Why a dog howls: reasons and what to do

Reasons why a dog howls

Feels lonely

The dog got bored and decided in this way to attract the attention of the owner. This usually happens when everyone in the house is busy with their own affairs and does not pay attention to it.

How it manifests itself: the dog howls at home for no apparent reason.

What to do: Take time for your dog – talk to him, play, stroke, arrange an extraordinary short walk.

Bored

The dog howls when under stress. Most often this happens due to a long separation from the owner. The dog starts to get very sad.

How it manifests itself: the dog howls during the day, because no one is at home for a long time.

What to do: Try to reduce the time of your absence, especially if we are talking about a puppy – he should gradually get used to being at home alone.

Fears

The reason for this behavior of the dog may be fright or fear caused, for example, by very loud sounds from the street or inside the apartment.

How it manifests itself: the animal begins to howl, having heard the howl of a siren or being in a room where music plays very loudly.

What to do: Avoid too loud “call signs” in the house – do not scare or alert the dog once again. Be sure to train your dog so that he can easily perceive various noises and loud sound effects.

Hungry or thirsty

A dog may begin to howl when he feels very hungry or thirsty and has no way to satisfy them.

How it manifests itself: the animal approaches the place where its food lies, and, sitting nearby, begins to howl. When a dog is thirsty, it sticks out its tongue.

What to do: Make sure your pet always has access to clean water (especially when you’re away). Feed the dog at the same time, give a sufficient portion of food according to its breed, weight and other characteristics.

Wants to go to the toilet

The dog howls when she really needs to empty herself, but she cannot do it, for example, in an apartment.

How it manifests itself: the dog most often runs up to the front door, sits down at it and starts howling. This means that she asks to go outside to relieve herself.

What to do: Take your dog outside regularly and get him used to walking.

Feels attracted

A dog in the yard shows interest in other individuals, and when not satisfied, howls.

How it manifests itself: a male howls if he is not mixed with a female, and vice versa.

What to do: pets are recommended to be castrated or sterilized, otherwise it is necessary to carry out mating.

Communicates

For a dog, howling is a means of communication with relatives, so its cause may be a simple desire to communicate with another animal. For example, a dog howls in the yard at night because it hears another dog howling outside.

How it manifests itself: when a dog hears the howl of another dog, it “picks up” it.

What to do: educate the dog, train it so that it does not react to extraneous noises and sounds, including dog howls.

Sick

Sometimes the dog’s howl can be a cause for the owner’s anxiety: if the pet is ill, he expresses his pain in this way.

How it manifests itself: the animal howls, looks unhappy and downcast, cannot find a place for itself, takes strange poses.

What to do: monitor the health of the pet, visit the veterinarian regularly and seek help if there is any doubt about the condition of the dog.

Not educated enough

At home, a puppy usually howls, not yet accustomed to having fun on its own in the absence of people, or an insufficiently trained dog.

How it manifests itself: the dog begins to howl as soon as the owner leaves the house.

What to do: accustom the dog from childhood to being alone, calmly accepting temporary separation from the owner and the ability to entertain himself with toys.

Experiencing discomfort

A dog is a pet that loves large territories and needs enough space to maneuver. Sometimes the dog whines and howls, because she does not have enough space.

How it manifests itself: the dog howls, being on a leash or sitting in a small room.

What to do: The dog breeder must have sufficient living space for the comfortable existence of the animal. In general, walk more with your pet, providing him with freedom for running, playing and training.

Why does the puppy howl

The main reason why a puppy howls is that he is not yet used to being left without a master and does not know how to occupy himself (for example, with toys, as adult dogs do). Therefore, it is very important to socialize your dog already in childhood. At the age of 4-6 weeks, the puppy is taken outside. He sees other people and dogs, cars, streets, houses and learns to perceive the world in all its diversity, including noise. After another 6 weeks, the puppy can begin to be taken to special classes, where they are taught to stay without an owner for a while and not to panic.

How to wean a dog howl – advice from a dog handler

Here is what the head of the Sokolniki dog training center, rector of the First Professional Cynological Institute, Konstantin Germanovich Karapetyants, advises.

First of all, it is necessary to determine the cause of the howl. If it is pain (and a sick or injured dog is usually visible), you should contact your veterinarian and take steps to treat the pet.

If it’s all about boredom or boredom, make an effort to minimize as much as possible, especially in the first months of your puppy’s stay in your home, the time between your leaving and returning. For a puppy, your absence is a stress that the dog is trying to get rid of by howling. Some dogs find more sophisticated means of coping with loneliness: for example, they spoil furniture, rip wallpaper off the walls, scratch doors, tear books, shoes, and gnaw themselves. So howling, compared to all of the above, is a fairly harmless action, however, it is quite loud and does not always suit your neighbors. Howling, if not stopped, becomes a habit for a puppy, and then becomes a necessity for an adult dog.

