Dec 9, 2025 05:06 PM
My youngest son is home for the holidays. We went to our usual spot in the forest to take his dog for a walk. The last time I was there, some guy had his Rottweiler off leash. I thought it was a bear—I didn’t even see the guy at first, just heard him asking if I had a dog with me. I didn’t, but I had a gun. I asked him if his dog was friendly. He said he was, but that he’d probably jump all over me. He did, and he left me with a few bruises. The guy saw me put my gun away, and since then he’s had the dog on a leash.
My son’s dog is trained to lie down and crawl when encountering another dog. We heard what we thought was a large dog barking. His dog lay down, so even she thought it was another dog. But as we got closer, we could tell it was an owl. It stopped making noise, and we couldn’t spot it in the trees.
I’ve always thought that this part of the forest was creepy. We used to see lots of salamanders and hear other birds, but now it’s eerily quiet. Barred Owls are opportunistic predators—their diet includes small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, and other birds.
When I got home, I searched for owls in this area that sound like a large dog barking. It was a Barred Owl. Spotted Owls are endangered and well known in these parts. Most of the logging protests were to protect the Spotted Owl, but now the debates over killing Barred Owls to save the Spotted Owl are getting heated. They’ve killed close to 2,500 and have removed about 3,000. New management plans intend to kill around 450,000 over several decades.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard one. They can sound like a dog, but they also make a call that sounds like they’re saying, “Who cooks for you?”
I couldn’t find a recording online of the sound I heard. It sounded like the Barking Owl from Australia. ChatGPT said it was a Barred Owl doing its deep alarm bark, one of its rarest and least-documented vocalizations. I’m tempted to try to get a recording.
My son’s dog is trained to lie down and crawl when encountering another dog. We heard what we thought was a large dog barking. His dog lay down, so even she thought it was another dog. But as we got closer, we could tell it was an owl. It stopped making noise, and we couldn’t spot it in the trees.
I’ve always thought that this part of the forest was creepy. We used to see lots of salamanders and hear other birds, but now it’s eerily quiet. Barred Owls are opportunistic predators—their diet includes small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, and other birds.
When I got home, I searched for owls in this area that sound like a large dog barking. It was a Barred Owl. Spotted Owls are endangered and well known in these parts. Most of the logging protests were to protect the Spotted Owl, but now the debates over killing Barred Owls to save the Spotted Owl are getting heated. They’ve killed close to 2,500 and have removed about 3,000. New management plans intend to kill around 450,000 over several decades.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard one. They can sound like a dog, but they also make a call that sounds like they’re saying, “Who cooks for you?”
I couldn’t find a recording online of the sound I heard. It sounded like the Barking Owl from Australia. ChatGPT said it was a Barred Owl doing its deep alarm bark, one of its rarest and least-documented vocalizations. I’m tempted to try to get a recording.
