Dogs and instinctive behaviours

[skinnydipper]

What instinctive behaviour is a dog exhibiting when he barks at the doorbell, postman or people passing the window?

Please discuss.

I have started a new thread rather than derail another.

 

[Petalpoos]

Probably trying to alert you to someone approaching, but possibly also trying to scare them away? The latter always seems quite likely to me as the dog is generally successful, I.e. the postman or passer by goes away!

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Does it depend on the individual dog? My collie will bark when the phone rings or if someone knocks the door, but only when my husband is at home - not if it's just me here. He stops immediately when told to. He also doesn't bark at the phone and/or the door at all if my husband is home but in the bathroom. My husband has impaired hearing, whilst mine is batlike normal. The pointy hound and the young labrador don't react to the phone or the door at all. None of them bark at windows or fences, etc. I tend to think that the collie is trying to be useful, and that the other two don't see it as being their place to do his job.

 

[CorvusCorax]

As a generalisation, defence of self/territory, which depending on the dog can be linked to fear/insecurity.

ETA: I really need to hear the bark to give an opinion

 

[AmyMay]

Jack - defensive, going to rip someone’s throat out.

Daisy - visitors, yippee

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I tend to think that the collie is trying to be useful, and that the other two don't see it as being their place to do his job.

Our last Rottweiler always ensured that the labs were behind her when she barked through the gate. It never occurred to them to bark as well but since we had her pts they have both taken on the job.

 

[SAujla]

When Clover barks its to say someone is here I'm going to warn them to f off. Thing is, if that someone then comes inside immediately she's super happy and belly out wanting a fuss and all the attention.

She doesn't really bark in any other scenario, but its definitely not a friendly initial bark as some growling involved

 

[Karran]

Mrs Spaniel - "YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY A FRIEND IS HERE!!! QUICK QUICK THEY WANT TO MAKE A FUSS OF ME!!!!"

Mrs Collie - "OHMYGODTHERE'SSOMEONEATTHEDOOR!!! ITSABADDIE!!! IMSCARED!!! I'MABIGBADDOG!! GOAWAY!!!"

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Jack - defensive, going to rip someone’s throat out.

Daisy - visitors, yippee

Yes thats identical to my two Jem - highly aggressive full on, let me at 'em I will disembowel them before they dare even cross the threshold.

Jessie - Oh goody, you must have come to play with me and give me lots of treats!

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Our last Rottweiler always ensured that the labs were behind her when she barked through the gate. It never occurred to them to bark as well but since we had her pts they have both taken on the job.

That's interesting. I could possibly see the labrador doing similar, but I think the pointy hound is part mime, lol.

 

[Nasicus]

Gremlin: GO AWAY! GO AWAY! I LIVE HERE! MY PLACE! GO AWAY!
Thankfully she's really good and only barks at druggie d*ckhead and his dogs/mates. Unfortunately, said d*ckhead, dog and mates are a constant 24/7 thing...
She's very good with the postman etc, quite happy to let mums dog do the barking and get told off haha. If anything she will squeal at visitors if she's shut away because she's just 100% excited to see them and say hello.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Bear rarely barks, but if he knows someone is at the door, it’s to let me know he knows and he’s probably hopeful it’s Aunty B from next door cos that = bonios etc.

 

[Moobli]

Speaking for my own dogs (GSDs) it is instinctive territorial behaviour when they bark at passing walkers, the postman etc. They have different vocalisations for different situations, but for the scenario described it is definitely territorial and guarding behaviour.

 

[skinnydipper]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

The replies make for interesting reading, don't they?

Different reactions of housemates of various breeds and different reactions of housemates of the same breed.

When I posted I was thinking along the lines of territorial behaviour, alerting to possible danger from intruder and defending territory. I would think this instinct would be strongest in guarding and guardian breeds.

I wonder if the barking due to excitement is a learned behaviour rather than an instinctive behaviour and, as CC pointed out some barking could be reactive barking in a fearful dog.

Please continue to share your opinions for an interesting discussion.

 

[fiwen30]

Mine has all sorts of different barks, for all different sorts of things.

