Why do dogs bark?

by Janet Joers, jjoers@impulse.net
Copyright © 2003 Kerry Blue Terrier Foundation

That was the question asked in the cover story of the January issue of Smithsonian Magazine. After a nine-page analysis, the final conclusion was: they bark "just for the hell of it."

The gist of this learned study was that barking is the hallmark of domesticated dogs. Although wolves and coyotes can howl, growl, snarl, whine, and bark, they seldom do the latter. It was the consensus of these noted experts that canisfamiliaris, of which Kerries are a memberbreed, are actually animals stuck in a middle ground between infancy and adulthood. Barking is just the manifestation of "juvenile" vocal behavior. In other words, the extravagance and apparent meaninglessness of barking is that a dog remains a metamorphic adolescent for life!

Some dogs, the article states, may "learn" to bark when they want to be let into or out of the house, or want food or attention. But primarily, barking is a functionless behavior or an "indecision" to meet new problems. Stuck in adolescence, the dog barks so much because that is what a juvenile cants does.

Don't most all Kerry breeders and owners at times refer to their beloved dogs, regardless of age, as overgrown puppies? Perhaps it's because our furry friends never outgrew barking "just for the hell of it!"