Yes, dogs howl at Law and Order. Also at the 20th Century Fox theme. fire engines. And at howling.
What I want to know is why they do it. That's my mission today.
UPDATE:
The answer for why dogs howl starts with wolves. Dogs' ancestors howled for two reasons -- to find each other and to have fun. Peter Borchelt, an animal behaviorist in New York City, says the "social synchrony" that comes with joining in the howl feels good. "It's like a family singing," Borchelt says. Wolves will sometimes howl at non-wolf sounds, like a clarinet.
For whatever reason, when people began breeding dogs for particular traits, the urge to howl spread out across the dog spectrum. Any breed of dog might howl. Any individual dog might or might not howl. And compared to wolves, dogs perceive a much wider range of sounds as howling. They'll howl for opera, for piano, for ringing phones...
Celebrity dog wrangler Wendy Diamond rules out the idea that dogs are hearing a pitch in the Law and Order theme that their humans can't. Televisions are limited in their range, Diamond says. The dogs become conditioned by the opening notes of the show, and they run over and start howling. "It's always the same song. It's never anything different. What's training? Consistently doing the same thing," she says. "Every night that they're watching Law and Order, and they hear that same song. Next thing you know, they join in."
If your dog howls only at specific, occasional sounds, like the Law and Order theme song, Borchelt advises either turning down the TV volume or tweaking the mix, changing the bass and treble until Fluffy settles down. After that, smile. "The first thing would be to say enjoy it, have fun," he says. "There's no merit in yelling at the dog."
Bonus: The two most wonderful things I found while researching this segment.
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Oh, i am scrambling to find a video camera to send in my video of Buddy, my border collie, howling along with Howie Mandell. Oh yeah, Buddy belts it out, puts his lil HEART into it, he points his chin up as high as he can, even goes up on tiptoes, and howls and howls whenever we play a clip of Howie Mandell howling in a movie, "Walk Like A Man".
We call it "Sing the Blues?" and Buddy RUNSover and touches his nose to tv, waiting for the film to start. Even that looks so hilarious, staring at the tv which is touching his nose, waiting, like a crazy dog statue, frozen with anticipation!!!
So we do this all the time, ask him "Sing the Blues?" and play that clip.
His howls do varyfrom time to time, -----whenever Buddy's "daddy" goes out of town,---Buddy's howl has whole different heartwrenching sound to it, almost bring tears to your eyes, i'm not kidding. At those times, he makes the sounds of a sentient being.
Often Buddy's howls have comical sound to them, there are different howls. Maybe it depends on his mood!!?
IN the summer if the windows are open, Buddy's howls out the windows to the neighborhood, and OTHER NEIGHBORHOOD DOGS HOWL BACK!!! Too funny!!!
Now, back to my search to locate a video camera!!! and learn how to use it...Hmm.
~jean f.
elkhart, indiana (the town with the WORST economy in entire nation--we 'rescued' Buddy off death row from a dog pound, and HE rescued us right back!!!)
While i'm braggin on my awesome dog, i gotta tell ya, he does MOST HILARIOUS TRICK EVER!!
I say, "I think Buddy is a democrat...Buddy, do you MISS BUSH?"
And Buddy grins really big, and enthusiastically shakes his head "NO!"
Every once in a while, Buddy embellishes the trick with a snort, too, which my daughter says means, "HE#L NO!"
ya gotta see it, too funny!!