Nerd Pride Radio

What does howling mean to dogs? To wolves? Why do they do it?

My dog was feral for the first months of life. I howled at him for fun and he lost his mind. Tried it again in smaller doses; same effect. He runs around crazily, jumps wildly into the air, and begins whining and then barking frantically. ????????????????

I think it's a form of communication. Howls carry for a long distance, with parts in the audible spectrum we cannot hear. Dogs apparently can understand about 300 words in a human language, so I would not be surprised if they have a primitive language of their own.