Dog owners - bark or no bark?

[SpaceMan5]

So with the Christmas season in full swing and with so many packages being delivered by Amazon, UPS, FedEx, do you mind if your dog barks whenever a delivery driver drops a package on the front step? Or would rather he/she not bark at all?

For me personally, while it is a tad annoying at times, I would rather have them bark to let me know when someone is approaching our home. No matter who it might be tells them that we have a small dog that will rip their Achilles apart and a 60lb Lab, Pitbull, Hound mix that will do a gastric by-pass surgery for free. Please don't get me wrong, our two boys are really lovable and cute but are protective of their ppl.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Lord Manhammer]

This is an interesting question. My front door is a decent ways away from where we spend most of our time in the house so our dogs never hear a delivery person. But if someone is leaving our parking lot in the back, they’ll go crazy. My little dachshund barks her head off but
My golden retriever doesn’t care and would rather be your friend.

 

[WorldWacky]

We were just talking about this about two hours ago when an Amazon package was dropped onto our porch. Not a peep from the dog. She doesn’t bark AT ALL at anyone passing by or anyone coming to the door. The only time she barks is when she wants something from US.
I like that she’s not incessantly barking, but it might be nice to have some warning when someone is at the door.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

Bark all the way. It's great to know that our dogs hear stuff that we do not and their bark lets us know something is going on, even if it is just a delivery man. Our family room is in the back of the house and most of the time they hear a delivery. It can be annoying at times, but we would not have it any other way.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm not sure how you would stop them or why you would want to.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have seen ours sit at our open front door (with glass) and just watch delivery people. I think they see it enough to know that there is no bad intention there, so no reaction, just watching.

The other day our small dog was resting and heard a door shut in the driveway and started barking. He wasn’t sure what it was. Then he realized it was just a delivery person, so he stopped. German Shepherd came over to see what was going on, but sensed no danger and went back to sleep, lol.

I have twice seen our Shepherds (different ones) react when I didn’t even realize anything was wrong, but it was. Dogs are really cool that way. They often know friend vs foe if they’re well-socialized.

My current Shepherd howls for sirens. It’s funny to hear!

 

[GoingSince1990]

Our Boston does not bark at all unless the person rings the doorbell or knocks, in which case he goes absolutely freaking nuts.

 

[CdnCarrie]

His job is to tell me someone is at the door. Yes to bark.

 

[nw6675]

Our Boston does not bark at all unless the person rings the doorbell or knocks, in which case he goes absolutely freaking nuts.

Same. Our Shih Tzu is quiet 99% of the time, but goes nuts at the doorbell.

 

[DCLMP]

I get annoyed when my dog starts barking at me around 9 pm for her bedtime treat or when someone says the words "walk" or "dog park" and she goes freaking nutso. Other than that it's all good.

 

[disykat]

Bark. I figure that's her job, to notify us that people are here. That said, I don't like it when any kind of bell rings on the tv (or I accidentally hit silverware against a dish and it makes a tone) and she goes nuts!

Our dog is a rescue and after her initial rescue her first adoption failed because of barking. We don't think she barks that much, really only at bells and knocks.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We have 3 dogs. If the driver comes up our driveway and lays the package on the porch, they never see him/her. If the driver overshoots our driveway and parks in the neighbor’s driveway they have to cross in front of our living room windows. The dogs may or may not notice and bark.

 

[LoveDaisy]

My last dog was bred not to bark. She only learned she could bark from watching another dog. She rarely barked but if she did I knew something wasn’t right. A non barking dog in general was great if she barked there was a real reason. My neighbor once called the police because she barked and he knew something was off. Sure enough cut screen and someone tried to break in. He said if she barked regularly he would have never called the police.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I don't have a dog, but if I did, I think I would be glad to know when a package had arrived. - Just yesterday we got one that needed to be refrigerated, so I was glad I happened to hear it.

 

[dreamer17555]

I wish my dog would bark. She’s a rescue and extremely scared and it took months for her to even take a bone from us. Now she can be chatty with us but if she hears a noise from outside she runs and hides poor baby.

 

[slo]

Definitely bark bark bark.

When my Sophie (RIP) went deaf in her elder years, she stopped barking when someone approached the door since she couldn’t hear them and I really missed it. I liked her warnings that someone was coming or here.

 

[Kitty 34]

If my dog meowed or quacked I'd be wayyy more concern so let 'em bark. It's called communication!

 

[_19disnA]

Don't have a dog but we have some neighbors that let their dog bark constantly for no reason at all. Gets really annoying. They let it out in their fenced in yard and it barks at everything that walks by. Seems people would make an effort to train their dogs more. If your dog barks a lot when indoors, that isn't something other neighbors could hear.

 

[mjkacmom]

When we got our rescue at 3 months old, I was very impressed that she didn’t bark at the mailman. However, most homes in our neighborhood have dogs (and our lots are 60 feet wide), so she learned to bark like crazy (she’s 20 pounds but her bark is much bigger). Our living room is surrounded by a large wrap around porch, she will run across the couch to get to a window to bark, and I do have an Amazon habit.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Our poodle mix dog barks at all of them. I guess it is good in that she is aware of people approaching the house, BUT it really does get annoying. It is really bad if she is sitting on the back of the couch behind you and starts barking. She can hit a certain note with her barks that will pierce your brain.