Do They Bark?

Gail · Big Cheese

Do They Bark?

Isla · Enlightened One

Hi Gail

Mine are barkers when someone comes to the door - well two out of the three. Wills and Millie go daft when the bell goes. Millie is more of a whinger than a barker - she will whine whenever she wants something and I've got quite good at knowing what she wants. Millie will also bark if she sees something out a window - one incident was when she saw a cat about two fields away wandering along a hedgerow!

I've never heard Tigger bark when the bell goes or if we've seen another dog coming towards us (other two go bananas when they see a dog, cyclist, cat, motorbike - you name it). The only time she barks is when she's playing or wanting to play.

Nicki · Big Cheese

Hi Gail,

When I first got Janie 4 years ago she never uttered a sound. It took about a year before we heard her bark really. Now however she is a bit more vocal. She barks if she has to stand,she is the loudest little girl at the Holyrood walks, barking waiting to set off, when we wait for others to catch up she will bark a bit then if there is somewhere to lie down she lies down, she doesn't do standing! even when we meet someone in the village when we are out and stop for a chat she barks if there is nowhere for her to lie down! little monkey that she is.

She barks if she thinks we are late in giving her her tea and also if she wants to play. The thing is even after all this time we still haven't got used to her bark and still jump as she has a piercing bark that goes right through you, bless her

However she couldn't care less if the door goes, she doesn't even raise her head, we could have a whole tribe of people come through the house and she does not bother at all!

Nicki and a vocal wee Janie.x

-- Edited by Nicki at 21:53, 2006-09-12

Isla · Enlightened One

Forgot to say

, Millie has met up with another greyhound called Finn on occasion and Finn, when he sees another greyhound/lurcher type, gets excited and barks. Millie thought this was a great game and barked her way round the Bishops Glen with Finn - his big deep bark and her slightly more squeaky one!

-- Edited by Isla at 21:59, 2006-09-12

Teresa · Enlightened One

oh yes, indeed they do bark.

Dave and Daisy will bark if they think they hear or see something in the garden. Or if they spot a small dog on our walks.

Tom, our new baby, hasn't barked yet (it's only day 2) but I'm sure he will !!!

Lucretia · Old Hand

Hi Gail,

I suppose every dog is different, but my Billy never barks, which I always found odd, after growing up with dogs who barked at everything that moved! Billy has (in almost a year) only barked twice, and each time it was just one single yap, and both were over a toy. Lizzie is more vocal, but she rarely barks either - only if she gets close to a cat or she is really, really excited and playing with other dogs. Neither of my dogs bark at mail, people, other (barking) dogs, the doorbell, people moving outside the door, etc. Also, Billy never howls and only whines quietly if we are standing about on a walk and he wants to move on for some more action. Lizzie whines at other dogs if they are barking and snarling aggressively, and during her season she whined 24/7, and even sang little howly tunes at me!!!

I often meet a man up here who helps out the local Greyhound rescue charity, and he always told me Greys are quiet until they hear their own bark, then they never stop barking. I haven't found that to be the case, since both my dogs have proved they can bark, but neither do it much. I think the quietness is just part of the generally docile nature of the breed

Lesley · Guru

None of ours bark much, but:

Suzie barks when she is excited e.g if we are about to go out, or if we are at a greyhound event with lots of other dogs (I think that reminds her of her racing days).

Sim only barks if he sees something, like a deer, from the perimeter of our garden. His bark is quite funny - a fairly high pitched woo-woo-woo!

Ra has only barked about twice (so far), and one of those was in his sleep.

I think the fact that they generally don't bark a lot is one of their (many) endearing qualities!!

neeroz · Master

Florence rarely barks, just yips when she excited. Abbey howls, yodels, barks when excited. Kai again when he's excited. Then theres Dexter who barks,whines, squeaks and generally voices his opions constantly.

Anyanka · Master

I noticed at the recent RGT greyhound show in Hove that it was fairly quiet considering the number of dogs. The most impressive thing was the absence of aggression! Very little growling or snarling; quite different from so many other breeds.

Bonnie the lurcher is very vocal, with a wide range of noises - she barks at doorbell, post and newspaper delivery (and given the chance will yank the post or paper throught the slot and give it a thorough shaking); she also 'raouls' at us when she wants feeding or playing or when she thinks we're funny. She's got a big dark voice, good burglar deterrent! Also whines and whinges when we meet other dogs on our walks.

Piper the grey, on the other hand, is almost always silent - except for air-snapping and teeth-chattering. I've heard her bark on two occasions: a couple of fairly high-pitched yips triggered off by Bonnie getting excited; the girls tell me that one day she barked about 12-14 'yaps' in a row - but that must have used up all her barks for the next few months.

FAJ · Enlightened One

Both ours typically bark when they're excited, especially when we come home after work or when it's time to get up and go for a walk in the morning.

Harry barks if he thinks we're not serving his dinner fast enough. He also barks if he's a bit nervous, ie, if he thinks that we think he's done something wrong and he's expecting to be told off. Poor tot.

