Imagine you are enjoying a cup of hot coffee while cuddling your dog. You hear a faint siren at a distance; you can’t figure whether it’s a fire truck or an ambulance. But suddenly, your dog jumps up from her cuddling position and spills coffee all over you. And it doesn’t end there. She starts howling as if doomsday has arrived. You have no idea why your dog started howling. Do all this sound familiar?
Dogs and sirens
Many dog owners complain that their dogs howl for no reason; sometimes even in the middle of the night. What they don’t know is dogs react to sirens as a baby reacts to injection needles. It sets them off in a fraction of a second. But what’s the deal between dogs and sirens? Why do they howl whenever they hear the faintest of noise from a siren? Well, it has something to do with their lineage of ancestors.
Like humans evolved from a specific species of primates, dogs too, evolved from wolves. Although you may not understand from their behaviour, when it comes to howling, the evidence is pretty clear.
Wolves usually howl to communicate with others. Both dogs and wolves have an excellent sense of hearing, way sharper than that of humans. This enables them to listen to sirens from afar. Although your dog doesn’t communicate with a pack of wolves or dogs, it is their DNA that instigates them to howl as a reflex.
Reasons for howling
There are potentially two reasons why dogs howl when they hear sirens. Sirens have high-pitched sounds. The dogs confuse the sound of sirens with the howl of another dog. They think that another dog is trying to communicate with him/her. As a result, they try to respond back. Humans have WhatsApp, FaceTime, and other apps to communicate quickly. Dogs, however, don’t have that luxury. They rely on their instincts. And one of their instincts is to howl as soon as they pick up the slightest sound of sirens.
Another school of study believes that dogs howl to protect you and your family. Sirens are something unusual for dogs. Usually, they don’t hear such sounds regularly. The sound of sirens startles them. They think that this is an indication of a threat to their owner. Therefore, they howl to make you aware of the unusual situation. The best way to pacify them in such cases is to feed some dog food UK. Cuddle them tightly to help them understand that there is nothing wrong and they shouldn’t worry about you.
Apart from these reasons, many people believe that dogs howl at sirens because the high-pitched noise hurts their ears. Dog experts, however, believe otherwise. They think that your dog will show other signs of disturbances if they are afraid of sirens or if the sound hurts their ears. For example, they might hide under furniture or run away from the room.
Now that you know the different reasons why dogs howl at sirens, you shouldn’t worry about their behaviour anymore. It is their natural instinct in action and nothing else.
