Why does my dog keep barking at nothing?

I sincerely doubt he's barking at nothing, even though it may seem that way. It could be for no more reason than getting a reaction from YOU...which is still something. At my house, the dog barks at the mailman, and then spends the next 5 minutes barking at "the memory of the mailman", lol.

Dogs have a very, very sensitive sense of hearing. While you may think he/she is barking at nothing, your pup is possibly barking at someone's alarm clock 2 blocks away, another dog barking 3 blocks away, or anything in between!

Your dog could be barking for a number of reasons, and it may not be at something he is hearing, although it could be.

1. He may be barking at something he can hear that you cannot hear.
2. He may be barking at something he smells and wants to interact with (think female in heat).
3. He may be barking out of frustration.
4. He may be barking out of habit.

Step one: Determine the reason he's barking, which probably makes you think, "easier said than done!" But wait! You can use context clues and look for patterns.

Ask yourself these questions:

Does he bark at a certain time?

Certain location?

When certain people are around (neighbor in the backyard that you can't see, but he can hear/smell)?

Before dinner or after?

Before or after you leave the house?

When he hasn't had attention for a while?

Formulate a hypothesis from your observations.

Step two: Make changes to test your hypothesis. For instance, if you see a pattern that he is barking after he's been outside for 10-15 minutes alone, and he's not standing near a door, fence, or something he's clearly directing his body toward, you might hypothesize that he's bored. To test your theory, let him out and bring him in right after he has "taken care of business," before he starts barking.

Step three: If your test does not result in a decrease in barking, adjust your theory and make changes again.

Remember to change only one variable of the situation at a time, or you won't be sure what the cause was. Then you are likely to encounter the barking again.

An excellent book on the subject: Barking: The Sound of a Language by Turid Rugaas

Dogs can hear things and have hightened senses. That being said they hear and notice many things that we may not.

Nothing to us is definitely something to them. They have better hearing so they might be alerting you to noises, requesting food/bathroom need, or lonely and bored. All of these are addressable but the first step is to determine which it could be and go from there.