Do dog’s voices “change”as they enter puberty?

Our question this week was:

Dr. Debra – I noticed last week that someone asked you if about neutering their dog and asked about when the testicles drop. Thanks for your answer – that was great. But this person wrote that her dogs "voice" or bark changed – does that happen? I've never heard of that.

Answer

Hi – thanks for your email. I think some dogs can have a change in their bark as they go from a puppy whine and high pitched yelp or bark to a deeper more adult bark. When this happens varies with each dog. There are no big studies on this to give you a specific time.

If I had to generalize, I'd guess it happens most often when dogs are starting to reach maturity. This most often happens between 5 months and 1 year, depending on the size and breed of dog.

Dr. Debra

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