barking at ?????

[ILVROTTIS]

Hi everyone, i have a situation that is happening a lot lately. does anyones dog bark when it seems like nothing is there? a few nights i was up very late and i didn't put mia in her crate, she had been in the kitchen when she started pacing and barking at the kitchen window, it was about 1 in the morning and it scared me because i started thinking someone was outside my window, which was up but the blinds were down. could she be barking at a cat or some other creature out there? she has been getting very territorial barking at people if they come in our yard or driveway, but only if shes in the house, if shes outside she doesn't bark (im always out there with her though) can they sense someone outside without seeing them? i guess im wondering if its human or animal shes barking at....hopefully animal. my husband works night shift and doesn't get home until sometimes 2 or 3 am. i usually crate her but like i said i had been up late so i kept her out. sorry this is so long, but its happened quite a few times and its starting to freak me out.....thanks

[codglvr]

Saga will often bark at things that I can't figure out what it is. I say enough and go check it out. I also listen to what kind of bark it is. Is it a little subtle woof that says hey mom there's something out there stirring, or is it a full all out alarm bark that sends me realing out of the bed and a deep sleep, to nervously go see what it is with the phone in hand and telling her to be quiet so I can listen too. I know it is awful to look outside when the dog is having a fit in the middle of the night, but if it is just a critter, you'll sleep better. And well if its something more, you can call for the police to drive by and scare whoever it is off. My bet is if your dog is barking, they won't be coming in. Get up and go see what it is.

[Roscoe's dad]

Dogs have much better hearing than us as you know, and them varmints can hear the pitter patter of squirrels and rabbits feet. Mine can hear dogs being walked before they get before the windows. I also know that Guido seems to have two different bark, 1 for "hey you are on my sidewalk" and another when it is a threat.;)

[Vivianne]

You're not alone. Last night Madison barked at my truck because I didn't put it in it's usual spot. We were on a potty break when we rounded the corner of the house and she spotted the truck. Short little barks and a lot of huffing, puffing and snorting at first.
It was pitch black out and perhaps the silhouette of the vehicle spooked her.
You'd be surprised at just what they can hear, smell and see that we can't. Madison has barked from inside the house to answer other dogs blocks away. I did not hear them until I went to check out what she may be barking at. After a few minutes of hanging on the door, I heard faint dog barks in the distance.
Always check out what's alarming Mia, it doesn't do any harm. If she's just barking at the wind, correct her, tell her no. If it turns out something's in the yard, praise, praise, and more praise.

[ILVROTTIS]

thanks everyone, i guess i need to learn her different barks, sometimes during the day she'll give a warning snort (i love that sound) and then 1 or 2 barks but at night its the wowoowoooooo sound. i did look out (after turning out all the lights) and didn't see anything, but at least i know if someone is out there, like codlgvr said they're not coming in! thanks again:p

[Caesarsmom]

My dogs are sent over the edge when the coyotes are really active. Lots of times, I can't hear the coyotes from inside the house, and once my dogs alert, I'll go open the door and sure enough, the coyotes will really be singing. BTW, my dogs also use different voices when alerting....plain barking means a person is on our property, and barking with growling thrown in at the end is for trespassing animals.

You've probably got some critter out there moving around and Mia either doesn't like it or wants to let you know something is out there (or both)!

~Cris

[LORHEL]

Makita usually barks once a night when our neighbors come home (she sleeps in the front room) any time a car door shuts, she is alert.

She does have different barks, and I have learned that if I hear those blinds moving, she has her head out the window and I am up and looking...

Very rarely, she will have a low growl while looking out, and that is when I really worry, but it is not very often. I will look and then tell her, its okay, no problem.

Thank goodness someone can hear, because I sure don't...

[ILVROTTIS]

caesarsmom, its funny you say that about the low growl at the end, she does do that, there are probably little critters out there that she would just love to chase.....

