When puppies are first born, they are extremely quiet and move around very little. Although they are born with their vocal cords fully formed, the pup will not have the breath control required to make proper sounds. Puppies under the age of two weeks are unlikely to whine, cry, or bark unless they are unwell or distressed. Once at the age of three to four weeks, your pup may whine a little bit but will not usually begin barking until one to two months of age. In the video below, you’ll hear Cooper, a Shih Tzu puppy learning to bark for the first time:
As you can see from the video, Cooper doesn’t move around a lot and actually has to try multiple times to get a fully formed bark out. This is where he is figuring out how much breath it takes to make one complete bark. Not only does Cooper discover his mini-bark but he even growls a little bit, wags his tail, and lets out a few smaller barks.
