A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I got a boxer from the local SPCA. The first time I pulled out my flute and started playing, she got very attentive, came over to me, started making little noises like she was singing along… It was very cute! Of course, then she went and lay down and went to sleep. :roll:
Yesterday, I got a CD that I had bought from eBay. It has Jack Coen on flute, Martin Mulhaire on button accordion, and Seamus Connolly on fiddle. The first few tracks were mostly fiddle and accordion, and she ignored that completely. However, then there was a track with Jack Coen playing solo. She immediately got up, looked around, went over to the CD player and sniffed it, cocked her head, and generally tried desperately to find the guy playing this music! She even went around to other rooms to try and find him. It was the funniest thing! I mostly listen to my flute-oriented CDs in the car (my wife listens to a lot of ITM, but usually not over and over and over again), but I can’t wait to put on some more flute music for the dog. Perhaps some Kevin Crawford, maybe Matt Molloy. That’ll drive her nuts for sure!
Anyway, I just had to share. I know a lot of you have pets that either love or hate your music, and her reaction to the CD was just so immediate and comical.
That’s too cool that 1) you got a new dog from the pound, and a boxer at that, and 2) that he likes flute. Obviously, he’s a good dog, a very good dog!
My dog loves flute too, but she’s been with us since she was a puppy. My mom’s dog who didn’t grow up around me, was scared of it. The piccolo specially made him howl in a weird way.
Beware: some dogs love the sound of the flute, others love the taste of it.
Casper, the Cat is now the house dog since Tarkserk, Siberian Shep., died last summer. When I start to play he comes over to curl around my ankles then lays down on the closest radiator cover, listens, looks out the window, curls up and yawns, goes to sleep.
hmmm, my cat runs away when I pick up the whistle or flute…need to keep practicing I guess. Forget pleasing a human audience or session members, when my cat sticks around while I’m playing, I’ll consider myself a master
That might not be a good measure - I’m far from a master (ask anyone who’s heard me play!) but our cat comes running whenever she hears me play, and her favorite whistle seems to be my loudest, a Serpent Brassy Polly.
I’ve found that the best way to call her when she’s outside is to stand in the doorway playing - she’ll run up and start rubbing against my legs.
Then again, considering cats’ traditional back-fence serenades, she may think I am a master.
Yes, she is a very good dog indeed. I forgot to mention, but there’s a picture of her in my avatar. She’s also very cute, at least in a boxer sort of way.
My cat couldn’t care less when I play the flute. If he’s in the room, he’ll stay there unless he needs to be somewhere else for whatever mysterious cat reasons. He will, however, get up and leave when I pick up a whistle. I’ve determined that it’s because he doesn’t like the upper octave (which of course I don’t get up to with my flute), because on the occassions when he doesn’t immediately leave, he will do so when I start hitting high notes.
My dog thinks it’s playtime (for him) whenever I pick-up the flute and start playing - 11 years old, bad hips and all (the dog, not me, you wise ass types, lol) and he’s up barking and throwing his indestructable bone at me, that thing hurts! Hmm, come to think of it, perhaps he’s not trying to play with me after all…
Steven, cute boxer. They’re a real bundle of energy, aren’t they? My grandparents (who also lived in Philly, down on Smedley St., right around the corner from Vintage Instruments) also had a Boxer, a beautiful Brindle. Man was that dog hyper! I hope yours is more on the mellow side.
My dog is scared of my flute. When I start playing it, she runs to another room, preferably on the other side of the house, where she lays in a corner with a terrified look in her eyes until I’ve stopped playing. When I hold out the flute to her so she can sniff on it and make sure it’s nothing to be afraid of, not a didgeridoo or something like that, she backs of and then takes a couple of stepps forward and cautiously examines it, only to run off if I put it to my lips. The really sad thing is that she is very fond of rap-music . Need I say that she is not too bright?!
Yes, she is one of the quieter Boxers. She does have her hyper times, but mostly she sleeps a lot, or just wants to cuddle up with us. In fact, she’s sleeping at my feet right now. Sometimes I think she’s more cat than dog. But she is a heck of a good dog.
Yours is a German Shepherd, right Loren? I bet when he decides to playfully throw that bone at you, you know it!
I have a cat that I got as a kitten from the local humane society. The first time I played my flute after bringing him home he jumped up on the arm of the couch and stretched his head out so his nose was right across from where I was blowing into the embouchure… he’s curious about everything, but this really topped of my knowledge that I’d gotten the right cat!
. Need I say that she is not too bright?!