# Why do dogs howl at the moon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2007, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774 "2007-02-04T10:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/1 "2007-02-04T10:08:55Z")
Our neighbor’s dogs put on quite a concert last night. Didn’t bother me, but it did get me to wondering what causes this. Does the light from a full moon disturb them? Do they think that round white-ish thing in the sky is challenging them? Are they signalling to other dogs, perhaps competing with them to see who can be the loudest? Paraphrased from Peanuts: “For thousands of years, dogs have been howling at the full moon. The moon hasn’t moved, and dogs are still dogs. That proves something, but I’m not sure what.” If Snoopy doesn’t know, can any of us know? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/2 "2007-02-04T12:23:10Z")
I don’t notice any dogs howling when the full moon is out around here. [This Nova article](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wolves/howl.html) says the notion of wolves moon-howling is “popular imagination.” > [@](#): > > So wolves howl to find their companions and keep their neighbors at bay. Popular imagination has long held that they also howl at the moon, but there is no evidence that this is so. Wolves may be more active on moonlit nights, when they can see better, or we may hear them more often on such nights, because we feel more comfortable tramping about in the light of a full moon, but a wolf howling at the moon would be wasting its breath. Were the dogs you’re talking about howling because of the moon, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/3 "2007-02-04T12:30:54Z")
It’s easier for canines to howl if they point their heads straight up. The fact that this means that they look like they’re howling in the general direction of the moon is just a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/4 "2007-02-04T12:45:54Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] Were the dogs you’re talking about howling because of the moon, or something else? [/QUOTE] Aye, that’s the question, isn’t it! They were howling, and the moon was full, but perhaps there’s no correlation. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/5 "2007-02-04T13:21:41Z")
The neighbour’s dogs might have found it a real trial being left outside at night. They might have been howling to go indoors or something. Were the owners out? That could be another reason. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/6 "2007-02-04T13:35:43Z")
This explanation is probably a pile of crap, but I always liked it. For dogs, the senses of hearing and smell are more important to their brains than they are for us. And they don’t find many things that can be so clearly seen, but make absolutely no sound and generate absolutely no smell. So a bright moon (not necessarily full) is something of a disorienting perceptual disconnect… like for us if we could hear a voice talking to us but not see the person, or any other source that the voice is coming through. We might call the voice a ghost. Dogs just howl 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/7 "2007-02-04T14:16:20Z")
I read someplace it is because they have seen the greatest minds of their generation destroyed. But perhaps I misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![Agonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@Agonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agonist)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/8 "2007-02-04T14:38:37Z")
Semi-relevant: I knew a dog once that had to be put indoors whevever there were hot air balloons in the sky. Otherwise he would constantly bark at them, like they were intruders. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/9 "2007-02-04T14:55:02Z")
I don’t know if their owners were home that night, now that you mention it. **chrisk** ’s theory sounds plausible. (Although so does Paul’s. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/10 "2007-02-04T15:25:03Z")
I was watching Discovery’s “Living with wolves” (Great show BTW.) the other day. If memory serves correctly; the only time _they_ howled was after one of their brothers died. And I thought to myself: “Awe…” Yes, I’m a dork. ---
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/11 "2007-02-04T16:50:56Z")
While I do not claim to be a canine expert, I have been around dogs all my life. I find that **Ice Wolf’s** explaination certainly fits my experience. I have also observed that a howl is a long distance call. Once a howl is returned, it usually drops back to a bark. If the bark is not responded to, it goes back to a howl. If the bark is responded to, let the bark-off contest begin. Like I said not very scientific, just personal observation. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/12 "2007-02-04T17:00:28Z")
This [link](http://www.seefido.com/html/howling_dogs_.htm) and [this one](http://www.pets.ca/pettips/tips-36.htm) tie dogs’ howling to their wolf ancestry. Wolves, and coyotes, howl in order to communicate among themselves. When dogs howl it seems they are probably just lonesome and want to know if there is anyone in the neighborhood to talk to. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/13 "2007-02-04T17:32:59Z")
My dog howls when my 15 month old daughter cries. At first it’s cute, but after a minute or so the cute gets overtaken by the infuriating. I used to know a dog, a Jack Russel, who’s owner flew WWII fighters for a hobby. The dog used to run up and down the runway, barking at his master’s Spitfire roaring a few feet over his head. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/14 "2007-02-04T17:45:39Z")
I hesitate to mention this, but it probably comes from the same source: because they can ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/15 "2007-02-04T19:52:37Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] This [link](http://www.seefido.com/html/howling_dogs_.htm) and [this one](http://www.pets.ca/pettips/tips-36.htm) tie dogs’ howling to their wolf ancestry. Wolves, and coyotes, howl in order to communicate among themselves. When dogs howl it seems they are probably just lonesome and want to know if there is anyone in the neighborhood to talk to. [/QUOTE] I used to know someone who had a farm dog that would start howling with coyotes when they started up. Sometimes she’d even run in with the pack of them and play, despite the fact that her howls were at least an octave and a half lower. (Maybe they thought she was the canid version of El-ahrairah or somesuch.) Anyway, dogs who howl will howl at any night. It’s just that a dog backdropped against the Moon while howling is a picturesque sight. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mapache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/16 "2007-02-04T20:13:28Z")
Down here the neighborhood dogs howl every night. One will start, then all the others join in and the racket goes on for ten minutes or so. Also seems to set the donkeys off, so they bray as loudly as they can, which sets off all the roosters who start crowing, and that apparently annoys the dogs so they start in again…luckily I’m very deaf, but it drives my wife crazy sometimes. Doesn’t seem to have much to do with the moon, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/17 "2007-02-04T22:41:50Z")
> [@](#): > > (Maybe they thought she was the canid version of El-ahrairah or somesuch.) That would be the Fairy Wogdog. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/18 "2007-02-04T22:57:39Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] That would be the Fairy Wogdog. [/QUOTE] _clap clap clap_ I’d totally forgotten about the Fairy Wogdog. I guess it’s time to pick up the book and read it again. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-howl-at-the-moon/390774/19 "2007-02-04T23:08:07Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] > [@Stranger on a Train](#): > > (Maybe they thought she was the canid version of El-ahrairah or somesuch.) That would be the Fairy Wogdog. [/QUOTE] 😃