what does howling mean?

[Pembroke_Corgi]

I live near a fire station where they test their whistle on the 1st Monday of each month. Today was the 1st time I was home for it, and my dogs started howling! (For about 5 minutes, as long as the whistle was blowing)! It is the first time I have ever heard them howl, and I was wondering- does anyone know why dogs howl? I've heard dogs will howl when other's do, so maybe they thought the fire whistle was one big dog.

Pembroke_Corgi

[wolfsoul]

Lots of dogs will howl at things like that, thinking that it's another dog. My old dog, Timber, would howl at ambulance sirens.

[lizbud]

I think it might hurt their ears. Where I live, they test tornado sirens every
Friday at 11:00am and I've noticed that my dogs will howl if they happen to be outside when they go off.

[just me]

My babies howl when they here a siren too.
I guess its common, maybe it does hurt there ears.

[elizabethann]

This subject has come up before on Pet Talk. The sirens do not hurt the dogs ears. The dogs think they're communicating with other dogs (that happen to have 4 wheels and a ladder). Fenway does this all of the time (twice this weekend). It makes me laugh and it makes my neighbors laugh. I've actually had people stop their cars to make a comment and laugh.

I just wish I knew what he was saying to them!

[Glacier]

Howling can be any number of things. Responding to sirens usually means they think they are talking to other dogs. My dogs talk to the other dog teams in our area every day. They have long involved conversations sometimes. It's very funny.

Howling can also mean "I'm bored", "I'm sad", "let's go", "I"m lonely", "where's dinner?" ect or some dogs just like to hear their own voices--like my Founder. He just likes to talk!

[catnapper]

Nicki howls every time a siren goes by -- which is often since we live down the street from both the hospital and police station.

(we howl along with her since she looks so cute and seems to enjoy it so much! )

[gemini9961]

Sadie is the only one in my house that howls and she howls if I do not pick up my cell phone quick enough. I can get hear to howl if I let it ring for her. I can be in the shower and know my phone is ringing because I can hear Sadie howling. She looks so funny when she does it too. She will howl at other dogs sometimes as well. Maggie has never done it and so far neither has Grant.

[Husky_mom]

as Glacier said it could be a lot of things that set the howling on, but as for my dogs as well any siren even a honk will do, and of top of that any neighbor dog that wasn´t howling, learned, so we have a big chorus here. in your situation i think it´s the same they "sing" with the sound, nothing to worry.

[lbaker]

One of my dogs will howl/sing along whenever she hears a harmonica, she enjoys the attention! I once had a shepard that would start howling if I would even put my head back and make a howling face, even without making a noise He too loved being part of the party

[Kosy]

Renowned dog behavorist Dr. Stanley Coren states that dogs howl to say "Here I am." Responding to a howling-like sound is a natural response, a greeting, as it were.

[elizabethann]

Well Fenway said "here I am" and "how do you do" for quite a bit this morning. There was an accident down the street that had 2 ambulances, a fire truck and 3 or 4 police cars driving by.

[orangegirl]

My dog also howls when she hears the sirens. I work at Doggie Daycare, and when one dog starts to howl, all of the other dogs also join in. They all sit in a circle and howl and/or bark if they are not so good at howling.

[Scooby4]

The answer is that the dogs are responding to a higher frequency than we "humans" can here. Not all sirens produce this higher pitched sound but most do. The sound is about the same as a "dog whistle". Blow a dog whistle and you may have the same results.
I don't think it "hurts" their ears but it may bother them a bit if they have infections. I've never seen dogs get vicious as a result of hearing this noise so I don't think the howling response is terriotorial. It may just fall along the lines of "yawning". You see someone yawning and you will do it a few minutes later. Same with howling.