Why do dogs bark at me?

January 13, 2023 11:00 AM

Since starting to use a wheelchair I've noticed that dogs bark at me. Why?

Its not all dogs that bark at me, but more than previously did so. It seems to be more small or medium size dogs, than large dogs, and they do not seem well trained or controlled compared to those that don't bark. They will bark a lot, not just a 'hello' bark. They bark outside on the sidewalk or other places like parks as well as inside my building lobby, sometimes when I am far away and sometime when I am closer. Has happened in different cities, during different seasons. I am never trying to approach or interact with these random dogs.

I know nothing about dogs. Is there a canine wheel(chair) phobia? Uptick in poorly trained 'pandemic' puppies (so nothing to do with me - just coincidence)? Pets picking up on their owners' ableism?

Help me understand this weird experience if you have doggy insight!

posted by narcissus_and_ambrosia to Pets & Animals (26 answers total)

Dogs develop strong reactions to arbitrary things. I don’t remember my old dog interacting with a wheelchair user, but she’d lose her mind barking at skateboarders and bicycles. Something about wheels made her upset.
posted by LizardBreath at 11:05 AM on January 13, 2023 [13 favorites]

My rescue hound from West Virginia absolutely freaked out the first couple times he saw someone using a wheelchair after he relocated to the big city. It was completely mortifying for me. Thankfully after some training and some more experience with seeing people using different kinds of transportation (he was also very nervous about bikes and skateboards) he doesn't bark at wheelchairs anymore. I'm sure some of it is poor training, but dogs can be genuinely phobic and annoying about novelty sometimes.
posted by fancypants at 11:05 AM on January 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

It's just something unfamiliar to the doggo, that's all. Dogs generally need to be socialized to lots of different experiences in order to react neutrally, and in this case the pup probably doesn't haven't enough experience seeing wheelchairs to think of them as something that's boring and normal (as far as the dog is concerned). Not part of their everyday experience, for many dogs => bark!
posted by cgg at 11:07 AM on January 13, 2023 [20 favorites]

My dogs have always been terribly confused about humans moving in ways dogs aren't used to -- bicycles, skateboards, scooters, Heelies shoes, wheelchairs. It's just an unfamiliar thing for them.

Dogs who have more experience with people on wheels stop being confused and barking about it, in my experience. Don't take it personally, you just look like a different kind of person than those dogs are used to and they have questions.

I had a dog who barked at anyone wearing a hat for a while, until he got used to people who wore hats, and realized that it was the same person with or without the hat.
posted by erst at 11:10 AM on January 13, 2023 [15 favorites]

My dog is scared of any wheels in motion - wheelchairs, skateboards, especially rumbly or loud wagons, and bicycles. Still bikes = no problem. People in still wheelchairs = no barking. I think he assesses different figures according to their posture and the way they move.

That said, I'm really sorry, that doesn't sound fun.
posted by Geameade at 11:12 AM on January 13, 2023 [7 favorites]

Perhaps the chair is making some sort of noise that only dogs can hear.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:14 AM on January 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Nthing many dogs bark at anything wheeled in motion. AND: with humans running. With my dogs it has something to do with some half-baked herding instincts kicking in. They know not to herd Walking Human, but anyone moving either more quickly, smoothly or differently than Walking Human gets barked at and, if you'd let them, herded into line. Also, many owners of small dogs don't spend as much time on training as do owners of large dogs, because they feel their small dogs are not really dangerous or threatening. That's why I've been bitten by my best friend's tiny fluffball -- never trained not to "nip" because it looked so cute. I'm sorry you're dealing with this!
posted by ojocaliente at 11:18 AM on January 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

When my dog was a puppy I spent a lot of time working on his socialization skills--there are even checklists of things to expose them to. His puppy preschool had things like wheelchairs, helium birthday balloons, hats, etc. I think some breeds require more exposure than others, but I can tell you my knucklehead wire fox terrier will bark his dumb head off at anything I didn't work on exposing him to. Baseball caps are fine, a cowboy hat will fill him with white hot rage. I am sorry you have to experience this, but it is not personal. Dogs just be dogs.
posted by shornco at 11:18 AM on January 13, 2023 [8 favorites]

As others have mentioned, dogs bark at things that are new to them or things they don't understand. To my knowledge, my dog has never seen a person in a wheelchair. I fully expect her to lose her stupid dog mind when she finally does. Bark bark bark.

My dog barks at people on skateboards, people on horses, people on bicycles. She barks at snowmen and inflatable holiday yard decorations and strange things in the middle of the road. Most embarrassingly, she barks at black people. Stupid racist dog.

In each of these cases, she's only barking because she's saying, "Hey! This is something weird that I don't understand!" The good news is that with continued exposure, she barks less at strange things. She's fine with bicyclists now because we have a ton in our neighborhood. Skateboarders? Still hates them because she rarely sees them.
posted by jdroth at 11:23 AM on January 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

Dogs are dogs and they get weird about unusual/new things, especially if they can tell there's a human or animal involved. My old dog used to lose his mind at motorcycles while riding in the car, because suddenly there were visible humans zooming around instead of 'just' inanimate cars.
posted by so fucking future at 11:25 AM on January 13, 2023

I use a power wheelchair, and the engine makes a noise that drives dogs nuts, even if they can't see me at all (eg, if they are behind a solid non-see-through fence.)

Be careful - I've actually had some dogs react to my power wheelchair by trying to bite my foot/ankle/leg.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:27 AM on January 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Mine bark at wheeled propulsion; I think they don't understand the motion. Wheelchairs, bicycles, scooters.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:52 AM on January 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

I think it's an unfamiliarity thing. I have a small dog who has lived mostly in cities of varying sizes and who is used to lots of people and things. When he was younger, he would go nuts at new things, especially loud things that moved in unexpected ways, like a power tool in the backyard, or a very loud skateboard right on the sidewalk near the porch rather than in the street.

