It almost never fails that Deuce engages in his own personal “symphony” of barks and whines when I am sitting with my computer working in the living room. This particular bark is his way of asking me to stop what I am doing and throw the ball for him. As a pure bred Border Collie, a ball in sight means endless obsession with the ball – be it moving or stationary. We have to be very careful not to leave balls around or he will
remain glued in one position of staring at the ball while he barks and whines until someone comes throw the ball for him so that he can chase it.
I guess Deuce is not the only one obsessed here. I have been trying to record his repertoire of frustration and play-invitation for days now. But similar to taking a non-functioning car to the mechanic… every time I pull my phone to begin recording he stops!
I have been fascinated by dog’s vocalization and the meanings behind them since they are such an important vehicle of communication between dogs and us. It surprises me that for the most part we ignore this grand system of communication except for the times when the dog is barking, is annoying us and we can’t make him stop.
The truth is that not all barks (and notice that I am just speaking about barks here - there are many more sounds made by dogs that are worth our attention) are created equal. Barks have been studied and categorized depending on what elicits them (the motivation say or “antecedent” in Skinnerian terms).
For example take the characteristics of the bark; its pitch, intensity, duration, modulation - just to name a few, of a dog who barks when someone comes to the door versus the bark of someone he knows and loves approaching that same door. Or the bark of a dog that wants in (and out, and in and out), which might be similar to Deuce laying with his ball between his paws in hopes of grabbing someone’s attention.
And of course, we all have experienced, I am sure, the bark of a dog that is telling us to give her some distance. All these barks are different and sound differently!
I just read an interesting article about several scientific studies regarding vocalization in dogs. It appears that dogs and humans partake in similar acoustic patterns. Another gift of our mammalian past. High pitched and more tonal sounds are linked to friendliness and approach behaviors, whereas low pitch noises and less tonal sounds convey aggression and “go away” behaviors.
In a study by Kathryn Lord PhD and Ray Coppinger PhD the emphasis was the contexts in which other species besides dogs emitted bark-like sounds. Research concluded that when the animal emitted the bark-like sound it found itself in conflict. Both researchers also concluded that in the case of dogs, barking is such a prevalent behavior because they find themselves very often in conflicting situations - largely because of domestication. In essence they are sharing our world, which very regularly puts them in situations that they find uncomfortable.
Thanks to the work of Tamás Faragó PhD and his colleagues of the Family Dog Project in Budapest (familydogproject.elte.hu) among others, we know that dogs are very keen in identifying and communicating with intricate sophistication with barks and other myriad of noises emitted, such as a growl.
In one of their studies, Tamás and his team set up a situation in which there was a bone in an empty room. The dog brought into the room was free to approach the bone, which in turn, had a speaker hidden inside. As the dog approached the bone different growls where transmitted one at a time. Depending on the “type” of growl: play-growl, “this is mine” kind of growl, a stranger approaching growl if the dog approached the
bone or not!
For example: The dog continued to move towards and took the bone if the growl coming out of the speaker was a “stranger-approaching” growl or a “play-growl” but the “food-guarding” growl deterred them from doing so! Oh, how brilliant can dogs be!! Vocalization and visual signals of course go hand-in-hand and since we are such a visual species it comes to no surprise that we might be biased paying attention to the visual signal of communication more than we do the vocal ones. Having said that, I think most dog guardians could very likely distinguish what is happening around their households depending on the sound of their dog’s vocalization.
And in one of my attempts of communicating with my own dogs, I sometimes begin to howl and bark on a high-pitch tone to get their attention only to have both Deuce and Rio give me a disapproving glance similar to the one a mother might get from her adolescent child.
remain glued in one position of staring at the ball while he barks and whines until someone comes throw the ball for him so that he can chase it.
I guess Deuce is not the only one obsessed here. I have been trying to record his repertoire of frustration and play-invitation for days now. But similar to taking a non-functioning car to the mechanic… every time I pull my phone to begin recording he stops!
I have been fascinated by dog’s vocalization and the meanings behind them since they are such an important vehicle of communication between dogs and us. It surprises me that for the most part we ignore this grand system of communication except for the times when the dog is barking, is annoying us and we can’t make him stop.
The truth is that not all barks (and notice that I am just speaking about barks here - there are many more sounds made by dogs that are worth our attention) are created equal. Barks have been studied and categorized depending on what elicits them (the motivation say or “antecedent” in Skinnerian terms).
For example take the characteristics of the bark; its pitch, intensity, duration, modulation - just to name a few, of a dog who barks when someone comes to the door versus the bark of someone he knows and loves approaching that same door. Or the bark of a dog that wants in (and out, and in and out), which might be similar to Deuce laying with his ball between his paws in hopes of grabbing someone’s attention.
And of course, we all have experienced, I am sure, the bark of a dog that is telling us to give her some distance. All these barks are different and sound differently!
In a study by Kathryn Lord PhD and Ray Coppinger PhD the emphasis was the contexts in which other species besides dogs emitted bark-like sounds. Research concluded that when the animal emitted the bark-like sound it found itself in conflict. Both researchers also concluded that in the case of dogs, barking is such a prevalent behavior because they find themselves very often in conflicting situations - largely because of domestication. In essence they are sharing our world, which very regularly puts them in situations that they find uncomfortable.
Thanks to the work of Tamás Faragó PhD and his colleagues of the Family Dog Project in Budapest (familydogproject.elte.hu) among others, we know that dogs are very keen in identifying and communicating with intricate sophistication with barks and other myriad of noises emitted, such as a growl.
In one of their studies, Tamás and his team set up a situation in which there was a bone in an empty room. The dog brought into the room was free to approach the bone, which in turn, had a speaker hidden inside. As the dog approached the bone different growls where transmitted one at a time. Depending on the “type” of growl: play-growl, “this is mine” kind of growl, a stranger approaching growl if the dog approached the
bone or not!
For example: The dog continued to move towards and took the bone if the growl coming out of the speaker was a “stranger-approaching” growl or a “play-growl” but the “food-guarding” growl deterred them from doing so! Oh, how brilliant can dogs be!! Vocalization and visual signals of course go hand-in-hand and since we are such a visual species it comes to no surprise that we might be biased paying attention to the visual signal of communication more than we do the vocal ones. Having said that, I think most dog guardians could very likely distinguish what is happening around their households depending on the sound of their dog’s vocalization.
And in one of my attempts of communicating with my own dogs, I sometimes begin to howl and bark on a high-pitch tone to get their attention only to have both Deuce and Rio give me a disapproving glance similar to the one a mother might get from her adolescent child.
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