When I first got my Lally, she tended to play a little rough. I talked to the shelter’s favorite trainer about it, and she suggested that whenever Lally played too rough, I yelp like a puppy: high pitched, short, and loud. I felt kind of silly, but I tried it… and it worked! Dogs may not understand “OUCH!” but they know that pain-filled yip and tend to back off when they hear it.
Experts divide a dog’s sounds into five different types: the whimper or whine, the yelp, the growl, the bark, and the howl.
The whimper is high pitched and pathetic — designed to get attention. Puppies whine to get their mother’s attention; adult dogs may whine to their masters. A whine may get so high in pitch that the human ear can’t entirely hear it! My Moose will whimper/whine at me when he’s looking for an invitation to come upstairs to bed. To my ear, though, it sounds more like a whistle: a high pitched FWEEET kind of noise.
A yelp, like the nice trainer lady told me, is a sound of pain. It can be a sound of surprise, or a sound of injury.
The growl is a low warning. Your dog may growl at an approaching stranger; your dog may growl at another animal to warn them away. Lately, Lally will growl at Moose to keep him away from her dinner — her little snoot crinkles back, her teeth are bared, and her ears are flat.
There are two kinds of bark: a bark for warning and a bark for challenge. The warning or alarm bark is short, kind of a “Hey! Somebody’s here!” The challenge bark is usually longer, or may be a few short barks followed by a longer one.
Not all dogs howl, but those who do may do it for different reasons. Some people feel their dog howls out of loneliness, in response to a noise, or even in celebration.
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