Call of the Siren
 

Woo-ooooo-wooooooo! Whoooeeeeeee-wooooeeeeeee, woooooooooo.....

Everytime a siren goes off in the vicinity, be it fire truck, ambulance or police car, my lil' SweetPea immediately jumps up and heads to the window/door, alert and attention, ears all perked up. When the sirens get real close (one block over or pass in front), she will howl. "Ahwoooooo!!!"

Do other people's dogs do this too? Why? Is it because they recognize it as another dog howling? How come she doesn't do it when I howl at her? I can't seem to be able to "induce" her to howl.

What is this strange attraction, this "call of the siren" that captivates dogs (or maybe just my dog). Is it breed specific?

I've never heard of it being breed specific. however, some dogs may have a keener sense of hearing, which may contribute.

I recently heard a story about this from a pet expert on NPR, his recommendation was that if this behvior bothers you or your neighbors, you should not try to comfort her, but rather, tell her no in a firm voice etc.

If it's not something that bothers you... then I'd just laugh :) I have a smaller dog and she could care less about sirens. However... she's delightfully "afraid" of the vaccum cleaner ;) And that gets her howling (while wagging her tail).

dogs are funny aren't they? :)

btw, good choice of name... SweetPea.

:)

Hahaha, cute! Yeah, it's not really something that bothers me, I'm more curious. I find dog behavior to be utterly fascinating.

One of my theories is that the siren hurts the dogs ears so they howl (as dog ears tend to be pretty sensitive). But then again, not all dogs do it so I don't know.

When I'm at the dog park and a fire truck goes by, alot of the doggies will run to the fence, all alert and they will all start howling.

Then I wondered if it triggered some kind of "call and response" instinct. That is, the siren resonates at the right frequency for dogs to react.

My theory with the vacuum is the noise drives dogs nuts. It is loud and the "cyclones" my cycle at a frequency that hurts their ears.

My Rottie isn't usually bothered by noises, including the 4th of July or vacuums, but sirens start him howling. It's my guess that the sound is at a frequency that is particularly piercing for a dog's hearing and they respond instinctively. I'll ask Rottie, and get back to you on that. :)

su tong the wonder husky is a siberian husky and so howls.
apparently, he howls alot when he is left at home by himself--but i dont know , i have only heard it once.
fire alarms set him off.
sometimes you can get him to howlchat with you, but it takes work.
and he HATES the vacuum cleaner. HATES IT. runs away. hides. i sometimes think that is because he gets worried about getting sucked into it.