So I think you are seeing the reaction of dogs who haven't been around wheelchairs much, though I also think then their owners might feel awkward and react in weird ways because they are embarrassed, but that probably comes after the dog barks.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:53 AM on January 13, 2023

My dogs have always been terribly confused about humans moving in ways dogs aren't used to -- bicycles, skateboards, scooters, Heelies shoes, wheelchairs. It's just an unfamiliar thing for them.

This is common, I think. People aren't supposed to move in long smooth uninterrupted motions!!! Better bark, just to be on the safe side! Oh, no, now mom is turning bright red and saying "oh my god please no!" and pulling on me, that must mean something's up! Bark some more!
posted by praemunire at 11:56 AM on January 13, 2023 [5 favorites]

Emphasizing the above. Also emphasizing that this can be an additionally pronounced characteristic in herding and sporting and protective and more outgoing and some especially human-focused dog breeds (so...like...*a lot* of dogs). The bark can mean:

> Hello interesting unfamiliar creature moving in interesting ways you look like a creature I want to know let us now engage and play! ASAP!! ASAP!!
> Warning to you strange unfamiliar creature moving in a strange way that is unfamiliar do you plan to come my way I would like you to notice that I am here!!
> Hello familiar human creature obviously in some kind of apparatus are you in need or trying to get my attention? I AM HERE!
> What is that? Yoo hoo what is that? What is it?
> WHEELS!!!!!!
posted by desert exile at 11:57 AM on January 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

I forgot one:

> Is that apparatus perhaps a large treat dispenser???? IS IT????
posted by desert exile at 11:58 AM on January 13, 2023 [14 favorites]

What everyone else is saying. I'm pretty sure my dear departed Perdita viewed every person with wheels - bike, skateboard, stroller, scooter, wheelchair, anything - as an abomination like a wheeler from Return to Oz (tw youtube link to very scary movie.) Either that or some kind of horrible monster with a human prisoner who was now in desperate need of rescue by Perdita. We finally got her to stop reacting (most of the time) on walks but she still sat in the window and barked at every single one that passed by. It was one of her greatest joys in life as she got older and too arthritic to move much, so if they're barking from a window, while it is annoying and I do apologize to everyone who ever wheeled by my house, thank you for making my dog's day a little brighter.
posted by mygothlaundry at 12:13 PM on January 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Please know that most of these dogs' humans are dying inside when they do this. And it doesn't have a whole lot to do with training, and even the most skillful socialization won't eradicate it in some dogs, if they're particularly suspicious and motion-sensitive. I had a dog like this who was otherwise exquisitely well-trained (I am no slouch as a dog trainer, either), and was lucky to have a friend in a wheelchair who spent some time with us desensitizing him to the movement. Which worked a treat. For him. But did nothing to shut my dog up around our other wheelchair users.
posted by HotToddy at 12:59 PM on January 13, 2023 [9 favorites]

I have one dog who hates all wheels with a vengeful passion. Bikes, skateboards, the paleteria cart, people with their shopping trolleys full of laundry. He even growls at bikes we pass that are locked to gates--not even in motion at all. I'm certain he'd hate wheelchairs too if given the opportunity.

I have one dog who doesn't care at all and barely acknowledges anything that isn't another dog.

Dogs are weird.
posted by phunniemee at 1:19 PM on January 13, 2023

My dog barks at anybody on wheels, to varying degrees. Scooters, skateboards, and segway type things are the worst, bikes are the least-bad, and wheelchairs seem to be in the middle. I think it really confuses him to see people gliding and the sound of thin wheels on pavement seems to scare him. AFAIK it has little to do with the person and more to do with the confusion. (He doesn't bark but he DOES NOT LIKE IT when I scoot around my office area on my wheeled office chair)
posted by lunasol at 1:44 PM on January 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Our dog also barked at anything on wheels, especially bicyclists but anything that moved. I assumed it was just a form of locomotion she didn't understand "by default," if that makes sense—she knew roughly how humans or animals were going to walk around but anything else was novel, and since she was kind of a scaredy-cat anything new made her bark.
posted by Polycarp at 3:39 PM on January 13, 2023

Nthing that almost every time I'm on the street with my wheeled shopping trolley or suitcase, there's going to be at least one dog that wants to drama, even if they ultimately don't. Sorry this is happening to you, it's very annoying.
posted by cyndigo at 6:03 PM on January 13, 2023

I use a manual chair and notice this too. If the dog is leashed, I stop and ask the owner if I can pet the dog, then let the dog sniff me while I talk softly to it. Some of the dogs I see regularly have stopped barking at me.

This gives me an idea! Maybe some of our chair users could team up with dog trainers to accustom dogs to wheelchair users.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:40 PM on January 13, 2023

yeah dogs hate wheels

(they also have mixed reactions to my cane, some of them get very concerned because it's a stick but it's not a stick they can have but it's a stick?!?!?!?)
posted by cabbage raccoon at 12:40 PM on January 15, 2023

For folks who are saying “dogs hate wheels” and similar: this is about socialization. I know plenty of dogs (like mine!) who love bikes or at least don’t hate them.

If you have a puppy, bring it to lots of situations so they learn that bikes and wheelchairs and kids and other animals are part of life.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:16 PM on January 15, 2023

Don't take it personally, dogs love to bark. I used to walk in my old neighborhood. I could see the dog, from a long block away, start wagging their tail, because they were going to enjoy barking at me, there were three different dogs on that section of street, they all did the same thing. They loved doing it, good exercise for them, loud and alienating for me, the irony!
posted by Oyéah at 10:15 PM on January 17, 2023