09
Jul
Why Do Dogs Howl When Hearing Sirens. A fire truck rushing to an emergency. Dogs ancestor is the wolf and howling was one of the main ways of communicating. They use this as a form of communication. Why do dogs howl when hearing sirens.
But when it comes to howling at particular noises there are likely two main reasons. The sound is new and new often means dangerous in survival situations. If you have ever used a dog whistle you know this Like sirens howls contain high-pitched sounds and scientists think that a dog howls when he hears a siren because the dog thinks he is hearing a howl from another dog. Dogs start to howl sirens because they realise the sounds are not theirs. This is usually because they want to alert you a de-facto member of their pack that something loud and unexpected is happening that deserves your attention. As it turns out the reason dogs howl at sirens is because of their ancestrynamely the wolf.
It may be that a sound that is merely annoying to humans is physically painful to a dog.
When one wolf howls he will reveal his location. Bringing the noise to your attention and verbally scaring the sound away. They might be obedient cuddly friendly pets but they were once pack hunters in the wild. A passing siren may startle a nervous pup causing them to howl until the siren fades away. The theory that sirens can cause pain or distress to dogs is based on the fact that they have much more sensitive hearing than humans and can detect a far wider range of sound frequencies. When a dog howls at a siren the most likely reason is that the sound is so close in pitch to a community howl that the dog thinks the siren is a long-lost relative.