How Do You Deal With Your Barking Dog? – Part 1

Posted by Jeanne on April 20, 2009

Some owners seem to want their dogs to stop barking, period: a good dog is a quiet dog, and the only time that barking’s permitted is when there’s a man in a black balaclava and stripy prison outfit, clutching a haversack marked ‘Swag’, clambering in through your bedroom window.

Dogs don’t see barking in quite the same light. Your dog has a voice, just like you do, and she uses it just how you do too: to communicate something to the people she cares about.

I don’t think that barking is necessarily a bad thing – in fact, I think it’s encouraging that my dog wants to “talk” to me, enough so that I can overlook the stentorian qualities of his voice (which, in enclosed spaces, is positively overpowering) in of his desire to communicate with me. It’s the thought that counts (even though I feel better-equipped to stand by this sanctimonious belief when my ears are sheltered safely behind industrial-quality ear-plugs).

Unfortunately, the language barrier between dogs and humans is pretty well impermeable, which means it’s up to us to use the context, the body language of our dogs, and the circumstances of the vocalization to parse meaning from a volley of barks.

So why do dogs bark? It’s not easy to say (it’s like trying to answer the question, “Why do humans talk?” in so many words). Let’s start off by saying that dogs bark for many different reasons.

A lot of it depends on the breed: some dogs were bred to bark only when a threat is perceived (this is true of guarding breeds in particular, like Rottweilers, Dobermans, and German Shepherds); some were bred to use their voices as a tool of sorts, to assist their owners in pursuit of a common goal (sporting breeds such as Beagles and Bloodhounds, trained to ‘bay’ when they scent the quarry), and some dogs just like to hear themselves talk (take just about any of the toy breeds as an example of a readily-articulate dog!).

More on this subject next week…

Beagles – Popular Hunting Dogs

Posted by Jeanne on April 8, 2009

The Beagle is a dog that officially belongs in the hound group. This group is divided into two classes – those that hunt with their eyes, like the Greyhound and the Borzoi, and those that hunt with their noses, like the Dachshund and the Bloodhound.

The Beagle is a nose hunter, too. If you take a Beagle into the field, he’ll be off on the trail of a rabbit before you can say, “Go get him!” If you live in the country and rabbits keep digging up your garden, get a couple of Beagles and your rabbit troubles will be over. The Beagles will not only chase rabbits oft your property but woodchucks and moles as well.

When a Beagle is on the trail of game, he often goes through grass and brush so high that it it were not for his white-tipped tail sticking up in the air you wouldn’t know where he is. As long as you see his tail up, you know the Beagle has his nose down. As soon as the nose comes up off the ground, the tail comes down to a level with his body, sticking almost straight out.

The reason for this up and down signaling of the tail is that the dog can’t bark to let you know where he is as long as his nose is down tracking game. His tail has to tell you his location. But, as soon as he can bring his nose up, he can bark to signal where he is and he doesn’t need his “flag.’

There are big Beagles and there are small Beagles – whatever kind you have, you know that yours is a popular breed.