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In general do Labs bark much?

18K views 30 replies 26 participants last post by  kaykay 
#1 ·
I have never owned a Lab before but about any dog I have owned or been around barks from time to time. I have had Huckleberry for a little over a month but been around him for almost 2 months (from time he started visiting my house) and he has only barked one time. He barked when we were camping and stranger came walking out of the woods. It kinda startled me he barked. :tongue1: But it was nice to know he could.:eyebrows:

Anyway, is this fairly typical or not so typical?
 
#2 ·
Each lab is an individual with different personalities. My experience with 2 labs that I have had for 13 years and 2 more that have been my " niece and nephew" is that they bark at appropriate times, when someone is at the door, an animal in the yard, one or two barks to come in or to signify "let's play". They have not been continuous barkers and respond when you say quiet or open the door to a guest. I remember one night they woke me up with an insistent bark that was diferent. Turned out there was a bear and three cubs in the yard. Fortunately I did not let them out. One of my friends had a lab that woke her up at night seemingly for no reason but it turned out she had a carbon monoxide leak. Just some thoughts...
 
#4 ·
What surprises me about Huckleberry is we hike so much. He has saw deer, turkey, other dogs, squirrels, and rabbits and never a bark. He chases after some of them but never makes a sound. People knock on the door and pull in our drive-way not a peep from him. But that man coming out of the woods sure got ONE single bark out of him. :clap2:
 
#7 ·
Ozzy would bark if something was wrong, it didn't happen often but if he barked I paid attention. Maxx rarely barks, in 2 years maybe 5 - 6 times. He has such a deep and almost scary bark. And come to think of it the times he has barked it has been for very good reasons.
 
#8 ·
I have a 10 month old and he isn't much of a bark. When he barks it's usually when he is playing with his doggie friends. Part of me is glad he isn't much of a barker.
 
#10 ·
Mardi is a 2 year old rescue and I know little about her past. I believe her occasional bark is reasonable. yesterday as we were sitting on the back steps, a delivery man came around the corner of the house. I had heard absolutely nothing as he drove up and parked out of site. Mardi gave a woof at the same time I caught the man in my peripheral vision. She charged up to the man and jumped up on him because she had already decided he was nice, and he was. She barks with happy yips or very gentle woofs when she sees another dog. I have had for for about 10 weeks and I have never considered her barking to be inappropriate, except when she yips with separation anxiety. I have never had a senselessly yappy dog and probably wouldn't have kept one because I am not about to make my neighbors furious. I had a pack of 4 Siberian huskies for about 12 years and none of them were barkers. Sibes tend to be very quiet and I was very happy that they did no mindless, continuous barking. Mardi's very occasional bark--except for separation anxiety--seems acceptable. Now, on the other hand, the German Shepard across the street-----------

Nancy
 
#12 ·
Forrest rarely barked- only when there was something to alert him. Finn doesn't bark much, either- mostly when I come home, or when Poopy thinks there is something to bark at!

Poopy barks ALL THE TIME. *sigh*
 
#13 ·
History of my labs' barking patterns:

Paddy: only when appropriate
Seamus: only when appropriate
Flynn: only when appropriate, or inappropriate, or just to practice using his voice, or when he didn't feel he was getting enough attention, or when the light in a room changed, or when the wind blew, or when the sirens sounded, or whenever I would walk out the front door, or... or... or... Yes, he was a VERY vocal dog. EXCEPT first thing in the morning. A totally silent cuddle bug for that first hour. And then...

:)
 
#21 ·
Thank you for this! I was afraid Smokey was a lone duck after reading all of the not much of a barker comments...Smokey sounds like he and Flynn have similar personalities. Attention seeker? Yep, Smokey will bark for attention if he thinks he isn't getting enough. When I tell him "no bark" he goes into any other vocalization he can muster. I LOVE him. He is always good for a laugh even if I want to rip my hair out before I see the humor!
 
#14 ·
Love that Flynn.

Parker is much more vocal than Wes was. Wes only barked VERY occasionally, usually at the doorbell when he didn't know someone was coming. And yes, Wes seemed to know when people were expected -- and therefore wouldn't bark. But if a surprise guy came to the door selling FIOS or something, Wes would alert us.

Parker has a "let's play" bark that I've heard a lot. And a DEEP BIG BOY GO-AWAY-SCARY-THING bark that I've only heard once or twice in his two years of life.
 
#15 ·
Laci is usually quiet and when she barks she has a high pitched bark. She also barks when she wants me to get off the couch. I caught howling a couple of weeks ago at some farm dogs that were barking in the distance. Tilly (beagle) barks often, car goes by, bark, door opens, bark etc. Bentley has caught on to this and goes racing for the door everytime a car goes by, barking. Thank goodness I live in the country and cars don't come by often.
 
