Why do dogs bark?

Why do dogs bark?

Dogs, except when they are eating, bark. It is innate to them. May be an exaggeration but I am so much annoyed.

Dogs bark at individuals. Some bark when they see a rag picker because rag pickers compete with them in rummaging / salvaging stacks of waste / rubbish bins. Some bark at small children – frightening children and seeing them scream or run is great fun for dogs. Dogs also bark at strangers to the locality who appear like thieves. Dogs are fond of barking or even chasing old people with walking sticks – they are vulnerable and easy prey to pass on dog’s frustration which cannot be shown to strong fellows. Single dogs making noise like these do not cause great harm except to the victim concerned.

However, I am talking about group barking when several street dogs in a locality join the game of barking their throats out. During nights when you are asleep this could be very annoying and highly disturbing.  Entire neighborhood gets affected. May be that some dogs have spotted a stranger. May be another new dog not belonging to that territory has entered. May be one got caught while trying to get out through some gate / opening and got stuck. May be some female dog is in heat and many males are fighting to gain access. May be that Police Patrol van has passed by hurting some dog carelessly sleeping in the middle of the road. May be some dog has spotted a dog van and every dog is getting alerted.

How to handle this problem? Drive dogs away from your colony? Impossible. They come back with their friends. Complain to Police or Corporation? Once I audio recorded the barking of dogs in the night and sent it immediately via WhatsApp to police station. When the recipient played the audio in his mobile, the entire station woke up. But they were so angry that they vowed to take vengeance upon me by ignoring my complaint! Complaints to corporation – they send dog van, capture a couple of dogs, neuter them and bring them back to same or neighboring colony. Barking or biting by dogs cannot be countered by simple neutering techniques. Do you know of any technique to render their vocal cords useless? There’s no easy way. If you know share your secret with me.