I think we can all agree that barking is a form of communication. I always thought that my dog was barking to converse with me in her own “dog language” like someone who speaks a different language might try to talk to me. Could it be more than that?
When someone new arrives on the scene at my house, my dog barks. When she wants me to know that she heard a noise, she sounds the alarm. Dogs at my animal hospital bark and whine when they want to be played with or walked. Animal experts agree they are attempting to convey a need, physical, emotional or social.
Things like needing to relieve themselves or being hungry- biological requirements.
Maybe they crave the positive hormones that come from interaction with the people that they love. I reference this in my previous article, Can My Dog Really Love Me?, because a recent study showed that dogs do respond hormonally to the arrival of someone they know. (Physiology & Behavior 2013 Oct 24)
Perhaps they are fearful and want to be sure that we are there to act as their pack for defense. This would be more of a social essential since canids are pack animals.
I had always thought that dogs were communicating with us like they would with other dogs (back to my analogy of a person who speaks another language). I know what she is trying to tell me when she barks and I can certainly distinguish meanings from her different tones and cadences.
We, dog lovers think that we are learning to understand “dog-ese”. We fancy ourselves experts on understanding what they are communicating and pride ourselves on our ability to connect with them. We as a species tend to think ourselves superior over all the animal kingdom and this seemed to be another example.
When I was asked to look into this topic and researched this interesting subject, imagine my surprise to learn that dogs seldom communicate with other dogs this way. Studies suggest that dogs have adapted their barking for “heightened capability to communicate with humans.” (Behavioral Processes, July 2009) So, in essence, my dog is “talking down” to me. She has ‘dumbed down’ her language, so that I can understand it and then carry out her wishes!
So I guess dogs are smart enough to realize that we humans are never going to truly understand their intricate body language and have developed a way to communicate with us anyway. I often joke with my clients about them being well trained by their dogs. So with this knowledge…who is master of whom?
