Another common belief as to why dogs may howl at sirens harkens back to some dogs being utilized as a protector or watchdog for a family. If your dog howls at a loud sound it might be to get your attention.
Some dogs will start howling at a siren even if they recognize that it doesnt belong to another animal.
Why do dogs bark when they hear sirens. Typically when a dog is in pain they attempt to flee or display several other signs of injury and fear. This is not the case for dogs howling at passing sirens. The truth is that dogs that bark or howl at sirens may be actively responding to an ancient call of the wild.
Dogs may experience howling in similar ways. If your dog howls at a loud sound it might be to get your attention. In the case of an emergency vehicle siren or a home alarm they may simply want to make sure youre aware that an abnormal sound is occurring so you can do something about it.
However they might howl at the siren especially one thats on four wheels as a way to verbally. Another common belief as to why dogs may howl at sirens harkens back to some dogs being utilized as a protector or watchdog for a family. Your dog may hear a siren in the distance and not know what it is.
This new sound may be harmless but it may also be a threat and as they say its better to be safe than sorry. Like sirens howls contain high-pitched sounds and scientists think that a dog howls when he hears a siren because the dog thinks he is hearing a howl from another dog. That is the dog thinks he is communicating with another dog.
There are certain sounds that can trigger howling in your dog for example many dogs howl when they hear sirens. This kind of howling is. It could be that the dog is bored or lonely and is trying to attract other pack members in other words its owners or other dogs for companionship.
This is unlikely to be the case however if the dog howls only at sirens. Many dog owners can tell amusing stories about their pets reactions to sirens. Dogs may howl out of pain loneliness or when provoked by a sound.
A common trigger is the noise of a fire engines siren blaring within hearing distance of your pooch. If Fidos howls are frequent and bothersome desensitize your pooch to this sound with training. Dogs will respond to the call of a siren.
Another reason that dogs might howl at sirens is precise because they dont understand what they are hearing. The sound is new and new often means dangerous in survival situations. Your dog feels like something is unusual is going on so your dog is actually trying to warn you that something bad might be happening.
The dogs are reacting to each others barks. The barking is communication and the dogs may be communicating about a perceived threat alerting to the sound of something or just barking at each other for barking. I liken it to people in a bar or other crowded place.
So when some big crazy unexpected event happenslike say a screechy siren your dog springs into duty to alert the Alpha. Sometimes they might not mistake the siren for a dogs howl at all- they just know that something crazy is afoot and the boss needs to hear about it. In fact yipping and yowling is one of the ways that packs of dogs will communicate excitement to one another.
These barks are typically high-pitched or midrange in sound and your dog will let out about one or two intermittently until the excitement has dwindled. So why do dogs howl at sirens and what are they trying to communicate. While dogs bark in a low pitch their howling is quite high-pitched.
Sirens are also high-pitched so when dogs hear them they may interpret those sounds to be the howling of another dog. When a dog hears a noise that frightens them their reaction is usually to flatten their ears shrink their body and move away from the sound. This is usually not what they do when they hear a siren.
They tend to perk up their ears and wiggle their ears to find the direction of the sound. Some dogs will start howling at a siren even if they recognize that it doesnt belong to another animal. This is usually because they want to alert you a de-facto member of their pack that something loud and unexpected is happening that deserves your attention.
Dogs may bark because they hear or see something that excites them such as people or other animals walking by the house. They may bark or howl when they hear other dogs bark or howl or when they hear certain high-pitched sounds such as sirens. We really dont know why they howl at sirens.
Some will hear sirens and feel the urge to respond with a nice loud howl immediately. Other dogs just simply dont feel that need since they are safe and sound in their cozy bed surrounded by their human pack. Maybe their hearing isnt as sharp as in other dogs so naturally they dont have a strong reaction to sirens in the distance.
Either they dont care or they are not aware. Maybe the owner recently moved from a rural area and is not used to having a close neighbor. On the other hand it is possible they just do not CARE as they are probably already aware of the barking.