There’s the squeaky, high pitched ‘MY PERSON IS HOME’ when partner’s car pulls up the drive and he’s excited, the singular, warning, ‘How dare you walk past my house, you’d better keep your distance!’ bark when the bin collectors come or someone walks past on the pavement.

My favourite is the one when someone comes up the drive and knocks the door, and he’ll go ballistic - big, angry, ‘get the f away’ barks.

For context, he is never allowed to greet anyone at the door, but they friend or stranger - he is put away behind at least 1 door. Not that he would do anything, I just don’t like to encourage people riling him up when they arrive at the house.

The big, scary, ‘I’ll eat you’ barks are my favourite, because there is almost never a genuine reason for a person to knock our door unexpectedly - we have a post box, we know when scheduled deliveries are, and our friends don’t drop round without warning. With that in mind, he gets lots of praise for sounding like a big, scary dog, when he’s actually just a little tiddler with a big gob.

He’s a very Good Boy, who will quiet when told, and I appreciate his big set of lungs!

 

[TheOldTrout]

My aunt used to have a standard schnauzer who used to go mad barking and leaping about when the window cleaner came, didn't stop until the window cleaner had left the close having cleaned all the residents' windows. But apparently he only did this when she was at home, never when she was out. Obviously he was guarding his human, not the house.

 

[twiggy2]

At home the lurcher doesn't bark, people just walk in and out as they please, if it's cold she doesn't even bother to come out from under her duvet to say hello, if it's warm and it's a man that has entered the house she may get up and say hello, women have no chance of a greeting.
To be fair it all depends on the type of dog and the individual,

 

[alibali]

I had always thought my dog was a pretty useless guard dog. He rarely barks when people come to the door when I'm home. That was until several friends informed me that on the odd occasion they'd popped round when I'm out he turns into a barking maniac despite knowing and liking them when I'm at home! I think he is happy to let me do the deciding who's welcome when I'm home but wants to guard the territory when I'm out. He's a pretty easy dog to have round the house, it's out and about that we meet our challenges!

 

[skinnydipper]

I felt blessed when I got the big girl about 3 years ago as she was so quiet. Not a peep out of her when the doorbell rang/anyone at the door.

Covid happened and things changed.

Instead of accepting parcels in person, with the onset of covid I arranged for parcels to be left in the porch and from my point of view this works well. From the dog's point of view, someone is entering the property uninvited and they need to be told very firmly to clear off.

 

[Antw23uk]

Eldest collie will bark and move to her bed in the hallway where she awaits a further command. Young collie barks, mostly, as a nervous reaction as she is a typical neurotic collie and most things make her jump, lol! She is being taught that a bark is fine to alert but she mustn't continue barking as that's not her job.

We have neighbours who think its acceptable to let there dogs bark to amuse themselves or as part of play. I'd like to shoot them! We have neighbours who think that there dog is 'only protecting the property' but yet continue to let them bark (because they have no control over them anyway) ... again i want to shoot them ... the owners mostly but i'd happily shoot the dogs as well!

Barking dogs are like nails down a blackboard to me, i can hear them from miles away, it drives me NUTS!!

 

[P3LH]

It’s strange as my current three come to bark at us when the door goes, the postman, a car pulls up etc rather than the source of the noise. I don’t know if this is something more to do with all being herding breeds and alerting that there is something new/unfamiliar around or if they just like to be annoying and deafen me.

I do think it’s different for all as our terriers were always more barking at the source of noise as wanted to destroy whatever was making it, spaniel didn’t care neither did bull terriers, and the dobes were very much ‘this is my place, be gone’.

 

[blackcob]

The sibes didn't/don’t bark at the door, ever.

Small dog does - the deal is that he’s allowed to let me know that someone is there, in deference to his breed origins as a literal watchdog, but once I’ve acknowledged that yes, I see there is a person, he’s done his job and must then shut his trap. This seems to be a happy compromise between his instinctual tendency to hypervigilance and my complete intolerance for mindless yapping. ?

 

[Jenko109]

My three

The lurcher 'I'm unhappy about this. Stay the f out of my house!'

The collie 'I'm anxious about this. If I bark then hopefully you will go away!'

The whippet 'why are you guys barking!? You will scare away our visitors! Shhh'