Hello!  I have two miniature dachshunds (1.2 years old and 7 months old), both female, one spayed (the youngest), one definitely dominant (the eldest).  They get along splendidly.  I have a question about one particular behavior of theirs...

When I take a shower, or if I/my husband has to go somewhere during the day and nobody will be home, I/we put them in their "containment area", which is their crate surrounded by a fence taking up most of one bedroom, so they have a little room to wander around, drink water, etc.  About one minute after they are put in their area (when I'm already in the bathroom or I/we have left the house), they start barking back and forth at each other, BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK, continuously, for two or three minutes straight.  I have snuck in a couple of times and watched them in action, and my eldest is always inside the crate facing out, and my youngest is always outside the crate facing towards it.  Both of their tails are wagging, so theoretically no problem, right?  At the end of their 2-3 minute barking sessions, they both are in their crate, and they apparently sleep... or whatever it is they do in there for the duration of their stay.

Also, there are nights when they won't settle down when it's time to sleep, so I will put them in their area instead of letting them sleep with us.  They have not once done this barking behavior then.

So... a curious dog-mom wants to know:  Why do they do it?  =)

Firstly, wagging tails do not mean 'no problem'. Dogs wag their tails for a variety of reasons not just when they are happy.

Personally I think what they are doing is calling the members of their pack, i.e. you, back to them. When this doesn't work, they give up and settle down. A dogs bark has basically evolved to call to humans. Wolves very rarely, if ever, bark. When they bark at the postman in their watchdog role, they are not shouting ' go away or I'll bite you', they are shouting, 'intruder, intruder, alpha pack member, quick come and back me up.' Which is why behaviourists will tell you to ignore barking or try to distract them.

There is very little age gap between your bitches which is not always a very good idea as bad behaviours from the eldest is normally passed to the younger one. Eighteen months is generally thought of as the smallest age gap between dogs. However, that is a bit late for you. I was a bit concerned to see your youngest has been spayed so early. Surely she hasn't already had a season 3 months ago?

Anyway, the barking will probably stop soon enough as long as they don't get what they want when they do it. In other words, don't go back to them until they are quiet, but it sounds as though you are already doing that. This sort of behaviour is common in young dogs. I am sure you will find as soon as they stop doing this they will find something else! Dogs like to keep us on our toes! :-)

Hello Claire,

"Dogs wag their tails for a variety of reasons not just when they are happy."

Oh, I didn't know this.  What are the other general instances?

"Personally I think what they are doing is calling the members of their pack, i.e. you, back to them."

The thing is, they're not looking at the door at all to see if anyone's there; they're just looking at each other and barking back and forth.  The time I walked in on them to see what was up, and the time I just watched them, they didn't notice me until I started talking to them.  Then they were like, 'Hey, how's it goin'?'  heh  Once they went back to doing it.

"There is very little age gap between your bitches which is not always a very good idea as bad behaviours from the eldest is normally passed to the younger one. Eighteen months is generally thought of as the smallest age gap between dogs."

Interesting; I'd never heard of this, but I can see how that would work.  As it happens, the only bad behavior my eldest has is being a dachshund <g> - she doesn't listen when outside and distracted.  Honestly, other than that, she acts perfectly.  The baby, however, is another story, especially with her bathroom behavior.

"I was a bit concerned to see your youngest has been spayed so early. Surely she hasn't already had a season 3 months ago?"

I am aware this board is more for UKers, although I what I don't know is what is considered normal spay time across the pond.  In the US, bitches are commonly spayed at 6 months.  Many are spayed much earlier (for instance, stray bitches leaving a shelter as well as some bitches under contracts), and many are spayed much later (for any number of reasons).  My vet has done spays at almost all ages, as early as a few weeks old or so (I don't remember precisely), and the bitches have never had any problems during or after the spays.  My youngest was spayed at 5.5 months and had never gone into heat.

Anyhow, thank you for your reply!  :)  I was hoping that the behavior would just fade away over time.  My eldest never barked like this before the youngest came home to live with us.  I'd say the behavior started maybe a week after that.  As I said, it never caused problems between them, and they get along fine...

I should maybe mention that at times, my eldest does do something weird - sometimes she comes up to me and barks like this, right at me, and wags at the same time for a couple minutes.  She does this when she has lots of energy and really wants to play.  We've chalked it up to her being indoors for the winter with little room to run, and I expect it to go away when it gets warmer and she gets to go outside.  But I digress...

Why do they do it?

Because it's fun!  As you say their tails are wagging - I'd guess those tails would be very upright - a sign of arousal, their eyes I'd guess would be wide, possibly a little white showing in the corners, and their lips drawn back in the corners (a bit like a human smile?)  High arousal states release endorphines which result in a feeling of pleasure.  I'm sure you've heard of human beings who become adicted to excercise - this is due to the same endorphines being released.........

I doubt it will fade away on it's own, it may even get more prolonged or more frequent.  If you want to break the cycle it may mean leaving them seperated on the sorts of occasions when this behaviour might occur.

Maybe you should separate them if they only started this after they were put together. Might be worth a try.

In the UK we usually don't spay until 3mths after the bitch has had her first season or it can cause all sorts of health problems. I am quite horrified it is done so early over there.

Dogs wag their tails when excited. This can be before a fight, when hyped up, all sorts. Often only the dogs handler and other dogs can read the difference between wags!

My nan always had Dachsies and they were just the same. Either whining or yapping or tripping people up! Sometimes all three. :-) Are they standard or miniatures, long or smooth coated? My nan had miniature long coated ones. The chestnut one was my favourite cos he was so naughty. :p

Digger and Claire,

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond.  Thanks for your input!  For whatever reason, they haven't done this since... well, about the last time I posted here, actually.  Hmph.  ::shrugs::  Dogs are funny.  :)

Claire:  "In the UK we usually don't spay until 3mths after the bitch has had her first season or it can cause all sorts of health problems. I am quite horrified it is done so early over there."
What health problems are you referring to?  I ask because I have heard of no health problems associated with early spaying - all the early-spayed pups I know of and have heard of by word-of-mouth have turned out fine, far as I know.

"My nan always had Dachsies and they were just the same. Either whining or yapping or tripping people up!"
You left out eating!  LOL.

"Are they standard or miniatures, long or smooth coated?"
Hazel (the oldest; unspayed) is a miniature (~9 lbs.) smooth chocolate-and-tan, and Grendel (the youngest; spayed) is a miniature (~7 lbs.) chocolate-and-tan dapple.  They're my cute little wigglemonsters.