Do Golden Retrievers Bark a Lot?

Barking is a concern in general for all dog owners. So Golden Retrievers are no different. Whenever I see a friend or Inspire Dogs family member going to get a new Golden in his home, they are concerned about how much the pup will bark.

Not only that, but they also want to know when the puppy grows up then will he bark a lot? They are not wrong here. Preparing for a new member of the family is a good thing and a lot is going to change for new dog owners.

Golden Retrievers (GR) bark as often and as loud as other dogs around us. There are some triggers that cause them to bark. In general, Golden Retrievers are a calm dog breed. There are a whole lot of aggressive dog breeds out there.

Aggression is something that comes to Golden dogs due to some reason and is not natural to them. They are so popular in the USA, Canada, and the UK. They are friendly in nature.

You can easily spot a Golden Retriever had a good time on the street, market or dog park with their owners. When required, it is possible to control the extra barking with some tips and training.

Barking is Essential and Natural

When a dog does not bark for a long time, their owners would be worried. There are even barking sound videos on YouTube like this barking compilation. The breed does not matter, all dogs bark and should bark. You cannot avoid barking sounds when you own a dog or are going to get a new dog.

It’s their way of communicating with their mouths. Apart from body language, the type barking sounds that they produce also tells how they are feeling and what are they trying to say.

If you own a Golden Retriever or your neighborhood has one, they are going to bark. They are very social in nature and hence they cannot control themselves from getting excited, angry and sad. These emotions show up in their barking sounds.

I do have a lot of training sessions where I help people to control the barking of their dogs. Golden Retrievers can also be taught to control their barking.

What are the Reasons for Which Golden Retrievers Bark?

There can be multiple reasons for dogs to bark. I will help you understand these reasons in this section. In fact, you can use their barking to your advantage by understanding what they are trying to communicate.

The best way I can make you understand is to compare their barking to your talking. As you cannot live without speaking, they cannot control their barking. Hence one should be prepared to hear their barking sounds. In fact, when they sing than ever dog owner would say awesome.

In our family, I have 2 kids and the have so much study to do. Even then they don’t mind the barking of my dogs. What more, they play and repeat after the dogs so as to make the dogs bark louder. I am always pushing the dogs to bark less so that they know when it is not the right time for them to bark.

Following are the most common reasons and situations when dogs bark:

1) Excited

Energetic dogs will bark more and loud. The reasons for excitement can be many:

  1. When they see you coming back from work
  2. As soon as you bring a new toy or game for them
  3. On seeing their favorite food items

The Golden Retriever that you have is trying to tell how was his day and what went wrong. As soon as they see you after a long period of time, they are going to bark in excitement. This is a perfectly natural behavior and nothing to be worried about.

Golden Retrievers excited

2) Want to Grab Attention

Your Golden Retriever will also bark when he wants you to come to them and give your time to them. If you want to test this, then you can start to ignore your dog for some time and you will notice that he has started to bark for no other reason than grabbing your attention. As soon as you give your attention, he will stop barking and do other activities.

Some of the reasons that you may really ignore them without you being conscious about it are:

  1. You are busy in your work.
  2. Somebody is your guest and you are giving full attention to the guest.

Now when the Golden Retriever starts barking at the above time, then the common thought is that the dog is not friendly and barking at the guests. Whereas, he is barking to get your attention. For him you are the world, you are everything.

3) Sad or Grief

We do cry or ask for help when we are in trouble or sad. Same goes with dogs, your Golden Retriever knows no other language or word than barking.

So, when he wants to show that he is in trouble, he will bark. I wish that this scenario doesn’t happen with anybody and all dogs should remain happy and safe.

