Last night my neighbor’s dogs kept me awake with their constant barking. Because last night had a full moon, the coyotes were out and disturbing the neighborhood dogs with their yapping and howling. My own dogs barked when the coyotes first started in, but stayed quiet the rest of the night after I quieted them with a command. My neighbor’s never quiet their pack of dogs-I don’t know how anyone could sleep that deep and it makes me mad and jealous at the same time.

This made me realize that even though the barking dogs were a real nuisance, they thought they were barking to protect their territory from the pack of coyotes-a very natural instinct.I felt like the owners were at least as much at fault as their dogs-if not more-for not correcting the problem.

As a dog owner, it is up to you to be responsible enough to keep any type of barking, whether it starts for a good reason or not, under control. Whenever my dogs bark for a valid reason, I want to control it, but not stop it.

Check out these more acceptable reasons for your dog to start his barking. You can see the difference between these “good barking” reasons and  the  “problem barking” reasons, and know whether your dog’s barking is a problem or not.

• The most obvious good reason your dog will bark is when he wants to warn you that something (maybe another dog or a stranger) is approaching. This is an instinctual part of being a dog, and is an appropriate behavior that you don’t want to discourage. Having said that, your dog should be willing to stop his barking as soon as you tell him to stop. For instance, if your dog starts barking because he sees  someone getting out of a car in front of your house,  and you can see the person is not of any danger, you should be able to stop your dog’s barking  with a simple command. In case the visitor isn’t someone you want on the property, you have the option of letting your dog’s “good barking” continue to serve as a deterrent. The key is to be able to control the dog barking. If your dog is barking for a variety of other reasons, those are barking problems needing correction.

• Another common reason your dog will bark is because he is happy and excited about something. I personally enjoy playing a lot with my dogs, and their barking at me and at each other while we play is just part of the fun. This is the doggy’s way of saying he is having a lot of fun, and wants even more. I only quiet my dogs if one of them gets to barking excessively from over-excitement, or wanting more attention.  If the barking is just sporadic and playful that is cool with me, but if one of them gets stuck on “bark” then I have to do something about it. That’s because one consequence of too much barking when playing is that it can become a habit for your dog, and at that point it is a problem-so try to keep the barking while playing at a reasonable level.
• Many dogs will bark upon your arrival home. Greeting barks are very common and as long as the barking is only a few brief “hello” barks, it is not a big problem. I like to be greeted at the gate by my dogs, and I don’t mind a couple greeting barks at all. It would be a problem if the dogs got over-excited and didn’t stop their barking at the gate. That puts this behavior onto the unacceptable list because the dog doesn’t immediately stop barking after saying “Hi”.

• My female Lab will bark at me sometime when she wants to play.  However, some dogs will try to use their barking as a way of bullying you into playing with them. Since my own Lab did this to me for a long time, I know first hand about being trained by my own dog to do her pleasing. Actually, you should be the one to initiate the play or at least decide when to play. Otherwise you are letting the dog be the boss of you, and that isn’t good for your ability to train him. If your dog is bullying you, don’t let it, because it is important that you are always viewed as the boss in the relationship-not the other way around.

I think you’d agree the above barking behaviors are not troublesome-unless they are out of control. However, most of the other reasons dogs bark create a disturbance and should be corrected.

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