The howl of a dog, whether it’s its own or one living in its neighborhood, is not only disturbed by a loud and dreary sound. It causes anxiety in most people, even fear. These feelings are an echo of ancient instincts when a howl, reporting the presence of a wild beast, made a person seek refuge or flee. And when such a sound comes from a long-tamed, domestic creature, sounding in or near a dwelling, it causes, at best, considerable discomfort.
Therefore, a lot of speculation and signs arose, explaining what the dog howls at night or in the afternoon. They appeared in those days when people did not even try to figure out the reasons for dog behavior. Let's try to find out whether all such assumptions can be considered fiction and what makes a domesticated animal howl.
Mystery and Facts
Almost all signs indicate that dog howl is a harbinger of death, trouble or serious problems. Most of all the interpretations of why the dog howls at night in the yard, and almost all of them talk about the imminent death of the owner or family members. Such an eerie proposition, again, is due to man's centuries-old fears of wolves. There are quite a few reasons for the dog howl, and to stop it, it does not hinder to begin to understand everything, and not to scold and punish the dog, or even worse, to expect some kind of trouble.
This voice performance for dogs is a natural occurrence. This becomes clear if we recall their classification, according to which the family of canids belongs to the order of predators, the genus and species of wolves. Drawing an analogy with wild relatives, one can find explanations for dog howling, which among wolves has many variations and, above all, is a means of communication for them. Such a study will help to understand why a dog howls at night or at night and what to do with this annoying phenomenon.
Call of the Ancestors
Voice wolves can deliver quite complex messages. They chain along many kilometers to send information about the whereabouts of another beast, be it an enemy, a victim or a person. In each case, the howl will be distinctive. It is transmitted from animal to animal for many kilometers to collect all members of the pack for hunting or to warn them of the danger.
A huge role in the social life of wolves is played by collective voice performance, which serves as an instrument of socialization, exacerbating the instinct for individuals to belong to their group. In addition, in this way the wolves have something in common with other packs and necessarily signal the choral howl if their fellow bereaved from the group.
In the course of the experiments, scientists found out that a howl is heard every time if any of its members is removed from the pack, But the loudest and longest sound came when the leader was separated from the group. The same reaction occurred if a couple of individuals of potential or permanent sexual partners were separated.
As a rule, a collective howl is heard at dawn or at dusk. The leader begins to solo, after some time, the remaining members of the group join him. All the above facts can explain a number of signs, not only of what the dog howls at night, but why it happens in the daytime.
Deleted sounds
The yard dog can howl in response to barking, growling, whining of other dogs located at a fairly large distance. Feeling himself an alpha male, in this way he calls a flock or gives a signal of his belonging to her, having heard the call of the dominant individual.
A person may not catch a distant dog talk or not attach importance to it, but it is he who most often causes a pet howl. In this case, the dog will be turned face in the direction from which he heard the response of his brothers. Such roll calls occur most often in the daytime or in the evening, less often - at night, especially in frosty and windless, when sounds are carried much further.
Long “concerts” are not constant, they can be a one-time occurrence or repeated periodically, infrequently.
I can see what the dog howls in the yard at night, a different kind of sound can explain. It comes from high-voltage transmission lines, transformer booths, a spinning weather vane, a hole blown by the wind, and other objects. Since the frequency of such sound is often at the limit of human perception, the owner is not always able to find out their source. But the dog picks up frequencies up to 40 kilohertz, which for people are ultrasonic. The pitch of a note and a certain vibration can remind him of a distant “song” of relatives.
The noise of daytime bustle is blocked by subtle sounds, but at night the animal clearly distinguishes them and answers them. This explains many of the signs that the dog howls at night.
Longing and loneliness
Dogs have a very developed need to interact with their own kind, which has been supplanted by the dependence on the person and communication with him. Pets are difficult to separation from any member of the family, especially with the owner. They express their anguish with the heartbreaking howl from which the neighbors suffer.
Many families faced with such a problem, where the household goes to work or school every day, were helped by the purchase of a kitten. Even the most massive and ferocious dogs ceased to howl in the absence of owners, redirecting their attention and tenderness to a small creature. It is worth noting that when two dogs live in the house, they do not vote in anticipation of the owners.
I will also accept what the dog howls at night, and her longing for a sexual partner can explain when the time comes for mating. This is especially true for males, which will show their need in other ways.
