Support our animal welfare activities. Donate Now
Street dogs barking at night! How to reduce it.
I love my street dogs and I spend most of my waking hours with them. Most often I have been asked of how we can reduce the barking of the street dogs at night. There are animal-friendly solutions and I thought I would list down a few simple strategies. These strategies have worked for me and hence I am sharing the same.
Barking is natural for all dogs.
First and foremost it should be understood that barking comes naturally to dogs. Just as humans like to talk, these dear animals bark to communicate. They bark when they are happy, sad, threatened or excited. Sometimes they bark to alert humans of danger and sometimes they bark because they might be just bored. Barking is not a crime, it is just nature at work.
Ensure the dogs are not hungry.
Food is of primary concern for the street dogs. Many do not get enough to eat. Like us humans when we are hungry we become aggressive and moody. The street dogs start fighting and barking at each other over want of food.
Hungry street dogs will stray into territories of other packs. This migration becomes another reason for aggressive behavior between street dogs and a whole lot of ruckus between the packs.
Take the help of Animal Welfare Volunteers and feed the dogs at least once a day. Ensure there is enough food for them and there will be further peace. These street dogs do not need huge fancy meals. A combination of biscuits, home food, rice, chappatis, dried food like drools or pedigree, etc. is fine. These street dogs are not fussy. They relish the food given to them.
You will definitely notice a change in behavior and less barking as the days go by. Ample food and water and you will see the street dogs sleeping in peace most of the time.
Contact Animal Welfare to get the street dogs sterilized.
A crucial step that should be taken by all responsible animal lovers. All dogs whether male or female should be sterilized. Sterilization greatly controls the overpopulation of street dogs in the city.
A drop in population due to regular sterilization reduces the number of street dogs automatically in your locality. More sterilization means less addition of pups and hence fewer dogs to cater to over a period of time.
The process of sterilization has a direct effect on the behavior and demeanor of the street dogs as well.
Sterilization of female street dogs.
If there is an unsterilized female in the locality, she will go on heat every 5-6 months. The time of heat of the female is when mating takes place. This is when all the males in that area will try to mate the female resulting in fights and barking. Get the females sterilized at the earliest, with less ruckus and less noise.
Sterilization of the male street dogs.
It has been my personal experience that sterilized male street dogs calm down to a certain extent. Perhaps it has something to do with their hormones. Also once sterilized the male dog will not have the urge to mate or seek out a female to mate. This results in less interaction with the male street dogs usually remaining within their own territory.
Contact local animal welfare volunteers or NGOs performing sterilizations and they will organize the whole procedure for you. They will organize the picking up of the street dogs and the surgery. The recuperation for the dogs after the operation will also be organized. They street dogs will then be released from where they were picked up.
Distract the street dogs with sound
Another simple trick is to make some kind of sound that distracts the street dogs. This could be just a whistle and some calming words or the clapping of hands. The banging of 2 kitchen utensils together can also distract the street dogs but it will wake up your neighbors as well.
What not to do when street dogs bark.
- Do not throw stones at them.
It will scare them perhaps for a couple of minutes and then they will come back even more aggressive and noisy because they feel threatened. Throwing stones at street animals will not stop them from barking and moreover injuring animals is a crime and you can end up at the police station. - Relocation of street dogs.
Getting someone to pick up the street dogs and leaving the street dogs in another locality will make the situation even worse. The street dogs that have been lifted will be immediately replaced by a pack of dogs from the surrounding area. Once must be also reminded that is is cruel, inhuman, and against the law to relocate street dogs from where they stay.
So in conclusion if you want to solve the issue of street dogs barking at night, learn to live and respect nature. Protect and provide for the animals on the street and learn their ways. Work with local animal welfare volunteers for practical solutions.
We do not own this planet as we are just a part of it.
About the Author
Zarir Karbhari dedicates his waking hours to the welfare of stray and abandoned animals on the streets of Pune. He is a Civil Engineer by education and ran a software development company for over 25 years till his life quite literally went to the dogs.