Barking is the way through which dogs communicate. Just like humans make them-selves heard through talking, dogs too need to communicate and the way they do this is through barking. Aside from barking, dogs can also communicate through growling and whining.

We hear dogs bark every now and then. Perhaps you may have wondered what real-ly causes dogs to bark. Well, dogs may bark for various reasons depending on the situation at hand.

Dogs bark to draw attention to themselves
Dogs may want to draw attention to themselves for various reasons. They may for example be feeling hungry and needing to be fed. They may also be feeling hot or cold as a result of the weather. In addition, they may have been caged for a long while and need to be let out. Dogs in these situations are likely to resort to barking in order to have their owners attend to their needs.

Dogs bark to threaten intruders or new people
We have all gone somewhere new, perhaps another family’s home and the first wel-coming we received once we walked through the gate was a dog or dogs barking at us. Dogs are usually protective of their owners and their owners’ property. They therefore mostly react by barking at people who they feel are intruding into their owners’ homes.

Dogs are also able to tell new people from the usual household members and there-fore they easily know when a new person walks into the compound. Dogs are able to tell people through smell and other instincts.

Dogs bark to alert their owners of danger
Dogs are usually able to sense looming danger. As soon as dogs feel that something somewhere isn’t right within their environment, they will seek to alert their owners through barking. Most incidences of burglary or robbery at night are usually ac-companied by loud and continuous barking of dogs. Dogs can tell danger even from a distance, this explains why dogs bark when a wild animal for example a fox is approaching from the compound from the woods or plantations.

Dogs bark as a form of play
Dogs usually bark when playing. They can bark when they are playing alone or when they are playing with other animals. If you have been keen enough, you may have noticed that dogs run around in circles when they are playing and that they al-so bark as they do that. When dogs are playing with other dogs or even cats, they charge towards them as if in an attempt to bite them and then bark or growl.

Dogs bark as a form of greeting
Dogs usually bark to greet their owners or to greet their fellow dogs. Usually when people come back in the evening after a whole day away from home, their dog is likely to greet them through barking. A dog who is locked up in a kernel is likely to bark as soon as it senses that its owner is back home. A dog who is not caged or chained on the other hand is likely to come running towards its owner while gently barking.

Dogs also bark when they sight a new dog in the vicinity in order to alert their new counterpart of their presence. Barking is their way of greeting the new dog and probably welcoming it to socialise with them. It could also be their way of telling that dog not to enter that compound.

Whatever the form of barking, one should pay attention to the barking of dogs. They could be trying to alert you of something.