Why Dogs Bark So Much

Why do dogs bark so much? Evolutionary biologist Kathryn Lord thinks the answer has got something to do with trash dumps and scaring away intruders:

“What we’re saying is that the domestic dog does not have an intentional message in mind, such as, ‘I want to play’ or ‘the house is on fire,’” explains Lord.

Rather, she and colleagues say barking is the auditory signal associated with an evolved behavior known as mobbing, a cooperative anti-predator response usually initiated by one individual who notices an approaching intruder. A dog barks because she feels an internal conflict?an urge to run plus a strong urge to stand her ground and defend pups, for example. When the group joins in, the barks intimidate the intruder, who often flees.

“We think dogs bark due to this internal conflict and mobbing behavior, but domestic dogs bark more because they are put, and put themselves into, conflicting situations more often,” she says.

Needless to say, dog lovers who think that their pets are communicating with think, of course, that she is barking up the wrong tree: Link


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dogs are as smart as any creature that can interact with the environment to fulfill necessities for survival... ie...

not-very. and limited.

cats are the ones who are trying to take over the world using a trained primate army.
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#7 The last paragraph in the article you refer to is completely asinine and certainly does NOT address the dog that goes to the back door at 10 p.m. and barks to be let out! That is most certainly an intentional message from dog to human, and if it's a "learned cue" then it's the same kind of learned cue that your kid knows when asking "Can I have a drink?" Suggesting that there's no intelligence behind it is just foolish...

I happen to have a dog that performs this behavior, but not just at a fixed time. Whenever she needs to hit the restroom in the backyard she walks to the back door and issues a single 'woof', then waits for somebody to come let her out. If nobody shows up within a minute or two she woofs again.

I think the lady who wrote the article must not know too many actual real-life dogs. Or maybe only the dumb ones!
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Yup, dogs bark for two reasons. One is to annoy the hell out of me. The other is 'cos one of our cats is showing the superiority of being able to sit just out of reach on top of a fence. It doesn't need to stick its tongue out and shout "Ner ner na ner ner", that'd be uncool.
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