Many so-called behavioural faults in dogs are no different from those found in children. They all like attention, and they need to be noticed by the leader. Barking is a dog's way of communicating that it is happy, disturbed or wary.
The greatest number of dog complaints to local councils involve barking. The electronic collar, which costs $90-$250, has recently been proposed as a high-tech way of stopping dogs barking. The collar works by giving the dog a shock each time it barks, or by releasing an unpleasant odour. I have found that the collars do not work in the long term, because the central ingredient is missing, namely leadership from the boss dog. People are trying to overcome their failure to train their dog by using some whizz-bang electronic device. In some cases the devices do stop the dog barking, but many animals don't react, or they cease for a while, then start again. You cannot teach a dog by excessive aversion therapy and there is also the potential for cruelty.
Ultimately the collars won't work because they don't follow dogs' instinctive manner of learning, which is to take leadership from the boss dog. Dogs still possess the same make-up they've always had, and you defy a dog's behavioural instincts at your own peril.
Dogs need to be taught about barking at a very early age. From day one, every time your dog barks investigate why it is barking. If it is barking for no apparent reason, you should scold it. You must make it clear that it is not acceptable for the dog to bark at possums at 3 am. The dog will quickly learn when not to bark. At the same time dogs need to be allowed to be dogs, and that includes barking when something strange upsets them. If my dogs bark in the middle of the night I get up and investigate the cause straight away.
Dogs have a wider hearing range than humans, and they pick up higher pitches than we do. Some dogs are frightened by sudden noises which is called being 'gun-shy'. Others will suddenly howl at a particular noise, and it is often because the noise simulates the pack leader's howl, which calls them to rally. The howl is an instinctive reaction to the pack leader's call.
Barking at the garbos, or unusual noises like planes in the sky, is reasonable dog behaviour, and not a behavioural problem. Dogs are territorial animals, and when the garbos come along once a week, they think, 'How dare these people come through our territory like that, making all this noisy crashing and bashing. We don't crash and bash.' So the dogs bark, and kick up a fuss. No territorial dog will enjoy a loud incursion into its territory, and will protest.
We confine the dog to a quarter-acre block, but its territory is two or three times bigger than that. It can encompass neighbours' property, and the public area in front of the house. It also includes aerial territory, so if you have low-flying aircraft, or possums in the trees, they are seen as invaders, and foreign to the environment. The dog will bark to alert the invader that they have been sighted, and to warn the members of the pack within the invaded territory.
Dogs will protect their territory by barking at people who come to the front door, or at people or dogs outside the car, which is an extension of their territory. A dog can be in a car and it starts barking when it sees an owner walking their dog, because it sees the other dog as invading its space, and the pack has to be told. Behavioural problems arise when a dog continues to bark, long after the invasion of its territory has ceased.
Dogs will also bark in response to noisy space invaders, such as motor bikes or big trucks. My dogs used to bark at the noise of a nail gun being used to build the house across the road, because it was an abnormal noise invading their territory. They also respond to the ambulance and police siren, which simulates the pack leader's call, by yodelling back.
All these are manifestations of normal dog behaviour that need to be modified in an urban environment. When someone knocks at the door, a dog will look to the boss dog for leadership, and the boss dog has to say, 'It's all right, you can be quiet.' If the dog goes on barking in that situation, it doesn't have a behaviour problem; the owner does. The owner has failed to modify the dog's behaviour by imprinting on it that he is the boss dog; the one who determines whether there is a threat.
Owners never think behavioural problems are their fault. Take dogs who bark if they're left at home on their own during the day. If the pack leader disappears for twelve hours, of course the dog gets upset, and starts howling and barking. The dog is behaving normally, but that behaviour hasn't been modified to suit the quarter-acre block, and the owner's expectations.
I get a lot of people saying they can't stand their dog barking. Incessant barking, barking at imaginary things or at things the dog is used to, is a behaviour problem, and should have been modified. You can teach a dog to do anything if you have the will to do so. We educate our children, but none of us seem to believe we have to do something similar with our dogs. Some owners see dogs as a chattel, and think they will magically do what they're supposed to, regardless of instinct. They see dogs as an appendage which you take off and on, like a sports coat. The truth about dog ownership is that you have to meet your dog half-way. It is not just a matter of providing food, water and a bed.
