Among other philosophical questions that keep you up at night, you probably thought to yourself many, many times whether your dog (or dogs in general) ever gets tired of barking. We know you did and this is why you’re here, right? To get your long-awaited answer.
The short answer is no, dogs don’t get tired of barking. They can bark for an insane amount of time and you’ll surely get tired of it before they do.
To find out whether they get tired of barking or not, you first need to understand why they do it. Is there such a thing as excessive barking and how long can you expect their barking to last? Also, whether some dogs bark more than others is important if you’re dealing with multiple breeds at the same time.
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Do Dogs Tire of Barking?
Generally, no, they don’t tire from barking.
Dogs can bark so much till their sounds become croaky and their throats become sore, and even then they’ll just keep going. Surely a tired dog will bark less, but it still barks nonetheless.
Persistence at its best!
Why Do Dogs Bark?
Firstly, you must be aware that barking is a ‘self-reinforcing’ habit for dogs. It means that your dog feels satisfied while barking without needing to be rewarded for it, which makes the dog want to bark even more.
An endless loop of barking and feeling happy and then barking even more and so on. This might sound like a nightmare to you.
Don’t worry, though! With some training, your dog will get to listen to your ‘quiet’ commands and you’ll get your peace.
That doesn’t mean that there are no reasons for their barking. It could be:
- Communication
- Out of fear
- Boredom
- Separation anxiety
- Trying to grab your attention
- Excitement
Communication
Barking is mainly a communication method for dogs. It’s their voice, basically. Your dog and some other dog can sit there and bark at each other and you’ll just think to yourself ‘oh, they’re just talking.’
However, when you come home after work and look at your CCTV footage and see that your dog has been barking into space for some time you surely hope your dog isn’t communicating with anything then.
The sound of their bark differs according to their mood and the pitch of their barks are interpreted differently. If they’re excited you’ll notice a high-pitched bark, as opposed to the low, growls your dog makes when serious and trying to warn you of a threat, for example.
Boredom and Separation Anxiety
Before you decide to relocate your house in fear of supernatural forces, remember that your dog is a pack animal. Meaning they are used to and prefer to be surrounded by others of their kind, or by their humans.
If they find themselves alone all of a sudden, they will experience separation anxiety and might bark just to give themselves something to do. If you think that barking with no one listening to them bark might be tiring for your dog and will eventually let them stop, you’re slightly wrong.
Dogs with separation anxiety often bark for a long period of time in a persistent manner without being triggered by anything except their loneliness.
Pet health experts believe that this activity might mentally tire the dog only, but neither physical exhaustion nor the desire to stop barking is felt by the dog and they might just keep going.
[Related Article: When Do Puppies Start Barking At Strangers Near Them]
Barking Is Getting a Bit Excessive?
It’s true there’s barking and then there’s too much barking. You need to identify the cause of this behavior first to know what action needs to be taken.
Boredom
If it’s out of boredom then you need to engage in more activities with your dog. Keep your dog busy and it won’t find it necessary to bark for your attention or to just keep themselves occupied.
In Response to Sounds and Movements
Sometimes, your dog will bark at every single movement it notices outside your window, and that is just the nature of territorial dogs, but it will get too much for you at some point. You can avoid this by simply shutting the blinds.
Sickness
They still bark when they’re sick, and you should pay close attention to the difference in the sounds they make to make sure you don’t dismiss all their barking as excessive and unnecessary.
Dogs won’t just grow out of barking, you need to assist them in stopping by providing them with something.
How Long Does a Dog Bark For?
You think maybe if you get a hint on how long they usually bark for, you’ll know whether they get tired or not? Well, no, it doesn’t work that way because the answer is they can bark for an indefinite amount of time.
What to Do to Lessen the Barking?
Again, it all comes back to the cause of barking. If you figure that out you might save your ears from enduring a lot of unnecessary barking sounds.
Treats and Rewards
You can try rewarding your dog for their silence (trust me it’s a thing), when your dog stops barking for a few minutes this is when you step in with your ‘good boy’ treats.
Remove the Stimuli
Also, you can try focusing on what is causing this excessive barking and remove those stimuli. This is more applicable to territorial dogs; those who bark to claim their property. As soon as you take action and the dog feels like it has delivered its message, it might stop barking.
Mental Exercise
Another way to distract your dog from resorting to barking is to keep them mentally occupied, not just physically.
Try introducing new tricks for them to learn, have your dog work for their food, and maybe even change their usual toys to more interactive ones; like puzzles, anything to keep their brains busy will surely make them less noisy.
Do Some Dogs Bark More Than Others?
Yes, of course, some dogs are more prone to barking than others. A Chow Chow, for example, is a much quieter breed than a Beagle, and a Finnish Spitz will bark more often and for a much longer time than a Chihuahua or a Cocker spaniel.
Again, lineage alone isn’t the reason for your dog’s barking and you must know what other causes are there.
Now you might start wondering if there’s such a thing as ‘barkless’ dogs? No, there isn’t. All dogs are vocal although at a varying degree.
So if you were hoping you might get a silent pet, we suggest you start looking into fish pets instead of dogs.
With all that said, we conclude that dogs really don’t get tired of barking for hours.
They’re doing it for a reason and sometimes your involvement is needed to get that dog to stop barking. Other times your dog is just excited and is being friendly with your neighbor’s dog and you should just let them be.
You can also look into methods to train your dog to stop barking when it gets too much. Just know that it’s getting too much for you, while the dog really doesn’t feel any exhaustion from the barking.
