A Dog Barking Story

Thea, my new husky, has gotten into this little dog barking deal. Right around 8 PM. I could not figure out why. She's already eaten, she's had play time off her chain, it's not time for her bedtime romp, and it is quiet in the neighborhood. Sparrow (my other alaskan husky) is not barking, she is just hanging out in her dog house.

Thea does not have a distressed dog bark. Its more of an alerting bark. It started to be a pattern that I wanted to stop.

First, I thought it was a way to get me to come outside with her again. I'd tell her to be quiet fairly sternly from the deck and she would settle down and stop barking. She only did this behavior around that time in the evening.

Last night, when 8 PM rolled around, she was totally quiet. Not a dog bark to be found. I ran the dishwasher much later than usual and the barking started. As an experiment, I stopped the dishwasher and she immediately stopped. I started it again and off she went.

It's the wash cycle, her house is near the kitchen window, the dishwasher is older and noisy. I turned it on and off a few times and she was right in synch.

Sparrow barks to the food processor but that kind of makes sense since often I'm pureeing something for the dogs. She gets disappointed if it's not something for her so I always at least give her a biscuit after I run it. But barking to the dishwasher is something new here.

I even did a controlled experiment--gathered up all my cruddy tupperware and ran a load in the morning and yep, as soon as it hit the wash cycle, off she went. Then I let her off her chain to run around, no barking, just playing.

Last night I ran the dishwasher at 8:30 PM and barking ensued right when it switched to wash. Other than that, she is pretty quiet.

More Training and Behavior Articles

I know, your neighbors are just about ready to call animal control. You've tried everything, but your dog is still barking. One more complaint and you'll pay a fine. Before you slap on that bark collar and put the setting at the highest level - take a few minutes to learn how to use the collar safely so it stays effective. Otherwise your dog barking problem will be back before you know it!

Turid Rugaas does it again with her book Barking. A simple guide to understanding your dog's language.