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Summary

Tinbergen questions related to canine behaviour - why do dogs bark?...

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Tinbergen’s 4 Questions Activity: Using Tinbergen’s framework, describe barking in dogs and consider questions which could help you understand why barking is an important behaviour for dogs. Proximate Cause:

Immediate 1) Mechanism

Over time 2) Ontogeny

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Ultimate Cause:

. 3) Adaptative Value

. 4) Phylogeny

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. Immediate

Over time

Proximate Cause: (How)

1) Mechanism - causation

2) Ontogeny - development

The causation for barking is a dog’s way to communicate with humans and other dogs.

The cause of the barking is the passing of air through the vocal cords - the same what that humans speak.

Dogs learn to bark from other dogs, or the behaviour is innate.

It is also their way of showing emotions and their needs e.g. feeling hungry, tired, needing to urinate.

The vocal cords in a dog are more plastic than human’s which allows for greater vibrations and subtlety of sounds. This is why their barks sound different when they want different things.

The dog barks to defend territory.

Basenji’s are not able to bark because their larynx is more shallow which means their vocal cords cannot vibrate normally. They have learned to communicate in other ways, such as yodelling.

This can be a dog’s way of communicating with you. They will bark when they want attention, when they are in pain, when they are bored, when they are hungry or when they need to urinate/defecate. They learn this at a young age. Some barks are good as they alert you to their needs but barking because they are bored should be stopped at a young age as the dog can grow up to become needy or impatient.

Ultimate Cause: (Why)

3) Adaptative Value - function

4) Phylogeny - evolution

Barking exists as a form of communication with all the different vocal sounds.

This is to communicate with humans as well as warding off predators or strangers or as a warning for other dogs.

Barking is evolutionary advantageous because it prevented injurious encounters.

Domestic dogs bark more howl less than wolves did because they do not hunt so do not need the howling trait, but barking is a better trait for them to communicate with other dogs and humans. But some working breeds who do still hunt, such as Beagles or Fox Hounds, still howl as this works for their hunting techniques.

They have a varied selection of vocal sounds, so they make different sounds or barks to show different emotions.

Dogs use barking more now as a communication tool as wolves did, so it seems to be their best way to communicate with humans.

The environment can affect why a dog barks and also how much they bark. So will their role - whether they are a pet or a working dog.

Wolves used barking for hunting and to show their hierarchy in the pack, but now dogs don’t have to hunt but they do bark at each other to show dominance.

Working dogs may be taught to bark, such as a drug detection dog barking when they find something. Pet dogs can be taught not to bark as it is unnecessary.

Only 3% of a wolves’ vocalisation is barking, they howl much more. Whereas over 75% of a dogs communication is barking.

If a dog hasn’t been socialised well then they may bark more as they see dogs as a threat whereas those that have been socialised see other dogs as someone to play with so will communicate differently.

Some dogs will bark when they see smaller animals or cats, as they are still prey driven. This is seen more in bigger dogs as they are closer related to wolves....