Storm Sirens Send Doggy Into Howling Fit

A lot of dogs will howl when they hear a siren. This is the amusing footage of a husky that got so annoyed with a tornado siren and decided to do a better job itself and conduct a stunning imitation.Show more

The pooch's ear pricked up when it heard the ear-piercing sounds of an emergency siren. But instead of giving a little bark, he decided to imitate the sound. He began to judge the source of the sound before raising its head and beginning a long howl of its own. The drawn-out howl lasted for many seconds and it even managed to move the pitch down and up just like the siren itself.

The sound of howling huskies may prompt us of wolves in the wild, calling to one another. Usually, this is the more simple explanation for why huskies howl at sirens.Wolves use howling as a method of communication to one another and as a sort of natural form of GPS to locate the other wolves.

Huskies, as the successor of wolves, maybe expressing this inherent behavior when prompted by the sound of an emergency siren. As social pack animals, dogs may be interpreting a siren or other high pitched sounds such as a clarinet, flute or a particular television theme song as communication.

Animals researchers and behaviorists point out that howling can be heard by the keen ears of dogs and wolves from long distances, hence making it the favorite choice of communication. Some canine owners may have noticed their dog howling in reply to a neighbor’s dog. This reaction can be compared to the basic “contagious” reaction most pooch has when they hear another dog barking or howling: they begin to howl themselves, mostly if they sense danger, fear or a threat. Just as with people, a pooch’s hearing capability depends on its breed as well as its age.

Dogs hear a higher frequency of sounds than a person, which is why ultrasonic signals such as those used in training whistles can be heard by dogs. While research has not been conducted to determine the exact percentage of Huskies who howl at sirens versus those that have not, it does not take a scientist to figure out that huskies, like people, are totally different from one another.

Perhaps some huskies feel an inherent need to connect with the source of the sirens. They believe that it is actually a pack of dogs communicating from afar.
Other Huskies might feel secure and confident where they are and opted to ignore the sound.