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Have you ever cranked up the radio during your favorite song or played a piece on the piano, only to have your dog seemingly sing along? It’s not uncommon to hear dogs howl along to music. In fact, YouTube is filled with videos of dogs showing off their vocal prowess. But why do they do it?
One reason for howling is the modern dog’s connection to his ancestor, the wolf. In the wild, wolves howl to communicate with one another. They do it to let other pack members knows where they are or to warn off other animals encroaching on their territory. They also do it to assemble the pack and assert a group identity. It’s similar to the domino effect that happens when one dog in the neighborhood starts to howl, and every other dog joins in. Your canine companion may not even know why he’s howling, but the behavior is deeply buried in his genetic code.
In fact, research suggests that canines actually have a sense of pitch. For example, as more wolves join in, each one changes its tone, and recordings have shown that each wolf is howling a different note. Your dog, too, can differentiate pitch and tone. Dogs also pick up higher frequencies than the human ear, so they may be howling along to something you can’t even hear. Your dog may deliberately join in at a completely different pitch or note just to individualize his howl.
Some people think dogs howl along to AC/DC or a Bach flute sonata because it hurts their ears, but if your dog was in pain, he’d most likely run away from the sound, hide, or cover his head.
Do dogs prefer certain types of music?
Deborah Wells, a psychologist at Queens University in Belfast, set out to discover if dogs, like humans, have musical preferences. She exposed dogs at a shelter to different types of music and monitored their responses. Wells used popular music (including Bob Marley and Britney Spears); classical music (including Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” and Grieg’s “Morning”); and heavy metal (like Metallica).
The dogs responded very differently to the three types of music. Pop music produced no noticeable effect. Heavy metal, however, created a bit of canine pandemonium. The dogs became very agitated and started barking. Classical music, on the other hand, caused the dogs to stop barking, become calm, and even settle in one place.
“It is well established that music can influence our moods,” Wells says. “Classical music, for example, can help to reduce levels of stress, whilst grunge music can promote hostility, sadness, tension, and fatigue. It is now believed that dogs may be as discerning as humans when it comes to musical preference.”
If your dog has a favorite type of music, it doesn’t hurt to let him join in on the fun. You might find that you’re in perfect harmony. https://www.akc.org/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php Get Your Free AKC eBook
Why do dogs howl?Howling as a means of vocal communication has been studied in the Canidae family for many years.Canids like the wolf, coyote, jackal, and dog communicate socially through howling.A classic study from the 1960s found that wolves are most likely to howl when they are isolated from the rest of their pack.One recent
Dogs tend to howl more when they are removed from the pack. Its is a form of communication to connect with other dogs, but it could also just be that the high pitches heard in music or sirens triggers this instinct even if the dog knows its not actually another dog.
Why Are Dogs Howling To Music | Top Tips
When I was 12, I began to play the oboe. Like any beginner, I was not good. And every time I held a long, out-of-tune note, my dog would instantly begin howling like some deranged four-legged backup singer. Dogs, of course, howl along to all sorts of music: the Law and Order theme song, “Let It Go,” and most ubiquitously these days, Adele’s “Hello” among them. So why do these animals, not generally known for their sense of rhythm or pitch, seem mysteriously driven to sing? Advertisement
Researchers have long been interested in this question. A student wrote in a January 1906 issue of Nature Studies on the subject of “Why Do Dogs Howl to Music” that writers for nature publications, “being mind-bound by the fetish of ‘evolution’ theories,” often look to the “primeval Dog” for answers. But evolution theory is actually a useful guide in this case: When dogs hear a human voice belting out a tune, their pack instincts kick in; they want to participate in the chorus. “It’s like a family singing,” animal behaviorist Peter Borchelt has said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement
Terry Marie Curtis, a clinical behaviorist at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, explained that dogs can croon to the radio for a variety of different reasons—and it can be hard to parse them. She once had a client who had adopted a Siberian husky. “[The client] took the puppy from his mom, put it in the car, and there was some sort of Celtic music playing on a CD as this guy drove away with the puppy, and the puppy was howling.” From then on, any time the dog heard Celtic music, he howled. “In that case, was the dog feeling melancholy? Was the dog feeling sad? These are human terms. [Was the music] associated with being taken away from his mom? Did he like the sound of the music? It’s really tough.” Advertisement Advertisement
But Curtis said that more vocal breeds—like huskies and most hounds—are more prone to howling in general, and thus would be likelier to wail along to music than say, a bichon frise. Howling to music can also become a matter of classical conditioning: if your dog realizes that you seem enthusiastically impressed when she howls to music, she’s more likely to do it again. The good news, Curtis said, is that if your pet doesn’t run out of the room or cower under a chair after he starts howling to Adele’s “Hello,” his musical abilities are probably not a sign of melancholia or distress. He’s more likely imagining a kindred canine spirit crooning back at him from the other side