You may have noticed your dog doesn’t bark like other dogs around you. This is a good thing for some people as you won’t have a problem with neighbors, as they hate it when they can’t sleep as your dog is constantly barking.
You may also be happy it doesn’t bark, but you want to confirm it has no medical issue. The truth is there are different reasons why your dog may not be barking. It might be their personality, previous experience, or many other reasons discussed below in this article.
Reasons Why Your Dog Isn’t Barking
Personality
Like some people hardly talk, the same applies to dogs. They are quiet. If your dog has been quiet from an early stage, then no need to worry, but if it stopped barking recently, something is wrong.
A dog not barking is not always a sign that something is wrong. If that is how you have known it to be since it was young, then that’s its personality. At least you are sure you will never have a problem with your neighbors due to a noisy dog.
To some extent, a barking dog is better. It is easy to communicate when it needs something. But you can train your dog to communicate in other ways without barking.
Due to past experiences
If you just got your dog and it is not barking, it might have had a traumatic situation related to barking which explains it not barking. An example is if its previous owner was punishing it when it barked.
Dogs are smart, and once they note they are getting punished for doing something, they will stop to avoid getting more punishment. Also, dogs are forgiving, but they rarely forget an experience. At this point, it might be assuming every human has the same rules, and it doesn’t want to provoke you. So this could be the reason your dog may not be barking.
Age
Your dog could be getting old, which in return is affecting its hearing aid. With the hearing aid not being okay, it might be hard for it to respond to any sound hence it not barking.
Having vocal stress
Your dog might be having vocal stress like the throat is sore or even swollen. The not barking habit started suddenly after it had an episode of barking a lot or even coughing. The remedy to this is getting the right throat medication, and it will be back to itself in no time.
Previous dog training
If you got the dog while it was a bit older, it might have received training to avoid frequent barking. Some dog owners don’t like a dog that often barks due to a number of reasons.
A dog owner who prefers a quiet environment will train the dog to rarely bark. Similarly, the owner may have children who may be awakened by a constantly barking dog and hence the training.
In this case, you should not be worried. The learned behavior can be changed over time.
It is also possible that you have trained the dog inadvertently. This happens when you punish the dog once it barks. The same behavior will be learned when you reward your dog with a dog treat if it doesn’t bark.
If you are the one who has trained the dog without your knowledge, you are now aware. Take measures to rectify this behavior by rewarding the dog when it barks.
Breed disposition
The breed disposition of a dog has some effect on its barking. Nonetheless, there is no rule about the relationship between a dog’s breed and barking. Some dogs within the same dog breed will bark a lot, while others will tend to barely bark.
That being said, Nordic dogs choose to howl over barking a lot. On the other hand, Shih Tzu seems to enjoy barking since they bark a lot to the extent of building a reputation for barking.
The Basenji breed has vocal cords similar to those of the primitive dogs. For this reason, the dog doesn’t bark since it doesn’t have the capability. The communication for this breed of dogs is in acute howls.
Since dogs have the instinct to bark alerting you of any danger, you may get worried when your dog doesn’t bark. If your German Shepherd, Jack Russel or Basset Hound doesn’t bark, you should get concerned. This is because these breeds bark a lot since they are guard dogs.
If you have a Newfoundland that doesn’t bark often, don’t get alarmed. This is because this quiet breed is known to save their barks for when the need arises.
The new dog phase
Changing an environment requires time to take in the new environment. As much as a human would fall in love with a person or place within a second, dogs require time to adapt to a new setting. For this reason, do not be worried when you move your often barking dog to a new place and it doesn’t bark as much.
Similarly, if you introduce a new dog to your home, give it time to learn the new home and get comfortable. It will take a few days for the new dog phase to pass. Some dogs will react to a change of environment with enthusiasm and bark often as they barked in the previous home. If yours has this nature, you have no cause for alarm.
You can help the dog get comfortable by giving it a positive attitude, training it, and playing together.
Conclusion
The number of reasons why your dog is not barking is as we have discussed in this article. To know what is causing it not to bark, you need to observe it for a while.
In most cases, a dog not barking is not something to cause alarm. As long as the reason is not medical, you are good to go. When you suspect that your dog could be having a severe issue, take them to a vet.
Forrest is a lover of dogs, the wild outdoors, deep mysterious conversations… and coffee. He is the owner of several websites, including Canine Weekly. He resides in Austin, Texas.