Why do dogs suddenly bark at nothing?
For the past 30yrs I’ve worked in animal rescue. I’ve managed to collect the unadoptables in the last 10yrs. All the ones that no one else wanted because they’re too grouchy, too fat, too bitey, won’t play, too barky, too something else. I have 7 of them. Barking is something we have no shortage of.
Grimwold, Ophelia, Griflet and Rollo are our big barkers. Rollo, a chocolate am. cocker, barks when he thinks our yard inside the fence is about to be broached, he also barks at birds flying over our yard, he barks at birds sitting on power lines inside the fence line, and he barks at our nasty grouchy dog hating neighbor Dirty Bill.
Griflet, a black cockapoo, is a controlled barker. He is a fence guarder. He barks at people walking by too close to the fence, he barks at people touching our fence, he barks at people looking at our fence from across the road on the sidewalk, he barks at people driving by in cars who happen to notice we have a fence. BUT, he also is a great ratter and barks at rodents that get into the house from outside and when he gets them out of the wall he kills them fast. So I don’t mind his barking at all.
Ophelia, corgi/beagle, herds the cockers all over the yard barking and growling the whole time. She barks at passing motorcycles, she barks dogs being walked on the sidewalk, she barks at passing people, she barks at falling leaves, she barks at Dirty Bill on basic principle. I think Ophelia just likes to hear herself bark. She has never barked in the house.
Grimwold, german shepherd/border collie, is a wild man. His original people abandoned him because of his propensity to bark. They kept him on a screened porch instead of a yard and he barked incessantly, 24hrs a day. He came to us because of that. After being with us a few weeks the barking slowed down because he had a fenced acre of property to run constantly and wear down a bit. He was never still and never quiet. It took another 3yrs before he got old enough to actually really slow down. Now that he’s 9yrs old and a true adult, he will actually lie down during the day, sit when he’s told and relax. He’s still a herding barker, vocalizing at every moving thing at every hour of thFor the past 30yrs I’ve worked in animal rescue. I’ve managed to collect the unadoptables in the last 10yrs. All the ones that no one else wanted because they’re too grouchy, too fat, too bitey, won’t play, too barky, too something else. I have 7 of them. Barking is something we have no shortage of.
Grimwold, Ophelia, Griflet and Rollo are our big barkers. Rollo, a chocolate am. cocker, barks when he thinks our yard inside the fence is about to be broached, he also barks at birds flying over our yard, he barks at birds sitting on power lines inside the fence line, and he barks at our nasty grouchy dog hating neighbor Dirty Bill.
Griflet, a black cockapoo, is a controlled barker. He is a fence guarder. He barks at people walking by too close to the fence, he barks at people touching our fence, he barks at people looking at our fence from across the road on the sidewalk, he barks at people driving by in cars who happen to notice we have a fence. BUT, he also is a great ratter and barks at rodents that get into the house from outside and when he gets them out of the wall he kills them fast. So I don’t mind his barking at all.
Ophelia, corgi/beagle, herds the cockers all over the yard barking and growling the whole time. She barks at passing motorcycles, she barks dogs being walked on the sidewalk, she barks at passing people, she barks at falling leaves, she barks at Dirty Bill on basic principle. I think Ophelia just likes to hear herself bark. She has never barked in the house.
Grimwold, german shepherd/border collie, is a wild man. His original people abandoned him because of his prFor the past 30yrs I’ve worked in animal rescue. I’ve managed to collect the unadoptables in the last 10yrs. All the ones that no one else wanted because they’re too grouchy, too fat, too bitey, won’t play, too barky, too something else. I have 7 of them. Barking is something we have no shortage of.
Grimwold, Ophelia, Griflet and Rollo are our big barkers. Rollo, a chocolate am. cocker, barks when he thinks our yard inside the fence is about to be broached, he also barks at birds flying over our yard, he barks at birds sitting on power lines inside the fence line, and he barks at our nasty grouchy dog hating neighbor Dirty Bill.
Griflet, a black cockapoo, is a controlled barker. He is a fence guarder. He barks at people walking by too close to the fence, he barks at people touching our fence, he barks at people looking at our fence from across the road on the sidewalk, he barks at people driving by in cars who happen to notice we have a fence. BUT, he also is a great ratter and barks at rodents that get into the house from outside and when he gets them out of the wall he kills them fast. So I don’t mind his barking at all.
