One time I had a client who had a huge rottweiler and I think, barb, you'll remember this because you were there I was with this dog for almost an hour and had Assisted as not being human, aggressive at all, and that's a good idea to do when you're working with a large Rottweiler. I felt so comfortable with the dog that I sat on the floor at something I don't normally do to engage with it. I felt completely comfortable. The dog immediately ran to me, growling and Barking.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 14:49

It happens so fast and was so intense that I wasn't sure what kind of barking it was. I Thought this dog was completely fine but man, it was moving away. That was really concerning. The owner could probably see my concern and said oh, he does that with people he really likes. It was simply just barking, associated with play. So let me tell you if I'm confused by it. I can certainly understand why the average dog owner can be confused by this play, barking and growling. It's not really aggression, it's just play. I Sincerely wish, however, the dog owner had told me that before I sat down. As it turned out, the dog was absolutely, of course, a Sweetheart and I enjoyed working with the dog and the family were. Those folks were great too.

Barbara Sheaffer: 15:33

I Do dogs know that barking is annoying to their owners?

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 15:39

That's a great question, barb, and let me ask another question before I answer that and is there any kind of barking that dogs do that we enjoy? I don't know. I don't think there is. If I think about it, I'm not sure I ever enjoy hearing a dog bark. How about you, barb?

Barbara Sheaffer: 15:57

Sometimes I don't really mind if our dogs bark, but I would probably never choose for them to bark.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 16:05

So back to your original question Do dogs know that their barking is annoying their owners? I'm gonna say probably not. And I say probably because we can't know for sure, we can't interview dogs, we can't do cognitive therapy. Maybe someday we can, although it won't be any time in the near future. Dogs essentially bark for fear and attention. If it's fear, they aren't thinking about the owner at all. They're thinking about themselves, of course. And if they're barking for attention, one would think they wouldn't know it's annoying because if they're trying to engage the dog owner, that wouldn't be a good strategy. So yeah, I don't think they do. I think they're thinking that it's achieving some other goal, which is moving scary things away or to get the owner's attention.

Barbara Sheaffer: 16:53

Essentially, that makes sense, but does barking go away on its own if the root cause remains unchanged?

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 17:02

Well, great question. We're all told that you never say never. I know that's real cliche, but this one is pretty close to never. The barking doesn't normally just stop if nothing about the cause of the barking changes. Think about it If anxiety, wanting attention, territorial fear, various triggers and arousal cause a dog to bark, there is little reason for the dog to stop barking because the motivation for the behaviors hasn't changed. If the motivation, the root cause, is still there, they're going to keep barking. This is true if no intervention in the form of behavior modification is done. In fact and we've covered this in other episodes this barking behavior in practice reinforces itself because it gets the outcome the dog wants. Whether real or imagined, it's the outcome that the dog is looking for.

Barbara Sheaffer: 18:00

Then how do you treat these various barking issues?

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 18:04

And really that's the whole essence of this episode is that we want to determine what the root cause is and then we talk about how do you treat it. I'm going to answer your question, barb, in general terms, because there are a lot of variables here. We could go on forever, but we want to keep a relatively short podcast. For anxiety-related causes of barking, we'd want to either remove the thing that is causing the anxiety, although this is not always possible to completely remove it. If we aren't able to do that, which is pretty typical, we have to desensitize and counter condition the dog to what is causing their anxiety. That means we have a planned and slow exposure to the trigger, while matching the exposure with something the dog finds pleasurable, such as commonly would be food, treats, barring or demand barking is one of the easiest to address. In my estimation. We address this by carefully and intentionally removing the fuel for the barking, which is the owner's attention. In other words, the dog wants the owner's attention, the owner gives it attention and that's the fuel. The dog has successfully barked in the past to get the owner's attention, which has worked. We instruct the owner to simply stop giving the dog any kind of attention for this kind of behavior and the behavior goes away. As we call it nanobahavior it is extinguished. I know that sounds really simple. Oh, just don't pay any attention to it. As someone I used to work with said pay it no mind. I love that expression. Pay it no mind. You have to be very specific in how you ignore the behavior. I like to instruct clients to not look, touch or talk. There's some other things around it besides that, but it can really be extinguished fairly quickly if you're committed to doing it consistently. How do we address barking associated with territorial fear and other fear triggers, such as unfamiliar dogs and unfamiliar humans? We address that by managing the dog around the triggers while desensitizing and counter-conditioning to the trigger. I know that's a really simple answer, but that's the essence of what we do for that. Let's talk for a second how we address arousal barking.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 20:29

Arousal barking can be classified under the category of unruly behaviors. There is some overlap here with the other forms of barking, because there is always an element of arousal, of course, with barking. However, in simple arousal barking, where that's the primary cause, just a dog is being aroused. The dog is barking because they are excited about something. Some people actually call it excitement barking. The word excitement is a little too anthropomorphic for me to use for dogs. By anthropomorphic I mean giving dogs human qualities. I prefer to call it arousal barking versus excitement barking because it better describes the behavior in dogs and it can cover more causes for this kind of barking other than just pure excitement.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 21:17

We address this kind of barking by teaching the dog impulse control around the triggering event. A good example of arousal barking would be when an owner greets their dog after being gone all day. Like we talked about earlier, the dog is clearly happy to see the owner and just doesn't inhibit their behaviors at all. That would be one of those examples would be barking uncontrollably. The treatment for this includes using a functional reward to treat calm behavior, in other words behavior that is under some form of impulse control. A functional reward is a reward that says impulse control gets you what you want.

Barbara Sheaffer: 21:57

Wow, this is great stuff. In one sense it sounds really simple and in another it sounds kind of complex.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 22:06

It may seem complex, but it really isn't that bad. It doesn't have to be complex. Remember we covered numerous causes of barking. For most dog owners, their dogs' nuisance, barking is caused by one or two reasons. Once you identify what the root causes are, the treatment is normally fairly straightforward.

Barbara Sheaffer: 22:25

So what should dog owners do if they find their dog is barking? And it's a real nuisance.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 22:34

The first thing to do, and the most important, is to find out the why of the dog's barking, to discover the root cause, as we've been talking about. We know the symptom barking but we need to unearth what is causing the barking first. Once this is done, then the proper treatment can begin. As noted earlier, if you can't discern what is causing the barking on your own, then you might want to connect with a certified dog behavior consultant in your area who can help you figure all of this out and create a proper treatment plan. Many nuisance barking cases like we've been talking about today are actually quite straightforward to treat.

Barbara Sheaffer: 23:13

This has been great. From my perspective, it seems like figuring out the root cause is the most important thing.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 23:21

Yeah, exactly.

Barbara Sheaffer: 23:23

And then coming up with a treatment plan to address this root cause. Not to worry so much about the barking itself it's only a symptom.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 23:33

Precisely, and doing this will provide improvement and hopefully and should provide durable results, meaning long-lasting results.

Barbara Sheaffer: 23:44

Thanks, Scott. We need to do this more often.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 23:48

I agree and thank you. I loved having you with me on this episode. It was really fun and we do need to do this more often. Thanks for tuning in today. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and leave a review if this information is helpful. I always appreciate your insights. So visit dogaggressionanswerscom if you'd like to leave me a message Before we wrap up. This podcast offers educational insights, but for serious dog aggression issues, always consult directly with a certified dog behavior consultant. See you next time and stay tuned.