Reasons why a dog howls

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

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

What to do: spend time with your dog – talk to him, play with him, pet him, take him on an extra short walk.

He’s bored
The dog howls when it is under stress. Most often, this happens due to a long separation from the owner. The dog begins to feel very sad.

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

What to do: try to reduce the time you are away, especially if it is a puppy – it should gradually get used to being home alone.

Afraid
The reason for such behavior in a 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 upon hearing a siren or being in a room where music is playing very loudly.

What to do: Avoid making too loud “calls” in the house – do not frighten or alarm the dog unnecessarily. Be sure to train the dog so that it can calmly perceive various noises and loud sound effects.

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

How it manifests itself: the animal comes to the place where its food is, sits down nearby and starts howling. When a dog wants to drink, it sticks out its tongue.

What to do: Make sure your pet always has access to clean water (especially when you are not there). Feed your dog at the same time, give him enough food according to his breed, weight and other characteristics.

Wants to go to the toilet

A dog howls when it really needs to relieve itself, but it cannot do so, for example, in an apartment.

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

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

Feels attracted

The dog in the yard shows interest in other individuals, and when it does not receive satisfaction, it howls.

How it manifests itself: the male howls if he is not brought together with the female, and vice versa.

What to do: It is recommended to castrate or sterilize domestic animals, otherwise mating is necessary.

Communicates

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

How it manifests itself: when a dog hears another dog howl, 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 howling.

Sick

Sometimes a dog’s howling can be a cause for concern for its owner: if the pet is feeling unwell, it is expressing its pain in this way.

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

What to do: monitor your pet’s health, visit your veterinarian regularly and seek help if you have any doubts about your dog’s condition.

Not well-mannered enough

At home, it is usually a puppy that howls because it has not yet been trained to entertain itself in the absence of people, or a dog that is not sufficiently trained.

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

What to do: train your dog from puppyhood to be alone, to calmly accept temporary separation from its owner, and to be able to entertain itself with toys.

Feels uncomfortable

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

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

What to do: The dog breeder must have sufficient living space for the animal to live comfortably. In general, walk your pet more, giving it ample space to run, play, and train.

Why does a puppy howl?

The main reason why a puppy howls is that it is not yet used to being without its owner and does not know how to occupy itself (for example, with toys, as adult dogs do). Therefore, it is very important to socialize your dog already in puppyhood. At the age of 4-6 weeks, the puppy is taken outside. It 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 the owner for a while and not to panic.

How to stop a dog from howling – advice from a dog trainer

This is what the head of the Sokolniki Cynological Center, Rector of the First Professional Cynological Institute Konstantin Germanovich Karapetyants advises.

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

If the problem is boredom or melancholy, make an effort to reduce the time between your departure and return as much as possible, especially in the first months of the puppy’s stay in your home. For a puppy, your absence is stress, which the dog tries to get rid of by howling.

Some dogs find more sophisticated means of overcoming loneliness: for example, they spoil furniture, tear wallpaper off the walls, scratch doors, tear books, shoes, and chew themselves. So howling, compared to all of the above, is a fairly harmless action, although quite loud and not always pleasing to your neighbors. Howling, if not curtailed, 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 sure that when you are not home, the puppy has the opportunity to entertain himself, the best for this are various toys with a secret, which 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 the puppy a freeze-dried treat that can be played with for a long time. Never return to the door, and especially do not enter the house if you hear your dog howling while in the elevator or entryway. You can return only when the dog is quiet.

Method 1

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

When leaving the house, give the dog the command “Lie down” or “Place” and close the door behind you. If the dog is quiet, return home and reward it for doing the lie down or staying in place. Then, giving the command “Lie down” or “Place” again, go out the door and increase the time the dog is alone to two minutes.

If the dog is quiet, return again and reward it. Then, gradually extend the time interval of your absence, and after quiet behavior, reward the dog again. As a result, the dog does not perceive your departure as tragically as it did before, it simply waits, and does not throw a tantrum. The method is labor-intensive, but with the right approach, it gives results.

Method 2

If your dog howls at night, you can wean it off using this method. Organize a good long walk with exercise and physical activity. Let your pet run around to its heart’s content, until it gets tired, and spend a lot of energy. With this approach, the result exceeds expectations. After a walk, the dog eats appetizingly, and then, during the day, restores its strength in a deep sleep, completely forgetting about howling and other pranks.

Other methods

When a dog howls in response to the howling of other dogs, try to distract it from this activity by communicating or taking it for a walk. Most often, such howling occurs in dogs living in the countryside or in the village. You can also discipline your pet by punishing it for howling with a loud shout.

If your dog reacts to sounds by howling, just try to eliminate these sounds from its life. For example, one of my dogs would start howling when certain songs were played on the radio or TV. I had to turn off the sound. The habit went away after a while.

Another reason for howling is a cramped space or a leash. A dog cannot be in a cramped space or on a leash for a long time, and by howling it demonstrates protest or a request. Create normal conditions for your pet, and the howling will stop.

What you absolutely must not do

Never yell at a dog or lock it in a small room alone. This will only harm the animal.

You shouldn’t ignore a dog’s howling, especially if it’s not a one-time thing, but regular. Your pet may be sick and need help from a veterinarian.

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

What to do if your neighbor’s dog howls

Contact your neighbors and explain the situation – there is a chance that they do not know that their dog is howling. Truly caring owners will listen and try to make sure that the pet is calm and does not disturb other residents. If your requests are ignored, you can contact the animal protection service or ask your local police officer to intervene. There are sad cases when a pet makes a noise because it is kept in poor conditions or is offended.

The opposite situation is also possible: neighbors tell you that your dog is howling and thus creating inconvenience for other residents. Be sure to pay attention to your dog and try to identify the reason for such behavior.

Signs associated with howling dogs

You may have heard more than once folk signs that say what a dog howls means. Here are some of them:

• A dog howling in the yard at night means bad news from afar. It also scares away evil spirits wandering around the house.
• A dog howling in the yard during the day means danger approaching from outside. A bad person may come soon or even a catastrophe may occur.
• A dog howling at home means illness or death of a household member. If it also sits at the threshold, the owners will face losses.
• Howling at the moon means a change in the weather.
• Howling in a dream means one’s own death.

Since the dog is closely connected to its owners and attached to them, it reads their mood and the general atmosphere in the house. The dog howls as a sign of sympathy because someone in the household is sick or depressed.

Dogs howl at the moon because they feel the gravitational effect the star exerts on the Earth. Dogs are very sensitive animals.

Sometimes a dog howls in its sleep, simply because it is dreaming. It may twitch its paws and wag its tail, and sometimes it accompanies its movements with a howl, bark or growl.

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

Dogs have not only a very fine sense of hearing, but also a keen sense of smell. For example, if a dog sits down at a neighbor’s door and howls, it may be a signal that something bad has happened there.

Top 5 Breeds That Love to Howl

East European Laika

A dog of this breed is a devoted friend of man, accustomed to being with the owner constantly and very hard to bear separation from him. In such cases, the animal begins to howl protractedly.

Husky

The breed has retained the habit of communicating with the pack by howling to this day. They are also very independent individuals, so when something or someone encroaches on their freedom, they give voice in the form of howling.

Basset Hound

Dogs belonging to this breed have an extraordinary appearance and a low voice, which they express when howling from melancholy. Kind and friendly dogs of this breed 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 sounds similar to the manner of singing “yodel” – alternating low and high notes. Being alone is especially conducive to howling.

Alaskan Malamute

Malamutes follow a habit embedded in their genes, so it is impossible to wean them from howling. The reason for howling can be anything from great joy to deep sadness.