#17 ·
None of my labs have been "barkers", they will alert to strange things in the yard, or the neighbors dogs starting up the driveway, a brief once or twice bark if they really want to go out and you are ignoring them (although mostly that's the silent,intense stare). Baxter sometimes barks at imaginary things in the yard - but mostly, quiet dogs. I am thinking about my next "smaller dog" and there are a few that I like, but almost all of them are known as "barkers", and I really don't want that.
 
#18 ·
Tank only barks when necessary. okay or to get my attention,but not much.

Bentley barks ALL the time. he barks at leaves. He gets really bad if he does not get enough energy out,and is bored. which is rare but this year i have had some really bad days and just want to sleep. He gets me moving though so that is one good thing ;) Abby my lab mix i had before tank only barked when necessary. She would also bark at rabbits but after a "quiet" command she would settle down. bentley is more "SHUT UP!!!" Bentley lay down! Enough Bentley!! He is getting tons better though and usually after enough he quiets down but lets out another bark or two.
 
#20 ·
I think it very much depends on each individual dog. Adrian has taught Kai "speak" and "quiet".. I've noticed since then she does bark a bit more, but only at appropriate times.. not the incessant barking that some of my friend's dogs do. If Kai needs more water and you are filling her bowl up and she is excited about it, she sometimes lets out an excited bark.. same for feeding.

Last week Kai started incessantly barking which she never does, and was running to the door.. Adrian thought maybe she had to go out, so he took her out and she continued barking and barking and running to the door to get back inside.. Adrian came back inside and the apartment was smokey. He had put one of Kai's rubber toys in the dishwasher, and it fell down on the heater and started melting in the dishwasher. Kai must have smelled the smoke before Adrian even noticed anything
 
#22 ·
My husband said the lab his family had when he was growing up barked constantly. But now that he's older, he realized why. His parents kept the lab in the kitchen, he was allowed outside only to do his business, then immediately brought back in. He never saw the other areas of the house. Most people (unless cooking) don't really spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So the dog was left alone more often than not. :( Between the lack of good exercise and lack of quality time with people, it's no wonder he barked so much!

Jaxx barks when he needs to go out, barks when someone comes, and barks when I'm reading when I SHOULD be throwing the ball for him. :p
 
#23 ·
Shadow only barked when it was a good thing (someone at the door), but she 'talked' a lot. She would make what some people thought was a growling noise; it was a rumble deep in her chest, but she was not angry or upset. It was her way of talking to the animals she'd see in the yard. She did actually really growl once, when some undercover cops came to my house looking for my neighbor's ex-husband. She stayed between me and them and did not care for them at all. Normally anyone who came to the door was greeted with a toy and lot of happy wags, but not these guys.

Champ barks at every animal he sees when he is outside, and he barks to be let in. He also barks on command. He will bark if someone comes to the door, or if he sees a delivery person go to the other half of the duplex.

Buddy very rarely barks, and then only if there is a rabbit or feral cat in the yard when he is out. However, if the neighbor's grand-dog is visiting and out in their yard, he goes bonkers - yipping, yelping, and barking - because he got to play with her once and he wants to go back. Buddy does talk a lot, grumbles and groans and moans and squeaks, especially if he thinks his dinner is late. He makes a lot of sounds in his sleep, too.
 
#27 ·
There are two kinds of Labs (No, I´m not talking about field vs show): Barkadors and Neverbarkadors. In my experience there aren´t any in the middle point. Barkadors are usually the more high strung, hyper, super energetic dogs. Neverbarkadors are usually dogs that are very self assured, don´t get scared easily, are very outgoing and friendly.

I´ve had 5 Labs in my life, Muffin which never barked (yellow), Brownie a chocolate barkador (very energetic), Misha and Homer (both neverbarkadors, especially Misha), and another black Lab that only lived with us for over 6 months (another barkador but she learned it from Brownie).

Of my mountain biking friend´s Labs, another Brownie (coincidence) is a field Lab and a total energy boost machine.. of course a Barkador... and another Yellow Lab, Sam, show lined (and sometimes I swear he is related to Misha and Homer because they are identical), is a Neverbarkador and a SWEET hugable lovely dog.

Labs are rarely guard dogs, the neverbarkadors will never waste a bark, so when they do bark I definitely check what happened because something is indeed not normal if they bark.

I only have to add that I LOVE Neverbarkadors.

Vermont my Collie on the other side... loooves to bark (and I looove to shut him up LOL)
 
#29 ·
Java only alert barks-when someone pulls in our driveway, knocks at our door or when she sees someone sketchy that makes her uncomfortable.
Moka rarely barks-except when she reminds me that it is dinnertime and when she alert barks (which is not often-she is not my guard dog-Java is).
Neither of my girls bark in response to other dogs barking.
 
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