Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 2814 Location: Coarsegold, CA
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:46 am Post subject: When dogs howl
I'm sure most of you have at some point set a dog to howling when you play your trumpet.
My wife says they are singing along with me, but I think it sounds like they are being murdered. Maybe it's something in between--some call of the wild.
They are not trapped in the room with me. I'm considerate enough to know that I wouldn't want to be stuck in a room with a noisy trumpet playing. They have another room to go to and a doggy door to the outside.
Since they can't tell me what causes this behavior, maybe some of you can.
Joined: 19 Dec 2017 Posts: 306 Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 1:22 pm Post subject: Disclaimer: I'm not a dog expert.
I think your wife's theory is close to the truth. The instinct to howl in response to certain sounds, including other dogs howling, is primordial for dogs. It's something that was held over from their shared ancestry with wolves. While certain breeds of dogs are more prone to howl than others, it's not something they need to do like wolves need to do. But when they hear something that flips the "wolf switch" in their heads, they will do it.
Dogs also think in terms of hierarchy. You are the alpha of the pack, or at least you're supposed to be the alpha. From their point of view, they are hearing the alpha make sounds that the wolfy part of their brains interpret as a howl or signal of some sort. So they howl back.
Dogs also will howl when distressed or in pain. However, they also will try to remove themselves from what is causing that pain. Therefore your theory may be correct: If they were pained by what you were doing, they would leave the house.
Maybe one way to settle the issue is have someone watch their body language when they howl along with your trumpet playing. Are they staring in the direction of your practice space, maybe even slightly wagging their tails? Or are they clustered around the doggie door, desperately clawing their way out of the house? The first might suggest that their response is the dog version of asking, "What's happening, Pack Leader? Talk to us? Why are *you* howling?"
Last edited by Didymus on Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 10 Dec 2002 Posts: 2485 Location: Atlanta GA
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 2:14 pm Post subject:
I've experimented with this quite a bit, because initially I wanted to make sure I wasn't causing my older Beagle/terrier/Doberman mix any pain. He was always able to leave the room. By comparison, he will hide in the upstairs BATHTUB during thunderstorms.
He will always start howling or even "yowling" a bit when I first warm up, no matter how softly or how low in the range I play. After several minutes he will stop, especially if I stay in the lower part of the staff and am playing at an mp volume or less. Any increase to meso-forte or range above C in the staff and he reacts with howling.
After 15 minutes or so he will almost completely stop unless I hit something high and loud or anything suddenly.
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:33 pm Post subject: Dogs helping
I've had two experiences:
1) When I was house-sitting for my sister her Cocker Spaniel would sing along with Schlossberg long-note drills. His intonation was good enough that I thought there was something wrong with my tone.
2) I had a Golden Retriever who, if he heard me playing Iron's studies, would make a point of coming into my practice room, laying under my desk, and complaining. Only Iron's studies - he ignored the rest of my playing.
There might be something about the overtones - that dogs can hear and we can not - that influences their behavior. I never figured it out - and I miss my Golden.
Joined: 01 Nov 2016 Posts: 78 Location: Ryedale, North Yorkshire, UK
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:20 pm Post subject:
Our Jack Russell never bothers when I practise but our Sprocker spaniel does sometimes whine when I’m in the upper register (which isn’t every day tbh). On the other hand when an ambulance goes by with siren blaring it switches something on in the spaniel and he howls like the proverbial wolf. The terrier joins in but is more of a whelper than a howl. I do love my dogs!
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 7080 Location: Houston, TX.
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 4:44 am Post subject:
My late dog (RIP Daisy) did the same thing; she would voluntarily be in the room, the door was open so she could certainly leave. Instead, she would lay on the floor and howl. I do believe this is an instinctual pack mentality behavior.
Or maybe it was an editorial comment on my playing.😎
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