Apart from being bad and grief, other feelings when the dog will bark are:

  1. Fearful: Any danger, falling off any object, screaming and fighting among family members
  2. Under Stress: Stress is usually accompanied by other visible symptoms like wagging tail too much, frequent urination and licking himself.
  3. Anxiety: Anxiety can be caused when they are alone, thunderstorm and fireworks cause anxiety to dogs.
  4. Angry: You would have seen Golden Retriever getting angry at various things. They don’t like any other new dog or other animals like monkeys enter their territory. They would also get angry with a toy for no reason or getting bored with it.
  5. Got Hurt: There are frequent accidents with Golden Retrievers when they are playing around. They are social in nature just like kids. First, they will play with something and then they would hurt themselves with the same thing.

The special thing to note here is that the pitch of barking sound will be different in every situation.

4) Aggressive Behavior

Golden Retrievers are social in nature and love to get friendly with strangers too. But some situations can make them show aggression. This happens with every living being.

The barking sound in case of aggressiveness is different. You can easily make out from their pitch of barking and growling that they are being aggressive.

An important point that I must make here is that in general Golden Retrievers are not an aggressive dog breed. So, don’t take their barking in aggression as a permanent or long-term behavior.

Only you as a Golden Retriever may be able to control that situation. Anybody else who tries to pacify them in that situation may hurt himself. Thus, your presence will help them come out of the situation.

How Can You Understand Different Types of Barking Sounds?

It’s natural learning for you. The more time you spent with the Golden Retriever, the more you will learn about his likes and dislikes.

Also, the sounds that he will make get stored in your brain. Next time the Golden Retriever makes the same sound again, you can easily tell what he is feeling or what he is trying to say.

Some barks are sounded with long gaps of 30-40 seconds which may mean hunger. Frequent barking with growling means aggressiveness.

The lowest pitch barking sound means the Golden is fearing something.

For now, you need not worry too much about how to identify the mood by listening to dog barking sound. It will come naturally to you. Your response to his barking will become instant.

How to Control the Barking of Golden Retriever

Though I have a full article on how to control barking in dogs. I will put emphasis here that the control of their barking should be in your hands and your family members.

It all comes with training them and it requires patience from you. If you are able to teach Golden Retrievers to control their barking, it will be too good for you in many social situations like parties and dog parks, etc.

What you can do while training him is that give him as many situations and then train them as per the situation.

1) Socialize

Training your Golden Retriever at home is one thing and taking them outside and having them meet different people, dogs, and other animals is the real training. With every day that you take your dog for a walk outside, he is going to learn new stuff.

What I did with my dogs is I would take them to the market, dog park, parties, dog-friendly restaurants, and my friends’ place at least once a week. This helped them understand different situations.

They then started to learn how they should behave in that situation. My supervision was required but once I taught them then it became so easy.

The earlier your start to teach and control barking behavior, the easier it will be in the future when the puppy grows up.

2) Control the Rewards When Your Golden Retriever is Baking

Your dog is always seeking attention and by barking he wants to get that. This means that your attention is a reward for him. If you can make your attention as not attached to his barking then it will work wonders to control his barking.

As the Golden Retriever grows up, he will bark at every opportunity. If you don’t give your attention to him early on, he will understand that barking doesn’t mean attention reward.

You will not ignore him when he barks but just doesn’t give immediate attention otherwise, he will get attached to it. Whenever the puppy barks, you can add some delay before you go up to him to see if he needs anything.

The result will be that he will only bark when he needs some help and not otherwise sitting idle.

Repeat what I have advised above and you will see a great difference in his barking behavior.

Control the Barking of Golden Retriever

Conclusion: Golden Retrievers and Barking Habit at Strangers?

Ask people who have their dogs remaining silent. They want their dog to bark. Barking is their mode of communication which you should never disallow.

So Golden Retrievers do bark as they are a more social breed. However, they are also fast to learn and will not bark when there is no need.

Moreover, with proper training and tips that I have given above, your Golden Retriever will have a great time in controlling his barking. The final verdict is that you can keep a Golden Retriever without worrying too much about his barking. They bark less than other more known dog breeds.

References

  1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1025714431089
  2. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/8698

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