Why does the dog bark at some people and not others?
If you share your home and daily life with a dog, you may have noticed that dogs bark at some people, while others don’t seem to interest you at all. If you’ve been in this situation while walking with your best friend, you’ve probably wondered why the dog barks at strangers.
- In this article by Animal Expert.
- We will help you find answers to this question.
- Explaining the possible meanings of the barking of your fur and explaining why the dog barks at some people and not others.
To understand why your dog barks at some people and not others, you must first know why dogs bark. Although furry animals mainly use their body language to express their moods, emotions and perceptions of the environment, barking plays a very important role in the relationship with people, other animals and the surrounding environment.
In their day-to-day life, dogs bark to communicate the different emotions and experiences in which they live, which depends a lot on the environment in which they are and the stimuli they perceive. When we talk about stimuli, we talk not only about noise, images or smells, but also about the presence of other individuals in their territory (people, dogs, cats or other animals). Therefore, there are many possible meanings of a dog’s barking.
To know what each bark means in your fur, you should pay attention to their postures, facial expressions and meanings. A stressed dog, in addition to barking, usually presents various signs of stress, such as hyperactivity or nervousness, excessive salivation, licks, difficulty concentrating, excessive wheezing, etc. A rabid dog that prepares to defend itself will communicate its mood with other attitudes and postures, such as grunting, showing teeth, scratching and smelling the ground, presenting very dilated pupils, standing with a markedly rigid body, among others. If you notice these signs in your fur, it is best to move away and respect your space until the animal calms down and returns to its usual behavior. Then it will be critical to identify what causes these negative emotions in your friend to set up effective treatment.
Therefore, it is important to emphasize the importance of knowing the personality of your dog to easily identify any changes in their behavior and how to act to help it. Also, if you find that your dog barks too much or that your dog’s personality has changed, we recommend that you take it to a trusted veterinarian to monitor their health. Many diseases can cause severe pain and interfere with your four-legged friend’s senses, so it is essential to eliminate any pathological causes associated with excessive barking and other behavioral problems.
Now he knows that dogs can bark for different reasons and under different circumstances. However, we have not yet answered the initial question: why does the dog bark against some people and not against others?
Again, we’ll have to tell you that there’s no single explanation for your hairy behavior. To know why your dog barks behind certain people, you will need to observe the context in which these barking occurs. In addition to observing the position of your dog when barking, you should also observe the attitude of the person who barks at his fur.
To help you with this task, here’s a look at the main reasons your dog can bark for some people and not others.
Fear is one of the main causes of barking in dogs. In general, fearful behavior towards people and other dogs is associated with ineffective socialization. Therefore, you should invest in an early socialization to prevent the dog from barking too much.
In dogs, fear is an emotion that appears at the end of the socialization stage that occurs during childhood. If, during this period, you present your fur to different people, dogs, other animals and various stimuli, you will be able to avoid the behaviors of fear or insecurity in adulthood. Although it is ideal to start socializing a dog from a child, it is also possible to perform a process of socialization in adult dogs, always relying on patience, affection and help with positive reinforcement.
In this way, a dog that has not been properly socialized during childhood and has not had the opportunity to interact positively with other individuals can show fear in front of unknown people, dogs and stimuli. There are even dogs that act in a frightening and exaggerated way even with people they know, having had a traumatic experience with people (that’s what we’ll talk about later).
However, there are also other possible explanations for why a dog barks after being afraid. Similarly, sensory deprivation syndrome can be the answer you are looking for if your dog has been adopted and you are not aware of its past, since this disorder occurs when dogs are confined during their development or deprived of the social stimuli we mention. Previously.
You’ve probably heard that dogs can smell human fear and can even bark when they identify that emotion in some people. Although there is no 100% proven explanation for this capacity of furry animals, the truth is that they have much more developed senses than humans, especially if we talk about smell and hearing. This would be one of the possible explanations for the ability to identify a person who is afraid.
When we experience fear or other extreme emotions (stress, anxiety, overexcavation), the human body releases hormones into the bloodstream and bodily fluids (urine, sweat, etc.) that alter body odor. Although these substances may go unnoticed by other people, the dog’s powerful sense of smell is able to easily identify the change in smell in the body of the person experiencing this emotion. In addition, when we are afraid, the body also adopts certain postures and facial expressions other than those in which we live a state of relaxation or happiness. A person who is afraid of a dog usually takes a defensive or apprehensive position when he is in the presence of that animal. Remember that fear is an emotion that can provoke organic and involuntary reactions.
Since dogs mainly use body language to communicate, they are also able to notice changes in our usual postures and identify some signs that indicate this state of tension. By identifying a defensive posture or apprehension in some people, dogs may bark when they feel stressed or frightened in this situation, or simply to scare and thwart any attempted attack that may occur by that defensive person.
