Barking The Sound of a Language by Turid Rugaas

Author:Turid Rugaas [Rugaas, Turid]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Book, Dogs, ebook
Publisher: Dogwise
Published: 2012-03-26T22:00:00+00:00

6 Guard Barking

This kind of barking is probably the most misunderstood of all. Because it usually is accompanied by growling sounds, people view it as the dog being aggressive, dominant, wanting to “take over,” or other things that have nothing to do with it.

In the first place, aggression is really defensive and is based upon fear. A dog can be angry, of course, since a dog has many of the emotions we have. If we can accept that we sometimes are angry, we must also accept that dogs can be angry—especially if there is something to be angry about. Anger and defensive behavior is not a chronic state of mind. It almost always has to do with a specific situation.

So-called “aggression” can be expressed in different ways, but almost never in barking. If a dog needs to focus on defending himself or guarding, he cannot throw away a lot of energy into barking. The same applies to dominance—it has nothing to do with barking.

A barking dog guarding something has a high stress level at that moment in time. A so-called dominant dog will have all the self esteem in the world and probably feels in full control of himself and the situation. He will not be stressed enough to bark. “Dominant” dogs and dominant people are in control. It is only stressed and fearful individuals who yell and scream—and bark.

Guard barking occurs when a dog feels he is in a position where he has to defend himself or something that is his. The fear of losing something can be just as real as fearing for his own safety. He becomes unsure, stressed, and afraid. We do not become defensive if we have nothing to defend ourselves against.

How it sounds. If the dog is guard/defensive barking, there will usually be some growling in it. Something like:

Grrrrrr—bark, bark—grrrrr

The guard barking sound will generally be shorter and deeper than fear barking. But sometimes, when the dog is really afraid, it can sound more high pitched and similar to fear barking.

Activity involved. The dog will move forward, lunging towards the object he is defending himself against, trying to make it go away. When a dog goes into a defensive mode he might try to get away and out of trouble, or he might try to scare something or someone away by:

• showing teeth

• growling

• lunging forward

• snapping

• barking

• and eventually biting, but the bite comes at the very end, if nothing else helps

Should you reprimand this? Of course you should not reprimand the dog. If he feels he has to defend himself, you should assume he is completely convinced that he needs to do so. A reprimand here will make him become even more afraid than he already was. The more you punish the dog for going into defense mode, the more he will have a reason for doing it. He will become defensive and begin guard barking even more quickly in similar situations. For the dog, this behavior is part of his survival skills.

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