This morning’s walks offered an abundance of content for this blog. Each human/canine team we passed seemed to give me a strong “write a blog” message as they passed by us. Not only was it others out there in the canine/human world but both Riggs and Elsa offered up their own vocalizations.
Many (most) people want to stop any vocalizations from their dog but this is not the way to address behaviorial voice issues. Stop barking, stop whining, stop making noise, SHUT UP!!!! But, what are we doing by simply stopping the noise? What fallout do we have from this very natural human response of silencing our dogs?
This morning as Elsa and I made our way around the small park; a man came in with his Australian Cattle dog puppy. Elsa sounded off a couple of very neutral barks. She’s feeling vulnerable right now (of course) and wants other dogs just to stay away. As the man and his puppy passed, the puppy’s hair and it growled deeply. The man quickly gave his dog several physical corrections (leash yanks) and said “be quiet.” So this blog is mostly for them.
The puppy, being of insecure age, was very nervous of Elsa barking at it. Elsa is a big girl and has a deep bark. The bark was not menacing in anyway but for an insecure puppy from a strange dog, it was. What the man should have done was to understand how his puppy was feeling. At that moment he should have whipped out some treats, raised the tone of his voice to a happy sound and chirpped along happily with his pup, rewarding him. Instead he attempted to stop the growl; essentially silencing his puppy.
A growl, bark or whine from a dog is information about your dog’s emotion (emotional vocalization). I know it is human nature to stop it; we think that it is bad, that our dogs should never growl. But what an emotional vocalization gives us, is the imformation needed to know how our dogs are feeling. If we have no sound, no body language, then we are quite literally blind to our dog’s emotions.
K9 vocalizations = information
Our human tendancy is to focus on the sound; but we should target our attention to what is causing the vocalization. Whether it be a bark, growl, whine or other sound from our dog; why do they feel the need to exhibit it? Although there are general behaviors across the board in the canine species; each is very individual. This means that some are more vocal, more emotional and more demonstrative. You need to know your dog.
As Elsa and I pulled into the driveway, I hopped out and opened the garage door. I heard it immediately, a mournful howl coming from inside the house. Riggs was upset by our absence. He is a howler, but he only howls when he is upset and calling for his family to come home. It stopped abruptly as he heard the garage door and he was very happy when we came in. Next was Elsa’s turn to vocalize. I grabbed Riggs and headed into the garage to go for our walk. Before I even got his harness on, I heard it. The very loud, very angry barks from Elsa. She was not happy about being left behind. I clearly understand the cause of both of these and I have to just go. Human guilt can cause a whole other set of problems. I get that neither likes to be left behind.
Another dog that Elsa and I have seen several times at the park; started it’s assault as they passed by us. It’s human yanked on the leash and shouted at the dog to “knock it off, be quiet.” Yep, the words fell on deaf ears. The yanking and yelling fueled the behavior of the crazed small white dog.
As humans we look at growling and barking as bad things. “I don’t allow growling in my house,” one woman told me. Well, then you risk the chance of having a fight with no heads up once so ever. The way we need to look at a growl is like this.
Dog growls.
We investigate reason.
Was it caused by environment, a person or dog, proximity, over stimulation, fear?
There can be many caused of a vocalization and discovering the reason is the action to be taken once we hear one of these sounds. Why did my dog growl, bark or whine? What was the cause? And then you address the cause of the emotional vocalization.
We don’t address the growl, bark or whine; we address the cause of these vocalizations.
If a dog is taught that no growling, barking or whining is allowed; they will stay silent and give no clues as to how they are feeling. This can be a very dangerous situation; as we are then blind and deaf to a possible incident.
The same can be said about body language like jumping or lunging. Figure out what is causing your dog to display these behaviors and address that. A very good explanation of addressing cause of barking is Elsa and her need to bark at strange dogs while on a walk. She feels vulnerable at her age; she was also attacked pretty badly by two leashed bulldogs when she was much younger. This is the cause, the solution is to give her more space between her and the other dogs. Problem solved.
Perhaps you have growling in your home during feeding time. When one dog approaches the other, the first dog growls to defend it’s food. If you simple stop the growling, the emotion is still there, brewing, festering until a possible explosion. Instead, stop any approach from each other to the other’s bowl. Dog’s should have a very secure feeling of “safe” eating time. This means that they know they are free to eat without having to defend their food. Food bowl guarding? Gone.
If you have any questions about this at all, ask away. Find me on instagram at @justdogswithsherri