Why Do Dogs Howl
A howling dog is simply using one of the means of communication available to them. More commonly a dog might bark, whine or growl as howling has the least use for them if they are no longer wild.
Don’t be worried if your dog has never howled, as it won’t be because they don’t know how to howl, they just won’t have been in the situation where they needed to communicate in this way.
Many dog owners are intrigued by dog howling and you only have to get onto YouTube to see just how many people are happy to listen to dogs howling (it’s especially good when you can stop it at any time!) Problems only start when dogs howl incessantly within your hearing range, or wake you up every night…
Benefits of Howling to a Dog
In nature, the sound of a dog howling will carry over long distances and was therefore used to locate other members of the pack and call them together for hunting (as wolves still do).
It also acts as a warning to rival packs to keep away because dog howls are individually recognisable, and therefore if they don’t recognise the howl, another pack would know to keep off the territory if they wanted to remain safe.
How To Stop A Dog From Howling
If your dog howls in response to high pitched sounds (like a siren), it should stop as the other noise dies away. There’s not much you can do to stop it and it shouldn’t last too long. If your dog is outside, you can try calling them to you, or taking them inside, and using a positive reward system for them when they quieten down.
Don’t shout at your dog as this could backfire because they may assume you are joining in and carry on for longer!
Other triggers for dog howling can be responding to another dog they can hear howling (their hearing is better than ours so you may not be able to hear it yourself), but it shouldn’t last for long. Alternatively, dogs are known to have a howl-along with music, singing, or TV tunes and this will be caused by their natural instinct to howl with the rest of the pack when they get together.
Constant Howling a Result of Separation Anxiety in Dogs
The sort of constant howling that upsets the neighbours and stops you sleeping at night is usually caused by other problems which you will need to identify and address.
Howling that is triggered by separation anxiety in dogs will start when the dog is left home alone and will be your dogs attempt at trying to find out where you are and let you know where you should come back to. Naturally they are going to continue to try and locate you if you don’t respond!
The only way to deal with this kind of howling is to deal with the separation anxiety issues, which will need behaviour modification training, perhaps some desensitisation training, and in extreme cases may need dog anxiety medication.
To be confident that separation anxiety is the problem behind the howling, look for other dog anxiety symptoms that confirm it. We have created a free report on all the major symptoms of anxiety that will help you do this.
Dog Howling to Grab Your Attention
Some dogs will howl because it gets them your attention. For instance, if you respond every time they howl by asking them “What is it?”, or getting cross, or going up to them and trying to reassure them, they have every reason to carry on because they just got some attention from you when they wanted it.
The most obvious way to counteract this problem is to ignore them completely whenever they howl. It might also help to positively reinforce quiet behaviour with treats.
So when your dog next howls, don’t look at him, speak to him or touch him. If you’re in the same room as your dog when he howls and find it difficult to ignore, you could walk out the door and shut it leaving him alone until he stops. That way he learns that not only does it not get your attention, but he loses the pack too. You may find that the minute you turn your back and start to walk away, he’ll stop and follow you, so no need to even close the door.
Reinforce this by using positive training techniques, (ignore the slip ups, but praise them when they get it right) to encourage calm or quiet behaviour. You could consider trying to teach them to respond to a ‘keep calm’ or ‘quiet’ command to back it up.
If you’d like to know more about Dog Anxiety we’ve created a useful, free report to help you spot the symptoms of anxiety in your dog, because a dog howling could just be the beginning of anxiety problems, so catch it and stop it fast.