I am pretty sure I have the loudest border collie

[Carlasl]

Does anyone else have a barker?

 

OMG I thought generally border collies are quiet dogs. Skye who is most likely a BCXAussie doesn't hardly bark at all unless warranted (stranger, or play a rowdy game). I swear Maya barks about EVERYTHING, she barks to go outside (very demanding about it) she barks to play ball, she barks at EVERYTHING outside (she has some fear issues) barks when she is excited. Barks at 7am every morning to go outside even though everyone else in the house (including three small children) would happily sleep until 7:30.

 

And it doesn't help that she has a very high pitched obnoxious bark. Any way to get her to shut her trap? She speaks on command and she absolutely knows what "hush" means. I try very very hard not to reward her for barking for attention or getting out of the crate, but I do let her outside when she barks.

[IPSY]

I feel sorry for you Carlasl , waking up the whole house cant be a good thing.

 

I have a feeling my 11 week old puppy Sally is going to be a barker.... She has found her voice and loves to use it.

She is barking at her water dish as I type because she cannot move it ( thank God ).

My younger boy . Yogi just stares at you and will run back and forth to the door when he has to go..But he has a hair raising , toe curling , hit the ceiling kind of bark when he gets "surprised" you might say. I have NEVER heard a bark like his in my life ! The shepherds cant match his bark ! I has such urgency to it , sometimes it starts off with a very low gravelly growl ,then a quick and rough bark , or sometimes its he uses just a ear piercing bark .It will literally make you jump out of your shoes ! He does it mostly when he catches his reflection or any other reflection in a glass window when its dark ( obviously ). Especially the skylights , he swears there are BCs on the roof ! LOL... And he does it when he comes across something he hasnt seen before. Just now he barked at the newspaper in Sallys xpen , it was turned up in such a way , that it must have spooked him. I think he knows he has a bark issue , when he plays with the puppy , he grabs one of his squeak toys and runs with it in his mouth , almost like a pacifier !

He's such a silly boy !

[ejano]

Robin never got the memo that Border Collies are quiet either. He's not an excessive barker, but he does yodel quite loudly when he's happy -- when someone comes home, when he's done a trick just right.

 

We were visiting my mother in law in a skilled nursing facility - she's not awfully fond of Robin (or me for that matter, and I must say, the feeling is mutual) so I had him out in the common room where there were people who liked him. He caught the ball and dropped it in a waste basket, in effect "making a basket" and yodeled, "Aren't I a wonderful fellow!" Someone on the far side of the room who wasn't paying attention to what we were doing yelled, "Put the dog out!"

 

My husband was in his mother's room and hearing Robin, she turned to him and demanded to know, "She didn't bring that dog with her, did she?"

 

Liz

[IPSY]

Oh thats too funny !! Its amazing how a dogs everyday actions can imprint our lives.. Good boy , Robin !

 

Your husband should have said to his Mom, ( with respect to your MIL )

" No , Liz didnt come this time , but Robin drove"

What do you think she would have said ? I had the MIL from hell , believe me , I understand...

[Beach BCs]

I have a screamer too. Georgia (then about a year old) was as quiet as a church mouse when we first brought her home...for about a week. After that she shreiked like a banshee as often as she took a breath. Honestly her 'bark' sounded like sneakers on a gym floor. So high pitched! She seemed to enjoy the sound. We did get her to stop by labeling that crazy bark. She could do it on command only. "Tell me." Turned out that the bark helped her with her (mild) thunderphobia. She'd hear a big clap of thunder, get scared and I'd tell her to "tell it", she'd scream at it a couple times and settle down.

 

Now my husband has been know to get her all riled up and she'll start screaming at him. But she does quiet when told "thankyou."

 

Anyway, I feel your pain...

[njnovice]

Mick can be a barker, and he sounds like a 100+lb dog when he barks, which is fine by me. He's sounded like that since I got him at 5 months. It was pretty hilarious to hear his huge bark coming out of a 30lb BC pup.

 

Most of his barking comes from the fact that he doesn't want anything on the property/right in front of it. He also has a very specific urgent bark that he only uses when bears come into the yard. I find it amusing that he has a "bear bark."

[Root Beer]

Dean has the most dreadful bark I've ever heard in a dog his size. It's high pitched and loud.

 

Thankfully, he only barks when there is someone, or something outside and when he gets really excited during play. If he were a nonstop barker, he would drive me nuts.

