Have you ever heard an ambulance go by only to have your dog start howling and carrying on as if they knew the person the sirens are meant for? If you have a dog that howls, chances are sirens will set your dog off no matter how far away or faint the sound is.

What’s most interesting about howling though, is that not all dogs react. While some dogs bark or howl when they hear sirens, others completely ignore the sound. With that in mind, what’s going on when dogs howl at sirens? And how come some don’t howl at all?

A call to their past

While dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years, their ancestors were wolves. Wolves use howling as a major source of communication. If a wolf gets separated from the pack they’ll howl to try and find the pack, and their family will answer back.

Most experts believe that when a dog hears the high pitched sounds of a siren, it reminds them of howling enough to get them howling too. Another theory is that dogs view the siren as something strange or unusual, and bark or howl to indicate a threat to the family.

Why some dogs don’t howl

While some research has been done on why dogs howl at sirens, there’s no research at all on why some dogs don’t. There are theories for this too, but none have been evaluated. It could be that your dog feel secure about their pack, and feels no need to communicate. It could be that they don’t hear it, or simply don’t care.

Regardless, if your dog doesn’t howl at sirens it’s nothing to worry about.

How to stop your dog from howling

If your dog howls at every siren, regardless of whether it is noon or midnight, you may want to help encourage your dog to resist howling at every siren. This may be hard to do, as it is rooted in your dog’s genetics to do so, but you can help inhibit the behavior in a few ways.

·         Ignore howling
Don’t give your pet attention for howling. If you try to reassure or even punish your pet for howling, it’s a form of attention. This could backfire by encouraging your pet to howl for attention. Even negative attention is still attention in the view of many pets.

·         Praise delays in howling
If your pet doesn’t howl at a siren, praise him and reward him with treats. Although it may take him a while to clue in as to why he’s getting treats, eventually he may associate the treats with not howling, and stop the behavior.

·         Consult a trainer
If your pet continues to howl no matter what and it is very disruptive, consider contacting a trainer to help you solve the problem. They may be able to help you resolve the issue.

Dogs howl for a variety of reasons, and sirens are a classic trigger. While we may not know for sure what causes dogs to howl at sirens 100% of the time, it’s fascinating to see how our dogs react when they hear these sounds.