Dog Language

[jacqui835]

In my neighbourhood there are a lot of dogs, almost every second house seems to have 1 or more dogs. There are some dogs that bark at everything that walks past their house, gotta love them. There is one dog that walks past twice a day every day that every dog hates - a pug cross with a bad attitude and ridiculous owners. This is the only dog that my dog will try and bark at, if we're not there to stop him. This is where the language part comes in - somehow, from how the other dogs bark, he can tell which dog it is and you'll see him, listening to each bark, and then running seemingly randomly to the window to look out - and every time without fail, it's the pug.

So I guess he must be somehow able to understand from the other dogs which dog they're referring to. The rest of the time he ignores their barks. Is this because they name other dogs, or something else?

[persephone]

I believe it is the tone of the barks .. pitch, length, amount of aggression . The dogs will probably know by the time of day.. the owner's voice,and the dog's scent ....

Our dogs have a different bark for many things.. I know their "the goat is trying to come in" bark- their "one of the pups is trying to chase the sheep" bark... the " The bloody EMUS are teasing us again" , the "there is a car we don't know " and "there is a car we DO know' for example ... and I'm only human ;) To another dog there is probably more info contained therein.

Edited June 11, 2011 by persephone

[corvus]

Are you sure it's the bark that he's picking up on? What if it's the sound of the pug's owner's footsteps, for example?

[persephone]

yes! the dogs may be barking at the owner, not the dog