It may seem to us simply noise, even an annoying noise, but the information contained in a bark is really valid for man's best friend, according to the latest study by the Biological Institute of the EötvösLoránd University in Budapest (Hungary), and that collects the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science .
The team of scientists conducted behavioral tests both with dogs that were familiar with barking from other dogs, and with unfamiliar dogs, in order to analyze the differences between the barking of one and the other and how this affected their actions .
Although we already know that the barking of a dog can give us clues, to humans, as to whether it is happy, sad or aggressive, it also contains valuable information for the dogs themselves. Thus, the researchers discovered that the dogs distinguished the barking of a familiar dog from that of an unfamiliar dog and acted accordingly : when it was a familiar sound, the dogs ran to the door to greet their friend; on the contrary, when it was an unknown bark, the dogs stayed longer at the door of their house and away from the door.
Thus, the study concludes that dogs are able to discern through the barking of which dog it is or if it is a complete stranger , which shows that excessive management of bark control by humans does nothing but hinder communication between the dogs themselves.
