What breeds of dogs howl most often: what is it related to

Among the ways a dog communicates with humans is one that is not very pleasant, such as howling. It comes from the times when animals were wolves and communicated with each other over long distances this way. And, technically, there's nothing you can do about it. But it is worth trying to understand where the howling comes from and why the dog behaves that way.

According to Earth, a team of ethologists at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary set out to study dog howling. They selected 68 purebred pet dogs and played them a recording of the sound of howling wolves. To test the impact of breed, the scientists also measured each dog's genetic affinity for wolves.

Why dogs howl.

It turned out that the more wolf-like breeds, the more ancient types of dogs, were more likely to howl in response. Those that were less related to their ancestors, the so-called modern breeds, more often responded to the high, extended sound by barking.

Scientists have concluded that in dogs, howling has lost its functionality because of the social environment in which they live. They no longer need to send messages to each other across miles of distance.

And it also turned out that breeds of dogs that howl more often also show more signs of stress when forced to behave that way. At the same time, they are better at processing information in wolf sounds. Thus, the ancient breeds from the study demonstrated the ability to experience stress when invading wolf pack territory.

An interesting finding was that dogs over 5 years of age were genetically predisposed to curl. Scientists attributed this to the influence of experience or some age-related personality effect. In particular, such sounds may be triggered by stress and fear. But these speculations require further study.

Also, the propensity to howl has been influenced by a dog's sex and reproductive status. So spayed and unspayed females were equally prone to this behavior, but males showed differences. Castrated dogs without testosterone howled more in response to recording wolf sounds. Scientists speculated that in this way they were communicating to their vis-a-vis: "I'm afraid, don't come any closer."

What situations can make a dog howl

So, as Hungarian ethologists found out, stress and fear can make a dog behave this way. But in what situations can these emotions manifest themselves? A rough, but certainly not exhaustive list looks like this:

• the animal is stressed because of loneliness, is bored and wants to socialize and play;
• it is a request for a walk - the dog needs to go to the toilet;
• this is your pet's way of reminding you he's thirsty or hungry;
• an unsterilized dog may react this way to the approach of another animal;
• howling may also be a reaction to pain or other physical discomfort;
• it may also be in response to the distant howling of another dog or other sound that resembles a howl.

Which breeds are most prone to howling

As Hungarian scientists have found, ancient breeds and breeds with greater genetic affinity to wolves are susceptible to react in this way. Such breeds include:

• Huskies;
• Malamutes;
• Eastern European Laika;
• Eskimo dogs;
• Scottish sheepdogs;
• Basset hounds;
• Bloodhounds.

Previously OBOZREVATEL told which breeds of dogs are most sensitive to pain.

Subscribe to the channels of OBOZREVATEL in Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events.