My sister and her husband used to live down the street from a fire station. At least 10 times a day (often many more), they would hear sirens from fire trucks leaving the station, responding to fires and medical emergencies. Their little dogs would howl every time they heard a siren, which, in these “work from home” times, would have been a huge distraction. But my sister and her husband thought it was cute! They enjoyed the little dog howls; they also had to keep their windows closed at all times, to keep the noise from bothering the neighbors. When I was visiting them, I thought it was mainly a pain in the rear, having our conversations interrupted every hour or so!
Today, they live in a semi-rural neighborhood. If they hear a fire engine, it’s a real cause for concern, not a prompt for a fun little “singing session.” So sometimes my sister starts a session herself. It doesn’t take much, just one or two howls, and the dogs all immediately get to their feet and join in.
Here’s the funny thing: When my senior dog Otto stays with them (when I’m out of town i.e., not much any more), he joins in with the little dogs, adding his big deep voice to the chorus of little voices. I keep telling my sister to try to get this on video, because at my house, Otto will NOT join in! And I have no idea why! If he’s outside when a fire truck or ambulance goes by, he will howl for a moment or two – but not if I’m near him. He will grow animated, like he’d like to howl, but he won’t do it. It’s so strange to me! I’ve never admonished him for howling, I would think it’s cute, too! But he just won’t do it in front of me!
Otto is sticking to his no-howling-at-home standard
My son and his girlfriend drove up here last weekend for a socially distant visit. I cleaned my detached home-office thoroughly and put mattresses on the floor for them, and gave them their own bathroom to use, and we ate meals and hung out outside together. They spent the days canoeing and playing disc golf at a course in town, relaxing, while my son’s hound dog Cole and his girlfriend’s parents’ dog, Bailey, stayed with me and my dogs. One evening after dinner, we were having the dogs show off their tricks for various bits and pieces of leftover dinner, and my son mentioned that Cole now knew how to howl on cue as a trick – and that little Bailey, a terrier-mix, would join in very earnestly. We turned on the camera to capture the action, and I hoped Otto might join in.
Nope. He wagged his tail and paced and looked like he wanted to join in, but held to his “no howling at home” standard. The big surprise was Woody, who did join the fun, in a surprisingly high-pitched tone. I would have thought such a big, big-chested dog would be more of a bass, or at least a baritone. He’s nearly a mezzo-soprano!
Now I want to practice, and see if I can put the behavior on cue, too, for one or both dogs. (For video of our one-time howling fest, see the Whole Dog Journal’s Instagram page, dogsofwholedogjournal.) What’s your stance on howling? Cute? Or annoying? Can your dog do it on cue? If so, share a video on our Facebook page! I’ll put a post there, asking for your contributions.
I thought that dogs responded to fire and other sirens because it bothered their ears. My two occasionally howl with these sirens and I try to comfort them. Am I behind the times?
Sometimes as part of play we’ll howl to get our two golden’s howling. Most of the time they join in and seem to enjoy it. Sometimes our male will just bark. (One of our former dogs would always give a little yip along with a Ricky Lee Jones song ‘Satellite’.)
We have two BCs. Puck, the younger of the two, howls at sirens like your sister’s dogs. That’s the only thing that sets her off. Peaches, the elder, doesn’t howl at all, even when Puck does. However, twice over the years she has howled in her sleep! That is just freaky when it happens!
I remember when I was a young girl growing up and the neighbor kids had a bloodhound names Bugle. They would siout “Blow, Bugle Blow!” and he would howl on cue. Was so funny and cute. My Springer, named Flicka never would howl at anything and I always wished she would , The dog I have now does howl at sirens and coyotes. But not on cue.
Our dogs will howl if we play a recorder. Other instruments might work.
Otto *won’t* howl at my house! He howls at my sister’s house, but not here. It’s my son who taught his hound, Cole, to sing on cue. And I think he just started by howling himself, and Cole was more than happy to jump in. I may have more luck with Woody. We are going to start practicing; 8 pm is the perfect time!
My late Blue Tick Coonhound, Peon (I didn’t name him but it was appropriate) sang along with every siren and taught my grandmother’s schnauzer to sing along. But Peon would howl alog with two pieces of ’70s music, Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ (in the chorus, where the guitar decrescendos during the title words) and Heorge Harrison’s ‘Long, Long, Long’ which has a similarly distorted guitar riff.
I too think the howling is hilarious!! I have three (used to be four) ridgebacks and none of them has ever done this and they’re HOUNDS for heaven’s sakes. Please do post how you trained Otto, I’m so hoping to get a few notes of my own!
Where we live in the Santa Cruz mountains, everyone has been participating in the 8pm Howl, in support of frontline medical workers. We go outside to join in, we hear howls from every direction in the valleys and forests. My GSP listens, whines and paces, but does not join in. A friend’s vizsla that lives up the valley from me adds her voice every evening, it’s so cute! I wish my girl would join in! Tell me how you get Otto to sing on cue!
My doberman will howl at different things. The first time I hear him howl was in answer to some howling coyotes near our home. If we howl, he will howl along with us. But there are certain songs that will make him howl: Rolling Stones ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ (when they sing woo woo in the background) and Fleetwood Mac ‘Hold Me’ (when the synthesizer plays). His howls sound different depending on what he is howling at. I love listening to him.