[M.L.]

Bailey is a barker. He has a deep, loud bark. He barks when he wants to play ball, barks when he's playing, barks when someone walks by, barks when he wants your attention, barks when he's bored...basically, he barks ALL THE TIME. And every bark sounds slightly different. He gets plenty of mental and physical exercise. When I got Ginger she started barking all the time because Bailey would bark, and I was successful at getting her to stop. Now she only barks at moving objects or a knock at the door.

 

I haven't been very successful in getting Bailey to stop barking so much. It bothers me the most when he runs to the door and barks at every little noise outside. After some other failed attempts, we started sending Bailey to his crate when he'd bark at the door. He loves his crate, so he'll go when given the command. That worked for awhile. He'd go upstairs to his crate and wait quietly to be released. We could live with that.

 

Except that now he goes to his crate on his own when there's noise outside and he barks from his crate. Lovely. I give up.

[eclare]

Daisy is more of a talker than a barker. She has a wide variety of vocalizations that she uses to get her point across and they rarely require much repetition. She does go into protection mode, though, and barks at strange noises outside or other dogs walking past the house.

 

Seamus, on the other hand, seems to be quite the attention barker. It has definitely lessened a bit since he arrived in my household, but it's stil pretty annoying. I think it's a phase that he'll grow out of, especially since I try to ignore it as much as possible and give him praise and attention only when he's quiet and calm.

[border_collie_crazy]

lol, Happy is pretty quiet, but Misty is an outside barker and has been since she was a tiny little puppy..in the house she is silent, never making a peep unless super exited, but outside she is a "soound effects" dog...you know a dog that barks at nothing..just prance around the yard barking..bark while taking a pee..throw a toy at you and bounce up and down going "bark bark bark" . she has been doing this since she could bark lol her breeder told us she did this back when she was 4 weeks old! now at almost 8 years she still does it lol

[IPSY]

I forgot about Nem ! She's not a big barker , unless she needs to be , like strangers or "danger" , but she is a BIG talker. She can really tell you a story , especially in the morning , OMG !

I love it though, I encourage it, it is just sooo cute to watch her face, she really puts emphasis on the "WOO WOO s " LOL....

I think Sally is going to be a talker too , which should be pretty funny . She talks a storm inthe morning when I take her out of the crate . She is too cute...

 

My boy Wiz does says a few things here and there , but not alot. He's a thinker , not a talker ! LOL..

[bc friend]

Since Katie is half-Springer, I blame her high-pitched barking on that part of her genes! She is easily excitable and a very loud barker; thank goodness, she will obey a hush command - even if she does give me the "what's the problem" look when I shush her!

[ejano]

Daisy is more of a talker than a barker. She has a wide variety of vocalizations that she uses to get her point across and they rarely require much repetition. She does go into protection mode, though, and barks at strange noises outside or other dogs walking past the house.

 

Seamus, on the other hand, seems to be quite the attention barker. It has definitely lessened a bit since he arrived in my household, but it's stil pretty annoying. I think it's a phase that he'll grow out of, especially since I try to ignore it as much as possible and give him praise and attention only when he's quiet and calm.

 

 

I love the talkers -- our Lucky girl (BC mix, rescue) was one...we used to say she knew three languages.

 

Brodie, on the other hand, is exceptionally quiet, following the "if you ain't got nothing to say..." rule. I've noticed that when someone comes to the door, they both let Ladybug do the barking, which is the only time you'll hear her say a word as well.

 

Liz

[BustopherJones]

Annie has two barks. The first is a low, soft "wuff" sound that she uses when she is playing; it is pleasant and even amusing, and sounds almost as if she is trying to talk. The second is an ear-shattering bark that rivals the take-off sound of the Concorde, shatters windows for several kilometers around, and has been known on occasion to bring down commercial airliners in flight; fortunately, she doesn't use this offten, and it is generally reserved for trespassers. The second bark goes along with the sign in the front storm door that reads, "Warning! Security Border Collie On Duty!" (which sits right next to the sign that says, "This House Is Protected By Smith & Wesson").

[Izzysdad]

Toby is a HUGE barker, we're working on cutting it back some, he barks about everything.

 

He's unique though for a BC I think, b/c he has border collie coloring, but acts like he's come from a lazy breed

 

Tim

[IPSY]

I love to hear about everybodys barker and talker, which is my personal favorite.

