You got that right. The house behind us - two frikken yappy dogs all day long. Owner gone, owner home, doesn’t matter. (BTW - it is the OWNER that is undisciplined. Probably thinks it is cute?)
Our dog didn’t bark at all when we brought him home as a rescue puppy (large dog). Had to train him to bark a few times when people came to the door to 1) let me know as I can’t always hear the doorbell, and 2) to warn strangers away.
He still will sit quietly in the backyard with the yappy dogs on the other side of the fence and wonder what the heck they are yapping about.
Dog size is strongly correlated with yapping (assuming similar dog-human socialization).
“the OWNER that is undisciplined”
Quite often, but not always, the animal is a mirror of the owner. yes, undisxciplined owner, undisciplined dog.
When I go shoeing, if the dogs are yapping and acting like idiots, the horses will almost always be bad, and the kids will be running wild as well.
I remember being in a barn where one of the girls that worked there was complaining about guys taking advantage of her. It was interesting, because the horses took advantage too, though not in the same way.