I’ve discovered something fun about Wiley…he sings! Whenever I play the whistle, he joins in. The fun thing is, he clearly tries to match the ups and downs/shorts and longs of the tune I’m playing. When I’m done, he prances and wags his tail, as if he’s very proud of himself!
I guess he really IS a California Curly Coated Coyote!* My old poodle never howled (though he would bark at the whistle). The downside is, I never get any practice in because a) I’m worried about disturbing the neighbors and b) I’m usually laughing too hard to play!
I always wonder about the intelligence of dogs that submit their extra sharp hearing to high pitches just to show companionship. He might be saying in dog talk “pleasestopouchpleasestopouchpleasestopouch”
our boxers don’t really mind the whistle too much, unless it’s a high note. However, play the harmonica and they’ll howl along with it, and keep on afterwards.
Our Wyley really likes bass however. A friend was over playing washtub bass, and Wyley laid down right next to it, touching it!
This is all a great mystery to me.
We had a Boston Terrier that howled (pain? singing?) when my son played trumpet. But he was ambivilent to the fiddle, whistles, banjo, guitar, etc…
A friend’s dog (very smart) spoke up regularly about my fiddle playing. (Very loud, howled compliments? Not likely.)
We now have a beagle that really doesn’t care about any of them, except for the fact that they tend to steal away my attention.
I really do hope it’s an ingrained pack instinct and not some excrutiating form of torture!
Dogs that howl when you play an instrument or sing aren’t expressing pain…they yelp or run away to express that. A dog that didn’t like your playing would leave the room, or attempt to, and would quickly become frantic if the noise was painful and he couldn’t get away from it. Among canines, the howl serves a social purpose…it “binds the pack” so to speak (or, when a dog is separated from the pack, it calls the pack to him). It’s the same thing that wolves and coyotes do. Essentially, it’s what humans do when they sing!
Dogs that howl at sirens are answering another pack. You’ll see that among coyotes and wolves as well…in fact, if you’re anywhere near a pack of coyotes and start to howl, they’ll often answer you! (try that sometimes…it’s fun!). The really interesting thing with wild canines is each animal takes his own note. If you start to howl along on a note one of the wolves has chosen, he will typically stop and then take a different note.
We had a little female miniature Schnauzer for 14 years. She was really my wife’s devoted friend. My wife sings in the church choir and her little dog would sit in her lag and sing along when she practiced her music. She did a respectable job of changing pitch with my wife. Damnedest thing you ever saw. A number of our friends were amazed. The dog seemed to really enjoy this.
Glad to hear that your new buddy is really bonding! I’ve had very few dogs over the years that would react to music. My skye now apparently enjoys the piano since she comes and lays near whenever I play.
The funniest one is our dachshund mix who use to have a real running"fit" when I’d play Brown Haired Maiden on GHBs. Only that tune- none of the others did a thing. But as soon as I started that one up here he’d come and race all around the yard as long as the tune lasted. Then he’d go on back to what ever he was doing before. I haven’t played them in a while, I oughta try it when the weather is nicer and see if he’ll do it again.
The skye I have now will do her best to “talk” to us.I’ve never had one try so hard. All it takes is to talk to her and she really tries- she’ll mimic whatever sound I’m making to her-if it’s high, she’s making whining type sounds, if it’s regular conversation tones, she does them, so I can easily imagine how Wiley would make music with you.
The funniest one is our dachshund mix who use to have a real running"fit" when I’d play Brown Haired Maiden on GHBs. Only that tune- none of the others did a thing. But as soon as I started that one up here he’d come and race all around the yard as long as the tune lasted.
My husky did something like that today! I played the Brown Haired Maiden on my smallpipes, and she stared at me the whole time. Then when I finished (this was in the living room), she started running around the room, jumped on and off the couch, then bounded back into the kitchen. Crazy.
OK, someone needs to get a grant to study what it is about “Brown Haired Maiden” that gets dogs so hyper. Hmmmm, or maybe it’s the obvious- a brown haired maiden perhaps?
My last poodle, Cedar, actually could articulate a few words (and used them correctly)…his favorites were “nap” (i.e., getting to come into bed with us), “num num” (that one being obivious) and “out” (he couldn’t quite manage the “t” no matter how hard he tried, but he’d stand by the door saying “Ou’! Ou’!” whenever he wanted to go out. It’s amazing how vocal some dogs can be!
It’s fun to have a singing dog, but God knows how I’ll ever get any practicing done!
Like Jonah (our cat) he also has a relationship with my harp (specifically with my harp case). Usually, when I go to pack the harp away, I either find some of Wiley’s chew toys or my cat asleep in the case! Besides that, though, they both will come curl up at my feet as I play, which is a sweet way to spend an afternoon!
My all time favourite news story was one about a singing dog. The dog sang along with the music that introduced the CBC news on TV. When the music was changed to something new the dog became very upset. The owner said that “it put 'er right off 'er feed.” He contacted CBC and they sent him a tape of the old music for the dog to sing with. There was a brief shot of the dog singing. She had more enthusiasm than talent, I’d say.
LOL! My family had a coyote/Sheltie cross years ago–outmoused any cat I ever knew, sweet-tempered as you would ever want, and howled when lonely. When my brother took up harmonica she was thrilled! The moment he started to practice she would dash into the room, eyes alight, grinning from ear to ear, and tail going 90mph. She too would match tones with him–if he went up a note, she went too. It was very obvious to everyone that she truly loved the little Sing-a-longs with Russ.
