Does a Big Defensive Bark Drain a Dog's Energy?

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houlahound
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I train dogs for civil and other work.

We train a big defensive bark to intimidate an aggressor to hopefully cease an escalation of force.The big barkers are either staccato or rhythmic.

I contend the huge defensive barking saps a dogs energy.

Simple to measure the sound level, measure distance etc...can I use that info to get a scope of the energy used via a back of the envelope calculation??
 
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houlahound said:
Simple to measure the sound level, measure distance etc...can I use that info to get a scope of the energy used via a back of the envelope calculation??

probably not
consider the many muscles throughout the dog that expend energy creating that bark
 
Very true but that's my point, trying to think of an averaged out, ball park, rule of thumb sort of calculation.
 
Is it just 'loudness' or wouldn't quality of sound count?
I remember a TV programme that showed the way the throat of male lions has special muscles that pull the 'voice box' (or the equivalent) down into the chest to make it sound that the lion is bigger than it really is. They do a lot of roaring and shouting at each other, apparently. (A bit like PF members?)
 
Quality of sound is everything.This is not even a physics question really, serves no real purpose to quantify.
 
Except maybe entire cancer radiation therapy wards and medical imaging facilities like PET, CAT, MRI...
 
I would not take the approach of quantifying the energy output. Depending on the mode of energy output, animals can get tired from putting out a small amount of energy (pull ups) and not tired from putting out a much greater amount of energy (biking). How tired they get depends on many other factors than energy output - e.g. how developed/fit for the task certain muscles are.

Instead, just approach it observationally. Take many dogs, randomize them, have some do the "huge defensive bark" and some not, and observe their behavior afterwards. You could also consider many single dogs and their behavior post big bark as opposed to post regular bark.
 
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