Q: Why does our dog, Bette, howl every time she hears a siren
from an emergency vehicle? It can be funny at times, but none of us
laughed last night at 2am when an ambulance siren made her howl. Is
there anything we can do to stop this?
Q: Why does our dog, Bette, howl every time she hears a siren from an emergency vehicle? It can be funny at times, but none of us laughed last night at 2am when an ambulance siren made her howl. Is there anything we can do to stop this?
A: This is a tough one. There are quite a few dogs that start howling when they hear a sound like a siren or someone singing.
Most have been encouraged by their owners who think this is a cute habit. I’ve seen dogs trained to “sing” a duet with their owner while someone plays the piano.
This gets a few laughs, and I’m sure many people have tried this with their pooch. But this kind of behavior is not something to encourage.
Poor Bette doesn’t realize that what might be funny and cute during the day is very irritating at night.
She’ll sing at any time if she is given her cue. Daytime or middle of the night … it’s all the same to her. I have always discouraged dog owners from teaching their pet to sing or howl, just because of these problems.
Bette’s habit is very tough to break, partly because vocalization is somewhat instinctive to canines.
Her cousins, coyotes, vocalize this way to communicate while they hunt at night. People living in the country hear the howls of these wild canines every night.
Coyotes keep tabs on each other this way as they move about hunting for food. The howl of one starts all the others answering the same way … almost like a roll call. Behaviorists call this a conditioned response.
Bette has this same conditioned response, and it might be difficult to teach her not to howl and “answer” when she hears some special sounds. But here are a few ideas:
The most important part of training a dog is consistency. If Bette is given a firm “No!” whenever she starts to howl, and if she is praised when she stops this behavior, she might learn not to do this anymore.
You need to stop her in the act and then let her know how good she is when she is quiet by giving her a treat. Always reward good behavior! And it’s imperative that everyone handle this the same way. Don’t let anyone encourage her singing anymore.
Otherwise, Bette will become confused and continue to “sing,” and you’ll continue to lose sleep when she “performs.”
