Why do dogs howl is a question that has perplexed humans since centuries. Many a times you must have seen that when a fire engine passes near your home with blazing siren sound then your dog may also start howling in response to the siren. On other occasions you must have observed that when you play your favorite song on your music system or play piano then your pet dog starts howling again.
Although the reason why dogs howl lacks any solid scientific study or research but there are several theories that are prevalent, which answers this niggling query. One of the reasons behind your dog’s howling is that it’s trying to communicate with the sound source, which may be fire engine or another dog howling for that matter.
Dogs cannot communicate or speak like we humans do, so their method of communication is howling, growl or bark. By howling they depict their presence and perhaps communicate to the other dog their location. As dogs belong to wolf family and the urge to howl is in their nature since birth, they do this as a part of their natural instinct.
One more prominent reason for dog’s howling is that since their hearing aspect is more sensitive and powerful than we humans, they howl to show their discomfort when they are subjected to loud noises such as that of fire engine siren or a song being played at high volume. Other theory is that if the dog is feeling lonely or anxious, then it may howl to show his pain and distress. In such cases it’s better to keep the dog occupied by playing with him or taking him outside for a walk, which would energize him and distract his mind.
You may also choose to give him some toys to play around or even consider bringing one more dog home to give him company. One more strange fact is that in some countries the dog howl is considered inauspicious, which is due to their old belief system and doesn’t have any scientific proof.
