How many of you sing to your dogs when you’re alone together? I sure do. I sing to my dogs when we’re in the car, when we’re hiking together, and when I’m fixing their meals. The best songs are ones about dogs, or with dogs prominently mentioned in the lyrics.
One song from my childhood that I absolutely love to sing is “Blue” by Peter, Paul, and Mary, a folk trio that had a number of hits in the 1960s. They sang the song as a joke, where they’d change the tempo and words of the song. But the way they always started the song was pretty:
I’ve got a dog and his name is Blue
I’ve got a dog and his name is Blue
I’ve got a dog and his name is Blue,
I betcha five dollars he’s a good dog, too
Singing, ‘Here, old Blue, you’re a good dog, you.
Old Blue comes when I blow my horn
Old Blue comes when I blow my horn
Old Blue come a’running through the yellow corn,
Old Blue come a’running when I blow my horn
Singing, ‘Here, old Blue, you’re a good dog, you.
That song may or may not have been based on an old folk tune, recorded by Pete Seeger, Old Blue. If you have a dog who recently passed, or is close to the end of life, don’t try to listen to this song unless you are ready to cry buckets.
A recent favorite is Buck Up by Carsie Blanton, a song that’s not about a dog, but the wisdom imparted in the song’s lyrics comes from the artist’s dog, who responds to the artist’s world-weary angst with the advice to:
Buck up, baby, come on, sic ‘em
Make ‘em laugh if you can’t lick ‘em
Keep on shinin’, like you know you should
Keep on shining, that’s the way you’ll get ‘em good!
My other favorites for singing to the dogs include:
I Love My Dog, by Cat Stevens
I Wanna Be a Dawg, by Dawg Yawp
I Want My Dog to Live Longer, by Curtis Salgado & Alan Hager
My Dog & Me, by John Hiatt
And of course, no list of dog songs would be complete without the classic, Who Let the Dogs Out, by Baha Men.
Do you have a favorite dog song, or song you sing to you dog? Please share! (Our website doesn’t allow links in the comments, but list the artist name and song, so we can Google them!)
I sing to my dog a lot, but usually make up songs. Some are so silly, I can’t even remember them now, or I modify songs and sing to my Sadie something like, “Someone’s in the kitchen with Say-dee. Someone’s in the kitchen, I know. Someone’s in the kitchen with Say-deee, strumming on the old banjo…” etc. I strum the “air banjo” and she sings along.
Fred Eaglesmith’s He’s A Good Dog will get the tears going. I sang You Are My Sunshine to my Be’la girl, modifying the lyrics to you’ll always (never)know, dear, how much I love you, (please don’t take my sunshine away)to thank you dog for another day ☀️
I make up silly rhymes/songs when my current girl Trilly whines alot, she responds better than if I scold her. Music soothes the savage beast, as they say!
Fleck’s Ma 🤎
Maggie’s Song by Chris Stapleton. Good chorus. Nice message about a good friend
“Be as free as you are wild”
I’ve never thought about singing to my dog. My Husky always sang to me. She knew all the words.
“Everything Reminds Me of My Dog” by Jane Siberry (saw this mentioned already) and “Man of the Hour” by Norah Jones
God Bless the French Poodle (Standard) 1:57 Nancy Simmonds 100 207
We danced to this for a fun match.
This is a great, fun post–looking forward to checking out new dog songs. My fav dog song is “Everything Reminds Me of My Dog” by Jane Siberry. You can find a video of it on Youtube, and the lyrics are worth checking out. We also pick “theme songs” for our dogs based on their personalities and activities. Examples: ” Put your lights on” by Santana for evening outings that require collar lights; “Slow” by Leonard Cohen for my late, very mellow, dog of my heart; Conga by Birds of a Feather for his very happy and busy dog sibling; “I’m too sexy” by Right Said Fred for–well it was just her attitude; and for all of them “My Best Friend” by Jefferson Airplane.
” GoD andDoG ” by Wendy J Francisco always brings tears to my eyes. The uncomplicated lyrics, tune and accompanying drawings in the video, perfectly sums up my relationship to the Almighty and to his wonderful creation. It remains one of my favorites.
Thanks for the article and for the other music suggestions from readers.
I sing to my dog all the time! That includes real songs, modified songs and ones I make up. Her official name is Molly Jones after The Beatles song Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da so that’s one, and also Paul McCartney’s sheepdog-inspired Martha My Dear. Even dog visitors go home with a song of their own. My family tolerates this but the dogs love it. lol
Maggie’s Song by Chris Stapleton. I don’t sing it but I love to listen to it. Thanks for the fun article Nancy.
I had a song just for my very wooly and affectionate dog Mystery. It’s based on “Sweet Misery” by Hoyt Axton, more famously covered by John Denver: “Sweet Mystery, he’s such good company, he’ll be your friend when you feel all alone. He’ll be right there, cover you with his hair, he gives you hugs and kisses all day long.” I’ll have to look up some of these others for my current dog since nothing comes to mind.