[Leahjean]

ILRotts, just read your post and thought I might ask about mine,so I added a thread:) as for yours, I swear mine hears the dog up the road wake up,I don't hear anything,but they sure do...we also have cayotes here in our woods,so Leah spends alot of time howling,woke me up last night howling out my bedroom window...sure an abrubt way to wake up!!! I also found a dead racoon in my yard,decent size, also have an older 14yr.Dobe and she always killed critters,but now with the fence ,since we got Leah and Baron,she can't get into the woods which is good since she is older...but the "coon" was dead,my Son said not to put it "Apast" the Rotties to have done it,one of them, no blood anywhere is why I thought it was the Dobe as she gets critters by the scruff and shakes them, never seen the Rotties even act mean to anything,except the Big Bumble bee's and keep telling Baron he is going to get bit,not to bother them,he caught one and let it fly out of his mouth yesterday!!!he looked so funny doing that,probably was moving in his mouth and felt strange!!!!anyway yes,the do bark at::::: everything they hear,but we can't most times.....

[Calixtra]

The other day I was cooking a pizza in the oven- I turned it on and you know that smell some ovens get when they are heating up? It's kind of a burning smell- well Magnus stepped up into the kitchen, put his nose in the air, sniffed and went off like an alarm. He kept looking over his shoulder at me and would woof real low and then turn to the kitchen and sound off. I finally figured out that he must have been upset by the burning smell. I went into the kitchen and explained the theory of baking pizza- he calmed down- but I cannot say that his alertness didn't thrill me...He is so cool.

[ILVROTTIS]

thats pretty neat, i didn't know smells could set them off barking too....good thing mia hasn't done that yet....i burn alot of stuff:D she'd be barking quite a bit....well this morning at 5:30 we were outside and she saw my neighbor (who is afraid of rottis anyway, and thinks they're killer dogs) at her kitchen window (it faces our back yard) she went crazy woofing up a storm and would not let up i had to bring her in! i think she might think that christine was on our property and she was letting me know she was there????, she doesn't bark at her when shes outside.....im still trying to figure these barks out....im glad she does let me know when someones there, instead of doing nothing

[luvmyboy]

I have noticed that if Gryff is crated at night he doesn't get as excited about things. He is almost 7 months so he doesn't get to roam free at night all the time, only if he is relatively calm when the kids settle in. He will bark at everything. Critters and others.

If there are any places your dog can see a reflection in a window, I have seen Gryff go off a little at reflections also.

He really doesn't like that dirty rottwieler he sees in the mirror and has even broken one by trying to box the rot in the mirror. That is way funny.

Those barks are just enough to make your heart feel like it is going to escape though, I can totally understand.

Kathy

[ZeusAndBubba]

i have five dogs, but only two are rotties.they both bark at everything, even people pulling in there own driveway down the street,..my puppy for the past four months has started that as well...there just trying to tell you that they see/hear something that worries them.:D

[Jamie & Odin]

The only problem I have with barking is done by my yippy little malt. Doesn't stop, ever, leaf could fall off a tree outside and he'd start in.

The problem (other than ringing ear drums) is that he psyches up the rott, and I don't want him psyched up. The rott seems to assume that there's a good reason the malt is throwing a fit, of course, he wouldn't be able to hear it if there was. Getting two dogs to stop barking is much harder than one.

Enter....

...the anti bark collar! Marvel of modern man, savior of little yippy dogs, bastion of a quiet household, protector of hubby's sanity, and keeper of the peace!

The collar I got for the little guy emites a high pitched tone (no shock) when he barks. One day is all it took. After countless serious efforts to teach "quiet" didn't work. He doesn't wear it anymore, as he has learned not to bark up a storm. If he forgets, it goes back on for a day. Of course he was rewarded every time he didn't bark when he wanted to, recieved the collar correction when he did and it worked like a charm:D

[KateG]

Your dog may be reacting to something he smells rather than hears. My dear Calvin was born deaf, and was normally a very quiet dog. He didn't bark at people or most critters in the yard, and he left chasing vermin (woodchucks, mice etc.) to his not-weiler sister. But let a bear come into the neighborhood and his hackles would go up and he'd start making these harumphing woofs. It didn't matter if we were inside or outside, day or night. It took us a while to figure out what he was alerting to, because the bears were not always visible. But once we did, we realized that he was 100% accurate. In fact, now that he's gone we miss our early warning/warn-off system. My husband and I were sitting in our garden the other night and a bear came up from the field within about 12 feet of us. We heard in crashing in the shrubbery and beat a strategic retreat. Scary!