How do dogs communicate using sounds?
Posted by Dog Supplies Advice in Dog Supplies Q&A, Dog Supplies Tips, tags: dog Q&A, dog supplies advice, Dog Supplies Q&A, Dog Supplies Tips, dogs, dogs communicationHow do dogs communicate using sounds?
In addition to body posture, vocalization is another means of canine communication, with a certain amount of variation between breeds. Some breeds, for instance the Dachshund, tend to be very vocal, whereas others such as the Greyhound and Saluki bark much less frequently.
Apart from warning growls and snarls of aggression, dogs will also whimper, whine, bark, howl and yelp. In domesticated dogs barking may occur in any situation where the animal gets excited and wants to draw attention to itself; for example when playing, being fed, greeting its owners and generally responding to other sights or noises. The typical canine bark consists of a single syllable lasting no longer than one second. While barking is obviously valuable in drawing attention to intruders, if allowed to go unchecked the behavior can be extremely tiresome for owners, neighbors, and in fact anyone who comes within earshot. Some small dogs are such frequent and persistent barkers that they suffer from permanent tonsillitis, pharyngitis and laryngitis because of the continual damage which they inflict upon their throats. In most breeds barking begins at around three weeks of age. There is some evidence that the continued administration of female sex hormone gradually reduces the amount of barking by male dogs.
Whining and whimpering are considered to be extensions of the ‘mewing’ noise that a puppy makes to its mother when it is cold, hungry or in pain. (It has, however, been established that the mother will not respond to these sounds unless she can also seethe puppy.) Under natural conditions these noises occur most frequently between four and nine days old and cease at four to five weeks of age. Beyond this age whining is generally made to encourage a sympathetic response from the owner, such as giving food or opening the door. Just as with barking, careful training is needed to discourage indiscriminate whining, because once the dog has realized that its whining has elicited the desired behavior from the owner it will be conditioned to whine again. In the absence of humans, adult dogs seldom whine to each other.
The yelp is a response to sudden pain, such as a kick, cut or wasp sting. Howling, fortunately, is not common in dogs, except those in hunt kennels and in such northern breeds as Eskimo Dogs (formerly called Huskies) and Alaskan Malamutes. Analysis has shown that howling is a complex sound which can be triggered by a number of factors, including loneliness and the scent of the chase (’the baying of hounds’); it is always performed standing still, never whilst moving. It is also a communal activity and once one dog starts howling others will join in; this behavior in the wild will allow a dog to relocate his pack. It might also explain why the singing of certain people will cause the family pet to howl!
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