Pearly barks in complaint, often when she thinks that she should be given some tasty treat whilst I'm cooking but I disagree. She also barks when she's in a big group of dogs and she doesn't think they're doing what they ought to be, or if she thinks it's time to move along and get cracking with the walking. A trait that she shares with wee Janie!

Gail · Big Cheese

Seems Neo really is very quiet in comparison with most then but maybe he just hasn't been with me long enough and like Janie will find his voice with time. He whines plenty though, usually because it's time to go out or i've stood too long chatting and he wants to get on with his walk, and today he screamed the vet's down after his examination on his leg (see health section).

I was out with them last night, just after posting this thread when Sally decided to show me just how noisy she can be. She launched a full on verbal attack on a poor unsuspecting dog who was happily walking on the other side of the road Still not very sure what to make of it as her tail was wagging while she tried every trick in the book to lunge at this other dog and the dog's owner looked at me in disgust.....and Neo, well he just kept sniffing the ground as usual.

Teresa · Enlightened One

Dave and Daisy are very vocal in the garden if they think a cat has been spotted. Also, on their walks they bark at small furries.

Haven't heard Tom's voice yet. No doubt he will woof, in time

greyflintstone · Master

In the four years that we had Freddy I think I could count on one hand the number of times he barked. The first time he did it, I don't know who got the biggest fright - him or me! He spun round as if to say "what the hell was that?"!!!!

Wilma barks if we wind her up - but it's a pathetic bark really! Kind of a long, drawn out girly growl rather than an actual bark!

My brother has two lurchers - Kendal's (3/4s grey, 1/4 collie) bark could knock you off your feet! He doesn't do it very often; whereas Leah (3/4 bearded collie 1/4 grey) will bark at the slightest thing, and once she starts she doesnt stop!! she has to have the last word every single time!

MojoTilly · Master

Tilly hardly barked at all when we first got her but then learnt very quickly how to when spending her days with Drummer!! That's not the only thing that she has learned from him!!

hugahound · Master

Lenny growly barks when playing and howly barks when visitors come and is worse if he thinks they didn't pay him enough attention. Wouldn't utter a word if we ever got burgled though!!

Rosie barks if the door goes and that's her lot and Ruby is good guard and does play bark at times. Lurchers generally do bark more though. Just depends on the dog really.

Dave · Enlightened One

Rebel barks all the time, right enough he's not a proper Lurcher, a pin could drop at the bottom end of our garden and he'd hear it and go bounding outside all barky! Ivor only barks when a. Rebel bounds out into the garden all barky or b. if it's 1 second past 6pm and he's not had his tea yet, his internal clock is better then GMT. George also barks but he is bottom of the pack so he only barks to get noticed in the rabble. Archie only barks at the postman. Ruby has barked about 3 times in 5 years. Wizard only barks when Rebel bounds out into the garden all barky!!..

People ALWAYS comment about how quiet it is at GAL events with all those hounds there, I hate going to other folks dog shows with lots of different breeds, far too noisy!!

Valerie · Guru

Agree with the observations about Lurchers here. Biscuit only barks for a reason, play bark or the door bell. He's a good watch dog, but as soon as they are in the house, he is all over them

, be it a tradesman or family. When family visited at the weekend, he done lots of the ears back, and smiling with his teeth, which they found very funny. It's one of the things I think is great about Biscuit, is that he is not always yapping and barking and whinging, but when he does you pay attention. He has a really deep surprising bark, I suppose due to the deep chest.

Anyanka · Master

Valerie wrote:

Biscuit only barks for a reason, play bark or the door bell. .

Bonnie only barks for a reason, but boy - does she have a lot of reasons!

Teresa · Enlightened One

Daisy has lots of reasons too. Most of her reasons can't be heard by the human ear so I have no idea if they're genuine or not

Cloudy Days · Rookie

Well i guess i'll have to mention all of my lovely greyhounds in the kennels.
Ok well they each have their own special voices, some of them bark alot, some never. I have been surprised before by their voices, for example one little girl who seemed to be a very easy going sweet girl and i was SO surprised when i first took a dog past her kennel and heared her high pitched yapping she went completely nuts.
We also have two very young (very beautiful) girls, one of which would enjoy barking at anyone she saw walking in the woods backing onto the kennels.
Some of the dogs bark only at other dogs, some of them bark only at males and some of them bark at anything that moves, and then you get Jo. Jo is still quite young, only about 18 months old, and Jo has a VERY annoying bark which NEVER stops or gives in. When you first see him you think that yes he does seem quite large but he is very sweet big blue, and he has a way of looking at you which is adorable (if a little cross-eyed). But then he starts to bark, and you can't stop him, nothing works, not comforting (if you can get that close to him), not telling him to calm down, nothing

. Of course i am not the his biggest victim, in fact i feel particularly sorry for the people who live infront of the kennels, they have mentioned before that he barks all night long

Anyanka · Master

Cloudy Days wrote:

We also have two very young (very beautiful) girls, one of which would enjoy barking at anyone she saw walking in the woods backing onto the kennels.

Anyone walking in the woods backing onto the kennels: that'll be ME.