So, to begin with, to solve this problem, reduce the time you are away from home. Try to make it so that when you are not at home, the puppy has the opportunity to have fun on his own, the best for this are various toys with a secret that are sold in pet stores. With their help, the puppy will forget about loneliness for a while. You can also leave the radio on and offer your puppy a freeze-dried treat that can be enjoyed for a long time. Never return to the door, and even more so do not enter the house if you heard your dog howling while in the elevator or entrance. You can only return when the dog is quiet.

1 method

You can train your dog to behave quietly in the following way (but remember that this method is laborious and requires you to strictly follow the sequence described below):

When leaving the house, give the dog the command “Down” or “Place” and close the door behind you. If your dog is quiet, return home and reward him for doing the grooming or staying put. Then, after giving the command “Down” or “Place” again, go out the door and increase the time the dog is alone to two minutes. If you’re quiet, come back and reward her again. Subsequently, you gradually stretch the time interval of your absence, and after quiet behavior again reward the dog. As a result, the dog does not perceive your departure as tragic as it perceived before, it just waits, not hysteria. The method is laborious, but with the right approach it gives a result.

2 method

If the dog howls at night, it can be weaned from it using this method. Organize her a good long walk with exercise and physical activity. Give your pet enough, run up to fatigue and spend a lot of energy. With this approach, the result exceeds expectations. The dog after a walk eats appetizingly, and then, during the day, restores his strength in a sound sleep, completely forgetting about howling and other pranks.

other methods

When your dog howls in response to howls of other dogs, try to distract him from this activity by socializing or walking. Most often, such a howl happens in dogs living in a suburban area or in a village. You can also attach a pet, punishing him for howling with a loud shout.

If your dog reacts to sounds by howling, just try to eliminate those sounds from his life. For example, one of my dogs started to howl when playing certain songs on the radio or TV. I had to turn off the sound. The habit went away after a while.

Another reason for howling is tight spaces or tethers. The dog cannot be in close quarters and on a leash for a long time, and with its howl it demonstrates a protest or a request. Create normal conditions for your pet, and the howl will stop.

What absolutely must not be done

In no case should you yell at the dog or lock it in a small room alone. So you only harm the animal.

You should not ignore the dog’s howl, especially if it is not one-time, but regular. Perhaps your pet is sick and needs the help of a veterinarian.

Also, you can not leave the animal alone at home for a long time, otherwise the sadness, accompanied by a howl, can develop into a real depression.

What to do if the neighbor’s dog howls

Talk to your neighbors and explain the situation – chances are they don’t know their dog is howling. Truly caring owners will listen and try to make sure that the pet is calm and does not interfere with other residents. If your requests go unheeded, you can contact the animal protection service or ask your district police officer to intervene. There are sad cases when a pet gives a voice because it is kept in bad conditions or offended.

The reverse situation is also possible: neighbors tell you that your dog howls and thus creates inconvenience for other residents. Be sure to pay attention to your dog and try to identify the reason for this behavior.

Signs associated with howling dogs

You could hear folk signs more than once that say what the dog is howling for. Here is some of them:

• The dog howls in the yard at night – to the bad news from afar. She also scares away evil spirits wandering around the house.

• The dog howls in the yard during the day – to the danger approaching from the outside. Soon a bad person may come or even a catastrophe may occur.

• The dog howls at home – to the illness or death of the household. If she is also sitting at the doorstep, the owners are waiting for the loss.

• Howling at the moon – to change the weather.

• Howls in a dream – to his own demise.

However, these signs have a logical explanation.

Since the dog is in close contact with his owners and is attached to them, he reads their mood and the general atmosphere that prevails in the house. The dog howls in sympathy because someone in the household is sick or depressed.

Dogs howl at the moon, as they feel the gravitational effect exerted by the luminary on the Earth. Dogs are very sensitive animals.

Sometimes a dog howls in its sleep, simply because it is dreaming. She can twitch her paws and wag her tail, and sometimes accompanies the movement with a howl, bark or growl.

As for natural disasters, the dog learns about them before others thanks to its very sensitive hearing, capable of capturing even the most subtle sound vibrations.

Very thin in dogs, not only hearing, but also the sense of smell. For example, if a dog sits down at a neighbor’s door and howls, then this may be a signal that there was trouble there.

Top 5 breeds that love to howl

Eastern European Laika

A dog of this breed is a devoted friend of a person, accustomed to being with the owner constantly and very hard to endure parting with him. In such cases, the animal begins to howl for a long time.

Husky

The habit of the pack to communicate through howling, representatives of the breed have retained to this day. And they are also very independent individuals, therefore, when something or someone encroaches on their freedom, they give a voice in the form of a howl.

Basset hound

Dogs belonging to this breed have an outstanding appearance and a low timbre of voice that they show when they howl with longing. Kind and friendly dogs of this breed really do not like loneliness.

Basenji

Representatives of this breed differ from others in that they do not bark, but they can howl quite loudly. Their howl is similar in sound to the manner of singing “yodel” – alternating low and high notes. Being alone is especially conducive to howling.

Alaskan Malamute

Malamutes follow the habit laid down in the genes, so it is not possible to wean them howl. The reason for howling can be anything – from great joy to deep sadness.

Answers to frequently asked questions

9 September 2021

Updated: September 9, 2021