Ophelia, corgi/beagle, herds the cockers all over the yard barking and growling the whole time. She barks at passing motorcycles, she barks dogs being walked on the sidewalk, she barks at passing people, she barks at falling leaves, she barks at Dirty Bill on basic principle. I think Ophelia just likes to hear herself bark. She has never barked in the house.
Grimwold, german shepherd/border collie, is a wild man. His original people abandoned him because of his propensity to bark. They kept him on a screened porch instead of a yard and he barked incessantly, 24hrs a day. He came to us because of that. After being with us a few weeks the barking slowed down because he had a fenced acre of property to run constantly and wear down a bit. He was never still and never quiet. It took another 3yrs before he got old enough to actually really slow down. Now that he’s 9yrs old and a true adult, he will actually lie down during the day, sit when he’s told and relax. He’s still a herding barker, vocalizing at every moving thing at every hour of the day, but it’s more purposeful and less manic.
Our other dogs, a half blind, nearly deaf cocker named Percival almost never barks anymore, Turtle a chow mix only barks when someone comes to the door or to the fence, and Sasha our husky/shepherd/wolf dog just never barks tho she is very vocal.
My point in all of this is to finally say, some dogs will bark for a reason or for any reason or for no reason. Sometimes we get to know the reason, sometimes we don’t. There is no metaphysical thing going on that we can never know about, there just isn’t. They share the same world we do. They hear, smell, feel and see things we can’t even imagine that are just as real and tangible as the ground under our feet, we just don’t have as sensitive senses as they do.opensity to bark. They kept him on a screened porch instead of a yard and he barked incessantly, 24hrs a day. He came to us because of that. After being with us a few weeks the barking slowed down because he had a fenced acre of property to run constantly and wear down a bit. He was never still and never quiet. It took another 3yrs before he got old enough to actually really slow down. Now that he’s 9yrs old and a true adult, he will actually lie down during the day, sit when he’s told and relax. He’s still a herding barker, vocalizing at every moving thing at every hour of the day, but it’s more purposeful and less manic.
Our other dogs, a half blind, nearly deaf cocker named Percival almost never barks anymore, Turtle a chow mix only barks when someone comes to the door or to the fence, and Sasha our husky/shepherd/wolf dog just never barks tho she is very vocal.
My point in all of this is to finally say, some dogs will bark for a reason or for any reason or for no reason. Sometimes we get to know the reason, sometimes we don’t. There is no metaphysical thing going on that we can never know about, there just isn’t. They share the same world we do. They hear, smell, feel and see things we can’t even imagine that are just as real and tangible as the ground under our feet, we just don’t have as sensitive senses as they do.e day, but it’s more purposeful and less manic.
Our other dogs, a half blind, nearly deaf cocker named Percival almost never barks anymore, Turtle a chow mix only barks when someone comes to the door or to the fence, and Sasha our husky/shepherd/wolf dog just never barks tho she is very vocal.
My point in all of this is to finally say, some dogs will bark for a reason or for any reason or for no reason. Sometimes we get to know the reason, sometimes we don’t. There is no metaphysical thing going on that we can never know about, there just isn’t. They share the same world we do. They hear, smell, feel and see things we can’t even imagine that are just as real and tangible as the ground under our feet, we just don’t have as sensitive senses as they do.
On the farm, we had a medium sized dog who was a very gentle soul. At three or four AM he would wake us up barking at nothing.
My father eventually figured out the pattern. Our dog wanted to warn us of danger but he did not want to expose himself to the danger.
The dog would bark facing exactly 180 degrees away from where the danger was.
When the dog woke me I would go outside and find the dog. He appeared to be barking at nothing.
I would pet and thank him for alerting us. Then I would walk to the exact opposite side of the house and look in the direction 180 degrees away from where the dog was facing.
Yep, there it was. A car sitting on the road with its lights off. Or a car with no lights on sitting next to the fuel tanks in our yard.
I would stare at them. Soon the car would slowly pull away, the lights off and the tires crunching on the gravel of the road or driveway.
Every time the dog woke us up at night, trouble was always 180 degrees on the opposite side of the house.