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Study Reveals What Dog Barks Really Mean
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http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/20120437/detail.html
Study Reveals What Dog Barks Really Mean
By Sydney Lupkin
Contributing Writer
July 21, 2009
BOSTON -- Lassie may have barked to "talk" to her owners in the
television series that originated in the 1950s, but a recent, local
study shows that dogs don't bark with specific messages in mind.
Kathryn Lord, a University of Massachusetts, Amherst doctoral
candidate, worked to define the bark, finding that birds, monkeys
and deer make the noise as well. The scientists determined that
dogs do not bark differently in different circumstances, as many
biologists believe, but rather only to ward off predators and deal
with conflict.
"What we're saying is that the domestic dog does not have an
intentional message in mind, such as, 'I want to play' or 'the house
is on fire,'" Lord said.
The barking behavior evolved about 10,000 years ago, when dogs
needed to stand their ground to eat at human dumpsites, Lord said.
Instead of running away every time a human came near, they
participated in mobbing behavior, bravely barking to intimidate
intruders instead of running away and wasting food energy.
Some people are upset about Lord's findings, she said.
"I think the main complaints I've seen ... people were upset because
they thought their dogs barked in other situations," she said.
However, not all dog noises are barks, she said.
Lord cited another theory called Morton's Rules, a universal mammal
noise decoder that categorizes mammal noises as high- or low-
pitched, tonal or noisy. For instance, low sounds signal to other
animals to go away, but high sounds tell other animals to come closer.
"If you come up to a baby, you don't approach it with a low sound,"
she said.
Since humans and dogs both follow these rules, they can convey
certain feelings, Lord said.
"There's no deep cognitive understanding, and I think that upsets
a lot of people," she said.
The bark is a specific sound that is separate from a whine or any
other kind of noise. The bark is a mixture of tonal and gruff, noisy
sounds that show internal conflict, and it has evolved in part because
of dogs' interactions with humans.
For instance, if a dog is trapped behind a fence and someone
approaches, it will bark with a tonal and noisy sound because it
wants to see the person, but it can't or because it wants to run
away, but it can't.
If a dog barks for its owner to open the back door, it's a learned
cause-and-effect response, because it probably barked in
confusion at a stranger once, but its owner opened the door. After
that, it realized that anytime it barked, it would be let outside.
It can sometimes be a "disservice" to the dogs to assume that
they have too much cognitive understanding, Lord said.
For instance, when a dog urinates on a carpet, owners often think
the dog was deliberately defying rules. As such, the owner will
often hit the dog on the nose with a newspaper, or use another
disciplinary action. However, all the dog probably understands is
that urine and its owner in the same room mean he gets hit with
a newspaper – not that what he did was wrong.
Terri Bright, an MSPCA Behavior Analyst and Training Coordinator,
said she is happy that a study like this has come out. The MSPCA
in Boston works with about 900 dogs a year.
"We have these animals, and they live in our houses," Bright said.
"We know a lot less about them than they do about us."
Although a dog's evolution shapes what it will do when it is born,
its experiences and environment shape its behavior the rest of its
life, she said.
"The reason people can understand their dog's language is they
have taught that language," Bright said. "When a dog has exhibited
a certain type of language, they have achieved a certain consequence.
Behavior is shaped by the environment, which includes the owner."
Copyright 2009 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved.
Study Reveals What Dog Barks Really Mean
By Sydney Lupkin
Contributing Writer
July 21, 2009
BOSTON -- Lassie may have barked to "talk" to her owners in the
television series that originated in the 1950s, but a recent, local
study shows that dogs don't bark with specific messages in mind.
Kathryn Lord, a University of Massachusetts, Amherst doctoral
candidate, worked to define the bark, finding that birds, monkeys
and deer make the noise as well. The scientists determined that
dogs do not bark differently in different circumstances, as many
biologists believe, but rather only to ward off predators and deal
with conflict.
"What we're saying is that the domestic dog does not have an
intentional message in mind, such as, 'I want to play' or 'the house
is on fire,'" Lord said.
The barking behavior evolved about 10,000 years ago, when dogs
needed to stand their ground to eat at human dumpsites, Lord said.
Instead of running away every time a human came near, they
participated in mobbing behavior, bravely barking to intimidate
intruders instead of running away and wasting food energy.
Some people are upset about Lord's findings, she said.
"I think the main complaints I've seen ... people were upset because
they thought their dogs barked in other situations," she said.
However, not all dog noises are barks, she said.
Lord cited another theory called Morton's Rules, a universal mammal
noise decoder that categorizes mammal noises as high- or low-
pitched, tonal or noisy. For instance, low sounds signal to other
animals to go away, but high sounds tell other animals to come closer.
"If you come up to a baby, you don't approach it with a low sound,"
she said.
Since humans and dogs both follow these rules, they can convey
certain feelings, Lord said.
"There's no deep cognitive understanding, and I think that upsets
a lot of people," she said.
The bark is a specific sound that is separate from a whine or any
other kind of noise. The bark is a mixture of tonal and gruff, noisy
sounds that show internal conflict, and it has evolved in part because
of dogs' interactions with humans.
For instance, if a dog is trapped behind a fence and someone
approaches, it will bark with a tonal and noisy sound because it
wants to see the person, but it can't or because it wants to run
away, but it can't.
If a dog barks for its owner to open the back door, it's a learned
cause-and-effect response, because it probably barked in
confusion at a stranger once, but its owner opened the door. After
that, it realized that anytime it barked, it would be let outside.
It can sometimes be a "disservice" to the dogs to assume that
they have too much cognitive understanding, Lord said.
For instance, when a dog urinates on a carpet, owners often think
the dog was deliberately defying rules. As such, the owner will
often hit the dog on the nose with a newspaper, or use another
disciplinary action. However, all the dog probably understands is
that urine and its owner in the same room mean he gets hit with
a newspaper – not that what he did was wrong.
Terri Bright, an MSPCA Behavior Analyst and Training Coordinator,
said she is happy that a study like this has come out. The MSPCA
in Boston works with about 900 dogs a year.
"We have these animals, and they live in our houses," Bright said.
"We know a lot less about them than they do about us."
Although a dog's evolution shapes what it will do when it is born,
its experiences and environment shape its behavior the rest of its
life, she said.
"The reason people can understand their dog's language is they
have taught that language," Bright said. "When a dog has exhibited
a certain type of language, they have achieved a certain consequence.
Behavior is shaped by the environment, which includes the owner."
Copyright 2009 by TheBostonChannel.