Has anybody ever noticed the "talker" gene carried thru to their pups ?

[Jacks_Mom]

The only time jack barks is if there are birds in his yard, or he is telling the dog behind us to be quiet when he gets to barking. He is very vocal tho all his little ways of talking to me, his little howls, and woo woo's, etc.... He tells me when he is hungry, when the cats or kids won't do what he wants them to.... Nicci calls him a tattle dog sometimes when he tells on her for not throwing the ball or frisbie... All of his little sounds are a different depending on what he is telling me. He has a little tri bc girlfriend at flyball and agility and they sit there and talk to each other it is so cute... Monday night at agility we had to seperate him and his gf and then they would look around us at each other and woo woo at each other aaahhhh puppy love

[Mariji]

I have 3 Borders all up and not a single one barks. Not even if someone comes in the fence, there is absolutely NO barking in my house. To stop this as my dogs barked as puppies EVERYTIME they bark and i mean even if I was half way through a shower I would go outside, collect them calmly and bring them inside or into their crate. Since they want to be outside they see being inside as a time out. Now if my oldest does bark and it is extremely rare I will go outside to find her sitting on the ground with her head on the ground going "sorry mum! I just couldn't help myself" at which point she escorts herself back inside for a short time out.

 

The key to this is to catch them everytime, even if it is just one bark. Them being allowed to bark once but not twice is too much for a young dog to comprehend. So I just say no barking at all. They are extremely good now and both bar my puppy who is learning but doing 100% better, never bark at all. I am not mean about it, I simply ask them to go to their crates if I catch them barking. They just figure out if they want to be outside they must be quiet. There will be a confusion period because Maya has always been allowed to bark but she will figure it out. As for barking when she wants something I would wait at the door till she shut up and let her out if it was urgent. If not then time out time!

 

Saying this my oldest who is silent at home is extremely vocal at training and can tend to scream her way through contact obstacles and weaves. But she is such a sweetheart and can still concentrate I will let her have her little noisy moments. As long as it doesn't interfere with a command I am giving I am fine with that.

[Maralynn]

Does anyone else have a barker?

 

Yes. I have two. Kipp is very quite in general, except when Missy or Kenzi is out doing something and he is kenneled. Life is totally not fair then and Kipp will let you know it. And know it. And know it. Otherwise he is very quiet and only really barks for his SAR alerts.

 

Kenzi starts getting barky if she's bored. She'll come over to me and stares and barks a couple times. I tell her "no" and to go lay down or get her bone. She has an annoying, high pitched, whiny bark at those times. She's starting to learn. Now she tries just whining first before barking. It's kind of funny.

[luv2napp]

I forgot about Nem ! She's not a big barker , unless she needs to be , like strangers or "danger" , but she is a BIG talker. She can really tell you a story , especially in the morning , OMG !

I love it though, I encourage it, it is just sooo cute to watch her face, she really puts emphasis on the "WOO WOO s " LOL....

I think Sally is going to be a talker too , which should be pretty funny . She talks a storm inthe morning when I take her out of the crate . She is too cute...

 

My boy Wiz does says a few things here and there , but not alot. He's a thinker , not a talker ! LOL..

 

 

Isn't that funny, the story telling!! Lacee does the same thing! Her and my husband have a lot to say to each other at 4 am when he is getting ready for work. You would think it would bother me, but I just giggle from under the covers, listening to them.

And when we go for walks, if I stop to talk to someone, Lacee will also let her voice be heard. It surprises people...the look on their faces when she starts woowoowooing right in the middle of the conversation. Life is never dull!

[hsnrs]

Our Keesha has a high pitched bark. Chula is a deep bark for a pup. Misty is deep but doesn't usually bark. Sam is a real non stop barker. Alfie barks when people come and at Sam sometimes. Desi rarely barks. Since we live in the boonies we don't mind (well I don't) but DH hates it. I have learned to shorten shut up to shut and Keesha to Ke. Doesn't usually help but makes me feel better. Keesha barks while working sheep but Sam rarely does; Alf does sometimes.

[BordercollieBrat]

Oh YES!! Both of them. And each has 2 types of barks.

 

Axle has his cutesy I'm a puppy you've gotta love me type bark if he thinks we've ignored his brown eyed stare too long & his "I'm going to eat you if you come any closer" one which he uses when people walk past the house, or for men. Because he's got a thing against men. Men in hats, men w/ glasses on, men in general spook the bejeeze outta him.

