Péter Pongrácz, PhD, of Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, found that humans could tell from the bark of a dog in an audio recording whether the dog was barking out of aggression, fear, or playfulness. Studies have also shown that dogs themselves make distinctions between the barks of dogs they know, dogs they don’t know, and respond differently to each. Most of us recognize our own dogs’ barks, and most of us find it annoying when the barking isn’t alerting us to danger, strangers in the area, or a winning lottery ticket.

Most dogs bark for a reason, and many breeds are bred to bark. Some herding dogs use their bark to intimidate sheep to move, the “tongue” of hounds alerts hunters of the dogs’ location and progress, Karelian Bear Dogs use their barking to annoy problem bears out of an area, and the national dog of Finland, the Finnish Spitz, has a distinctive ringing bark or yodel that points hunters to game, distracts the prey, and masks the noise of the hunter approaching. Barking is so important to this breed’s task that dogs have been bred to develop their barking behavior and have become known throughout Scandinavia as the “barking bird dog.” There are even barking contests held in Finland. Book your reservations now!

Finnish Spitz by B.J.Lewis-Writedesign
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