The wolf is the first thing that comes to mind when one hears a howl in the wild. And although howling is a wolf-specific means of communication, it is also a common canine behavior.
They employ it for communicating over long distances with other wolves, marking territory borders, and determining the location of their pack mates, who typically respond with similar howling.
The situation seems a little more complicated when it comes to our best friend, the domestic dog. Some breeds, like wolf-like sled dogs, are known to be “hard-howlers,” meaning that they frequently howl in response to irrelevant noises like bells, sirens, or music, while others never howl at all throughout their lives despite having the ability to do so.
Researchers from the Department of Ethology at Eotvos Loránd University wanted to figure out why dogs howl and see if it’s true that some breeds are more likely to howl than others and if this has anything to do with how similar they are to wolves genetically.
To find out, researchers tested 68 purebred family dogs by playing them recordings of wolf howls and watching how they reacted in a behavior lab.
The degree of genetic similarity between various dog breeds and wolves (the so-called “root distance”) was employed to evaluate breed impact.
According to the findings, breeds that are more closely related to wolves genetically (referred to as “ancient breeds”) are more likely to respond to wolf cry playbacks with their own howls. However, breeds that were less closely related to wolves (referred to as “modern breeds”) responded more often by barking as opposed to howling.
According to Fanni Lehoczki, the study’s first author, “It seems that although howling is present in most breeds’ repertoire, it lost its functionality due to the changed social environment, thus, modern breeds do not use it in adequate situations.”
Additionally, they discovered that breeds that scream more in this scenario also exhibit higher stress-related behaviors.
As explained by senior author Tamás Faragó: “We assume that more ancient breeds, which are genetically closer to wolves, can process the information encoded in wolf howls better than modern breeds. Thus, ancient breeds of our study might become stressed by intruding on a pack’s territory and use howling for the sake of avoidance, just as wolves do.”
Interestingly, this genetic influence on howling only affects older dogs (>5 years), which may be explained by a personality impact associated to experience or aging. It is likely that older dogs are more scared, as was previously reported by other research, in keeping with our idea that howling appears with a greater degree of stress and is a fear response, but these hypotheses need additional examination.
In addition to the dog’s breed and age, other aspects of the animal, such as its sex and reproductive status, were investigated to determine their impact.
They found “that something is going on with the male sex hormones, as there is no difference between intact and spayed females, but intact and neutered males do behave differently,” adds Fanni Lehoczki.
“Neutered males, which are in lack of testosterone, howl more in response to the playbacks. As neutered males are suggested to be more fearful, this result can be in line with our findings about responsiveness and more stressed behaviour.
Thus, the dog howl may mean “I am scared, don’t come closer.”
This is the first research to investigate precisely howling in pet dogs.
The results are consistent with the concept that human domestication and selective breeding fundamentally altered canine vocal behavior, including howl perception and production.
This new information helps us learn more about the history and effects of the relationship between humans and their “best friends,” the pet dog.
Source: 10.1038/s42003-023-04450-9
Image Credit: Getty