 

Sophie has her "gonna make your ears bleed" high pitched squeal which I swear she saves for when she's sitting at the landing on the steps & then screeches it out & up to have it echo!! And she SMILES!! when she does this one & we tell her to hush.

And her obsessive psycho bark which she does if she wants attention, a vehicle passes the house (or on a walk), kids are on the other side of the gate....etc. this one is accompanied by her frantically running up & down the fence line.

[Malvie]

All three of mine talk. A lot. Kind of like me....

 

Lucy is the guard dog (I guess she figures, if you're the alpha, you've got to act like it). She has an "alarm" "wuf", which is very quiet but gets everybody else ears-up and listening. Then there is the "Yes, I AM certifiably insane!" bark when she thinks something is really wrong. She also has an assortment of "speech" noises, mostly consisting of a series of grunts, "uh uh uh uh". I wish I could interpret the sequence, I'd be able to decode her language. It's funny, too---she's physically the smallest dog, and has this huge deep bark (if she were a woman, she'd be Bette Davis, and in more ways than one---she's a drama queen as well). So you'll have this little dog with this HUGE "WOOF".

 

Ethel warbles. She has a variety of "awrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooo" noises (ya just can't get this into written format...) which usually are pleasure-related ("Oh boy! dinner!" "Please pet your adorable border collie now!" "Aren't I cuuuuuute?" "Hooray! Dad is HOME!"). She also has a very excited, high pitched bark which she uses when playing (she loves chasing the other two, then they'll turn around and chase her). Her "danger" bark is also high pitched and rapid, but the frequency is different or something---I can definitely tell the difference.

 

Bessie is another alarm dog. Strange people in the driveway next door, marauding squirrels---nothing escapes her attention. She has two sets of friends (besides her sisters): the two yappy dogs behind us (irritating dogs with even more irritating owners....) and Sabrina the Great Dane next door. Bess and Sabrina love to run the fence and bark at each other. The neighbor and I are good friends, so frequently during the summer (which in Houston should start in the next few weeks and go to Thanksgiving---we were at 100 degrees last year by April 15, I HOPE we don't repeat that one), Emily, Anthony and I will sit out on the patio with a cold one or two while Bessie and Sabrina (as the youngest two) tear up my back yard, with Lucy, Ethel, and Daisy (their elderly border collie) survey the scene from the patio (they are smarter than the "kids"---a stray burger might fall to the ground or something...).

 

Emily and Anthony, after dating for years, are actually tying the knot this weekend, so Uncle Malvie (me) is babysitting Sabrina, Daisy, and Merlin the cat while they cruise for their honeymoon (when he did propose, he did it right: on the steps of the cathedral in Venice---the real one, in Italy---). I expect it to be a barkfest, with poor Merlin never emerging from his bedroom (I'm giving him the guest bedroom as a sactuary from all the caninity). The neighbors should be happy, as Bess and 'Brina will be in the same yard, therefore barking less. I can't speak for the "nice" folks behind us, as their little yappers will be "fair game" in the barkathon.

 

Seriously, though, living in the big city as I do, I'm glad for the alarm barking. There are burglaries all the time, and I can't imagine the burglar would be terribly happy at all that ferocious barking from the inside of the house (the burglar won't know they're crated). Also, if there's anything wrong, my dogs will let me know. My 90 year old aunt's beautiful home burned to the ground in January; they got out because their dog raised the alarm (here's my account of that incident). I might be irritated about Bessie and 'Brina running the fence and barking, but I don't want to STOP them from barking.

[burdock]

Our Emma talks also and only barks when she has to for an alarm to some one coming to thew house or some one new out side other than that its a lot of talking, even have video on my Facebook of her.

[JohnLloydJones]

Ethel warbles. She has a variety of "awrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooo" noises (ya just can't get this into written format...) which usually are pleasure-related ("Oh boy! dinner!" "Please pet your adorable border collie now!" "Aren't I cuuuuuute?" "Hooray! Dad is HOME!").

My foster Rhys bach does exactly the same when there's something good about to happen -- usually going out for a walk or to the dog park, but sometimes when he knows that food is about to be served. He lifts his head and rounds his lips to produce what looks like a big smirk. Otherwise, he is a fairly quiet boy.