When I grew up, dogs mainly roamed free in my Saint Paul city neighborhood. They would create a terrific cacophony of howls when fire engines cruised by, and even more so during monthly testing of civil-defense sirens.

Based on my observations of our dogs and others it seemed to me that they all responded to these wolf-like sounds. So I was surprised to learn that Hungarian scientists observed only 39 of 68 breeds joining in on wolf howling.* Furthermore, they graded the vocal responses by type as follows (making me howl with laughter-ha ha):

1. Howl, Bark-howl, Moan, Yelp
2. Growl, Growl-howl, Woof
3. Whine, Whine-howl
4. Bark

The researchers then applied principal component analysis (PCA) that connected the degree of howling to the genetic distance from wolves—ancient breeds (huskies, malamutes and the like) older most likely to join in. This effect becomes more pronounced with age: Older dogs from modern breeds (for example, terriers and boxers) being least likely to howl with the wolves.

Hopefully, I interpreted this study correctly—there’s a lot to it. However, if you have a dog and remain uncertain how they howl, turn the volume up on this video.

By the way, I almost literally ran into a huge timber-wolf sitting on a remote road in northern Minnesota. After I brought our family car to a full stop, the wolf stared me down before sauntering slowly off. That gave me a healthy respect for Canis lupus and their wildness.

PS If you like dogs (as I do!), check out this briefing by Reuters, which includes a short video of the lead scientist and her Siberian husky Bizsu, whose howling precipitated this fascinating study.

*Lehoczki, et al, “Genetic distance from wolves affects family dogs’ reactions towards howls”, Communications Biology volume 6, Article number: 129 (2023)

Due to the social distancing necessitated by the current pandemic, dogs have become more valuable than ever for their devoted companionship. I have enjoyed owning a number of dogs throughout my life—observing a remarkable range in their intelligence, even within the same breeds. However, I doubt that even the smartest of my canines ever came close to six genius dogs now competing for this world championship in Budapest. They qualified by knowing the names of at least 10 objects. The winner, to be crowned later this month, will need to identify 12 toys with only a week of training.

This feat of memory and recognition seemed impressive by my meager experience with dogs (and limited talent for training them). However, it turns out that a Border Collie named Chaser, who passed away a year ago, knew over 1000 nouns. Incredible! In 2018, he and his owner and trainer, John Pilley, were put to a randomized test (with a surprising twist!) for PBS Nova by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Watch the 6-minute video: You will be amazed.