Dogs seem to always howl when you play a high-pitched instrument like the harmonica. Do harmonicas hurt dogs ears? Is that why they howl? Let’s find out the real reason below.
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Have you noticed or felt your dog acting strange to some noises? Well, it is a widespread behavior among dogs. Some specific sounds can trigger a dog’s hearing senses. Your dog may start howling or barking when he hears such sounds.
Dog owners cannot identify whether the dogs are getting irritated, howling, or singing along to the tune of a harmonica.
The sound produced by a harmonica is not very loud until and unless you have not connected it with an amplifier. If you are playing the instrument at the normal volume it will not hurt your dog, else it will.
This article will try to find the exact response of the dogs to a harmonica’s sound.
Does The Noise From A Harmonica Hurt A Dog’s Ears?
Howling doesn’t always mean that your dog is unhappy or angry. In the case of a harmonica, the howling of a dog can also mean that they are singing along with the tunes.
You can accurately tell whether they are enjoying it or not by observing their body language. If your dog’s body appears to be relaxed while he’s howling, then you have nothing to worry about.
Higher pitch tones are not always painful to dogs, but sometimes these tones can also be upsetting to them. If you notice any whining while you play the harmonica, your pet dog may feel a bit anxious.
On the other hand, if you see your dog growl or simply run away as soon as they know a harmonica, then you can safely assume that they do not like the sounds of a harmonica.
How To Stop Your Pet Dog From Howling At A Harmonica Or Any Noise?
Your dog constantly howling at a harmonica can be irritating and disturbing if it continues for too long. So here are some tips for you that will help you reduce their howling.
- You need to give attention to your dog. Howling can be a way for your pet dog to grab your attention. Then your dog will develop bad habits of trying to get your attention in irritating ways.
- Don’t encourage your dog when he or she starts howling unnecessarily. The best solution to this is that you can start ignoring them. When your dog realizes that he cannot get a response out of you, he’ll stop automatically.
- You can reward your dog’s calm behavior if it stays quiet while you are playing the harmonica. This way it will learn that it should stay quiet during your harmonica rehearsals.
- You can keep your dog busy for some time while you are on the instrument. Give it some toys with which it can play alone.
- You can also get earplugs specially designed for dogs. It will cut any noise that it dislikes and allow you to have a quiet place.
What Are The Leading Cause For Such Behavior?
If you want to know why your dog starts whining or helping whenever you pull out a harmonica, then before doing that, you need to be aware of the hearing senses of your dog.
Dogs have very sensitive ears in comparison to us humans. Sounds are very important to dogs as they can comprehend what’s going around them with the help of their ears.
The dog can sense danger as they can hear sounds of different frequencies. These sounds and noises are not audible to the human ear. The dog can also respond to music as we do.
Dogs have highly sensitive ears because they can hear sounds of high frequencies. Dog’s can differentiate each other based on their howling frequencies. To us, the howling of dogs sounds the same, where the reality is that they are communicating with each other.
As dogs can identify high-frequency sounds, some sounds they may not be able to differentiate coming from a harmonica.
They can hear these sounds, but these sounds are hurting their ears. Dogs are also affected by music the same way we are like we want to listen to different music based on our moods. Dogs also want the same.
Howling to the harmonica is just a way for the dogs to express their feelings. For instance, if your dog hears classical music, its reaction is calm and composed. Similarly, if they listen to rock music, their reaction could be excitement, aggression, etc.
How Can You Discourage This Behavior?
A pet dog can howl for many reasons, including expressing hunger, household noises, thirst, boredom, or simple attention-seeking behavior. If you feel that your dog’s reaction to the harmonica is not ideal, it is a common theme across dogs. Then you can discourage this behavior and encourage them to react differently to the music.
If you think that your pet dog is howling just to grab your attention, you should try to avoid them. If you start giving them attention at this point, then they will develop this into a habit. The sound from a harmonica is pleasing to them as dogs are also fond of music.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my dog howl at the harmonica?
Because they may remind him of howls from other dogs.
As a harmonica operates on high-frequency audio waves, dogs can have some problems in correctly identifying these sounds.
The sounds from your harmonica may remind them of an animal or canine, due to which they can start howling. Howling is the form of singing for dogs. With the help of howling, dogs can communicate.
Do all dogs howl at harmonicas?
No, but it does trigger a strong reaction in them.
No, not all dogs will howl at harmonicas. Different dogs will react to different tones and pitches of sounds that will trigger them. Just the sound of a flute can trigger some dogs. Some dogs use howling as an expression for singing.
Do dogs howl at music because it hurts their ears?
Not necessarily, it could also be because they think someone is trying to communicate with them.
It is not necessary that if your dog is howling at music, then it is because their ears are hurting. Your dogs cannot distinguish between the high pitch tones from a harmonica to the high pitch tones of other animals or canines.
The dogs howl as they think someone is trying to communicate. When your dog is howling, then he or she might be trying to accompany you by singing along with you.
A Few Final Words
The high-frequency tones from a harmonica are responsible for changing the mood of the dogs that results in them howling. This howling does not mean that your dog is hurting their ear or he or she is not enjoying the music.
The truth is he or she is reacting to the music differently. Dogs react to different music in different forms. It just so happens that they howl at the sound of a harmonica. If you don’t like your dog howling to the harmonica, you can encourage them to behave differently and react in another way.
Thank you for reading the article. You might also like to read: Dog Growls When Lying Down and My Dog Whines When He Sees Other Dogs