Howling Dog

Someone who adopted a dog from the rescue a while ago has a problem. They
have a dog that has a strong urge to howl "loudly and continuously" at
sirens. Unfortunately for them, they live a mile away from a fire station.
They've tried citronella and static correction collars, and it just makes
the dog yelp or run while howling. About the only thing I can think of is
to teach the dog to 'quiet', but that'll only work when someone is home. Do
you think that teaching the dog an alternate behavior when he hears the
sirens is likely to work in a case like this?

sighthounds & siberians...

What breed or breed mix is he? Some dogs are more hard-wired to howl

Suja...

German Shepherd. Big whiners, but not exactly known for their howling.

sighthounds & siberians...

But very biddable, so I'd try "quiet" first, then an alternate
behavior.

Mustang Sally

Mary Beth...

Tell me about it!
The very first time I ever heard Zack howl, was when he'd been with us for
about 2-3 years or so. I was in the office on puter, Rudy was with me, and
Boo was on the bed, at other side of house. We all converged into the living
room, and stood staring at Zack, howling like the 'Hounds of the
Baskevilles'!

Going crazy with excitement Rudy and Boo kept looking to me to see what to
do about this unbelievable noise coming from our, until then, timid Zack.
All three of us were *baffled*.

Then we realized he was *DREAMING*.......he was on his back for the first
time ever that I saw him sleeping, on the couch first time that I saw, and
howling to beat the band.

Musta been a really 'stressful' dream! We watched for a bit, he finally
woke up and yawned, looking dozily at us, with a grin. :)

MaryBeth

dogsnus...

Hooboy yeah! There's "concerned whines", "speaking to you whines",
"pet me please whines", "how come _she_ gets one and I don't whines" and a
whole lotta others.

TOTE...

My GSD was the only one of my dogs that howled at sirens, and the only one

dogsnus...

I don't think I've ever really had a howler, thankfully.
Not even Taffy,which might actually be an improvement given the high
pitched timber of her bark. Heh.

to howl on command.

than others (I live in a house full of hard-wired howlers). If he's
one of those, an alternate behavior would be less likely to work.
It's worth a try, though.

Mustang Sally