Last night my neighbor’s dogs kept me awake with their constant barking. There happened to be a full moon last night, and the coyote’s of the area were howling and barking nearby, driving the dogs crazy. My dogs also joined in with the others when they first heard the coyotes start in, but as soon as I told them to quiet down, they obeyed. Unfortunately for me, my neighbors must be the world’s deepest sleepers, because I have never heard them quiet their dogs at night.

While I lay there thinking about dogs and their barking, it was obvious that barking, even for a good reason (a warning, in this case) is bad when excessive.In the case of my neighbor’s dogs I blame the owners for the problem more than the dogs.

So, even though there are some good reasons for dogs to bark, it is up to  us as their owners to make sure we control the barking so it does not become a problem behavior. Whenever my dogs bark for a valid reason, I want to control it, but not stop it.

Here area some examples of acceptable reasons your dog may start to bark. These types of “good barking” examples are just forms of normal communication and are not caused by any behavioral issues that your dog may have.

• 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 type of warning is something you want to have from your dog, and so you will not want to discourage it. However, you should be able to get your dog to stop his barking as soon as you command him to. 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. Protection barking is “good barking”-just make sure you can always control and stop the barking quickly with a command. Although these reasons for dog barking are OK, other reasons indicate dog barking problems needing to be controlled.

• Dogs will often bark for the good reason that they are happy and excited . When I play with my dogs, they bark at me and at each other-but all in fun. Your dog is just saying how much fun he is having, and how he wants more. When we are playing I only will quiet them down in the case of one of them getting a little carried away with the excitement.  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. Because your dog may develop a barking habit from too much excitement if you don’t limit it while playing, you need to pay attention to that.
• Your dog may start barking when you first come home. This type of excitement barking is typical, and not a problem if it is limited to a few greeting barks. My dogs always greet me at the gate when I come home, and I don’t mind a couple barks because that is all there are. The problem is when your dog gets over-excited and barks incessantly for an extended period. That puts this behavior onto the unacceptable list because the dog doesn’t immediately stop barking after saying “Hi”.

• Another common time that your dog might bark is when he wants you to play with him.  Continued barking at their master for some attention can be seen as a form of bullying by the dog. 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. If you let the dog think it is the boss instead of you, you will make all other training more difficult. 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. The various other reasons the at dogs are known to bark excessively should be considered problem behaviors and therefore corrected as soon as possible.

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