While you may think that the dog barks at people who do not like them, the truth is that hairy people can also bark to attract the attention of the people they love and thus invite them to play or receive their caresses. In fact, there are many dogs that bark when they are very excited, either because they notice the presence of their favorite people, because they know it’s time to walk or because their owner picks up their favorite toy.
If your dog barks at some people to express their happiness when they see them and invites them to play, you may see other positive and friendly signs in their body language. For example, the classic cheerful tail, raised and agitated with enthusiasm, open and friendly facial expressions, or ears back when you receive affection or ask for affection for that person.
Dogs are territorial animals that can be very protective of their homes, owners and objects. The presence of strangers, dogs or other animals in your home can make you feel that your territory is overrun and that your resources are threatened. Therefore, there will be a natural need to preserve and protect them from any threat. However, a possessive dog tends to resort to aggression and reacts negatively, even with people he knows, for fear of losing his toys, food or owner.
Resource protection is a natural behavior in dogs and other animals. However, overprotection of people and objects tends to affect the social life of furry people and family life. In addition, to preserve their resources, dogs can have aggressive attitudes that are very dangerous to themselves and to those around them. Therefore, a possessive dog should be adequately treated to learn how to control its negative reactions and interact positively with the people, animals and stimuli that make up its environment. If you find that your dog is very possessive of you or your objects, we recommend that you immediately seek a qualified professional, such as a canine educator or an ethologist. Also, if your hair is very nervous or more aggressive than normal, quickly take it to the veterinarian to monitor its health and rule out any pathological causes.
On the other hand, if you have adopted or are thinking of adopting a new dog, remember the importance of presenting it properly to your fur. If you suddenly introduce a new puppy into your home, your dog may feel insecure and become more possessive of its territory and resources, acting aggressively towards the new puppy. Therefore, the introduction of a new dog into our home should be careful to avoid fights and territorial disputes.
In Animal Expert we give you some tips to promote coexistence between a new puppy and an adult dog. In addition, you will have to prepare your home for the arrival of the new furry, each dog must have its own environments and objects (feeder, feeder, bed, toys, etc.). Thus, you will be able to encourage the interaction of your dogs, avoiding subjecting them to unnecessary fights and high stress contexts. Remember again the importance of socializing your dogs to teach them to interact positively and enjoy an ideal social life.
Unconscious training is much more common than you think. Every day, many owners reinforce undesirable behaviors in their dogs without even realizing it, for example by offering them a treat or treats to temporarily stop certain undesirable behaviors, such as barking, crying, etc. That’s why this phenomenon is known as “unconscious training”.
If, to silence your dog, you always offer him a sandwich, a hug or allow him to do things that are normally prohibited (such as climbing the sofa or bed), your furry dog will probably equate the act of barking with something interesting. . This way, you can start barking too much with the only motivation to get your attention and get what you want.
The same can happen with other people, such as family, friends, neighbors, or visitors who frequent your home. If your dog barks at a single person or a few people who usually go home, you should be careful how these people react to their barking. If you notice that these people are giving you a snack, a piece of food, or a pet to prevent the dog from barking, it’s likely that your dog has compared barking that person to something that interests and pleases that person.
Unfortunately, many dogs have a history of physical or emotional abuse and have had traumatic experiences that affect their relationships with people or other animals, and can even cause phobias. Fear, which is a fundamental emotion for survival, should not be confused with phobias, which are characterized by being disproportionate and exaggerated emotions in the face of certain stimuli.
When your dog is afraid of certain people, it can bark at them, try to escape them, and even react aggressively to defend against a possible attack. However, if the case is a phobia, the dog will react in an exaggerated and uncontrollable way, showing a state of panic that dominates its body. A diagnosis of phobia is complex to treat, time-consuming and experienced. Therefore, it is essential to work with a specialist in behavioral and canine education to help a dog with phobias regain self-confidence, to slowly relearn to trust people and interact with them in a positive way. Unfortunately, complete healing is not always possible, but the dog can be provided with a good quality of life with a positive environment, controlled exposure to strangers and the use of alternative therapies, such as Bach flowers, aromatherapy, acupuncture, among others.
If you have recently adopted a furry dog and have noticed that it is very afraid or behaves uncontrollably in the presence of other people, we recommend that you look for a veterinarian specialized in canine ethology (veterinary ethologist). This professional can first check your dog’s health and rule out any disease or imbalance in your body. You can then create a treatment based on specific guidelines based on your dog’s needs and discuss the possibility of using medicines or alternative therapies to offer a better quality of life to your best friend.
If you want to read articles similar to Why does the dog bark against some people and others not ?, we recommend that you visit our Behavioral Problems section.