Chain dogs
Such dogs are most dependent on the mercy of the owner. They get less communication with a person, unlike pets, in most cases they are deprived of walking, content with a long chain. They have to come to terms with the fact that they defecate in the vicinity of their den, which is unacceptable for dogs by nature. In addition to the booth, they have nowhere else to get away from the cold, heat or rain, and if the kennel is poorly equipped, has not been cleaned for a long time and is teeming with fleas, then the dog has a hard time. He cannot find food or water when his bowl is empty, and no matter what food the owner brings, the dog will have to be content with it only, there is no other way out. All these circumstances are the main reason why a dog howls at night on a chain more often than its other relatives.
If the animal is unwell, uncomfortable with hunger or thirst, it can endure for a long time, but in the end it will say a loud howl, especially if the owner ignores its previous whining. In addition, in this way, the dog compensates for the limited need for communication.
There is another significant reason for the night "concert". In the natural environment, animal feces not only indicate the limits of possessions, but also inform a larger predator. Therefore, animals never defecate in the vicinity of their den. If the sewage was not cleaned in time near the booth, the dog intuitively may be afraid of being detected by an enemy whom it seeks to scare off with a loud howl at night.
Death and disease
During a person’s disease, the excretory function of the sweat glands is enhanced. Sweat contains substances produced as a result of metabolism, including harmful metabolic products that accumulate. The scent of a dog, considered the most important of its senses, captures the slightest changes in the host's body by the smell of sweat. Therefore, the dog learns about the onset of the disease before its symptoms appear.
A howl dog warns about the dangerous condition of the owner and even sometimes blocks his path when leaving the house. If a person has neglected the warning of his four-legged friend, the dog can vote heart-rendingly, and if she lives in the yard, she can also dig the earth in despair with her paws.
This behavior of the animal gave rise to many rumors about the imminent death of its owners. Indeed, diseases can be of varying complexity and can result in death; this happened much more often when there was no medical care and diagnosis. But the signal of death is not a dog’s foresight, but rather a warning.
Natural phenomena
It is believed that the moon affects the condition and behavior of dogs, because they often howl at the full moon. Perhaps this is so. But the lunar phase, as a rule, acts on domestic, and not indoor dogs. It is worth considering the fact that the illumination of the full moon creates glare on certain objects and dark contrasting shadows, which are very mobile due to the wind and take inexplicable shapes. Rather, it is precisely such a deceitful situation that alarms the dog, and howls he warns the enemy, whom he thinks he sees in deep ephemeral shadows.
Many believe that it is the moon that the dog howls at night, and the sign interprets this as a quick change in weather. But neither wolves nor domestic dogs pay attention to the satellite of the Earth. Throwing their heads back high, they extract the most powerful lingering sound, capable of reaching the highest notes. It is this kind of howl that animals produce in the night, and you can clearly see them in this position just by illuminating the full moon.
Dogs feel the onset of some natural phenomena. Dogs began to howl before the earthquake, when they were tens of kilometers from the epicenter. But even at a distance of thousands of kilometers, animals often vote during a distant disaster, although a person does not feel any tremors. There are many examples where dogs in the same way warned of a strong hurricane approaching.
Howling rocks
Not all dogs howl. Most of them have never made such sounds in their lives. But there are breeds and their crosses that are genetically predisposed to howl more than bark, for example, like-like or basenji. Such a dog howls both day and night, although most dogs do it in the dark.
It is very difficult to wean a pet from an annoying manifestation of instincts. Howl for these breeds is not a sign of anxiety, but a means of communication, an expression of satisfaction and joy.
Popular beliefs
A few signs about the dog howl, cited in the end, may now not seem too gloomy, especially since most of them can find a logical explanation.
- A dog howls in the yard at night - evil spirits around the house.
- A howling dog looks towards the gate - wait for bad news from afar, or one of the households will suffer outside the house, or in the house, but at the hand of a newcomer.
- A howling dog is standing in front of the house - there will be a fire there or thieves will climb.
- The dog is voting at the threshold - wait for imminent material loss or illness.
- The trouble will come to that house, looking at which the homeless dog howls.
- Soon the owner will receive bad news if his dog howls while sitting in the doghouse.
- The dog votes and digs the earth - one of the household dies.
- The howl of a dog with his head held high predicts a fire.
- An unkind sign if an animal votes on the eve of an important enterprise: deals, weddings, sales, long trips and other events. The case will end badly.
There is one sign that is not without charm among the inhabitants of Britain. The British reduced all bad predictions to one sign with little chance of its fulfillment: misfortune will come to that house, the windows of which a voting dog looks at, in other cases the howling dog is his business, which does not concern people.