My Husky Can't Howl

[Huttser101]

Hello! My name is Alexandra and I am here for my year old Husky boy named Huttser (named after the alpha male in the novel "The Sight").

He has been like this since the day we got him. I thought maybe he couldn't howl because he was young and still developing his vocal abilities, but here we are a year later and he still can't do it.

Huttser is a very talkative boy (like most huskies) and we (especially my boyfriend) always made sure to talk back and keep him vocal as we love that aspect of huskies. But every time he tries his hardest to work up that howl, he ends up almost like losing his voice, and sometimes chokes.

I can't seem to find anything online about this so I thought I'd come here and see if anyone else has a husky that can't seem to get that howl out.

Thank you!

[mydiamond]

hey Alexandra welcome to our big husky family! first off, you need to know that each husky is different and it looks like Huttser is a talker. Some others are howlers. Some are barkers (rare as far as my observation goes). We also have screamers (LOL) and "grumblers", which is a name I give to my boy Diamond who always talks in a low-toned voice none of these huskies are not normal and, IMO, given the right opportunity/situation all of them are able to howl. It's just that some howls more than the others. 

 

however, there are some methods that people claim can make a husky howl.

 

1) Play a YouTube video of a husky howling, and turn up the volume. 

2) Wait until the "singing" ice cream truck passes by. Or an ambulance/fire truck with its siren blaring. Diamond sings to the loudspeaker of a local food truck. 

3) Let him meet another dog that howls a lot. Or better yet a dog that howls on command. 

 

Hope I helped xxx

[Mike101]

Welcome to H-O.. I'm sure he will howl when he is ready .unless of course he doesn't. As Liv said, they are all different ..enjoy what you have

[Removed #5]

Hey Alexandra, and a (not so) warm Texas Welcome to the forum!!

As Liv said, they are all different - definitely different.

I have an Alaskan who will accompany a YouTube video but otherwise it's bark (and when he barks, I pay attention, it's that rare) and mostly a whiny grumble. I also have a Sibe who barks on occasion to get my attention but mostly she, too, will give me a whiny grumble. But even at that they seldom talk to me at all.

Did I just admit to having two whiny dogs???

[Jay]

Hello and welcome!  Like the others said, every husky is different, and Huttser just may not be a howler.  None of mine really howl like you hear from most huskies, but they all have their different "voices".  Nikko is a talker, he will make these noises that kind of sound like words.  Yukon has this really deep, almost growling sound.  And Kodiak has something in between...it's like a deep growly talking sound.  Nikko will also bark, but the other two have never barked.

 

Again, welcome!

[Waystation49]

Hi, Alexandra. I found your post when I Googled this “problem- howling” problem.

The husky “L—“ ( not using his full name for privacy reasons) here is 11 years old. He is in a sort of housemate environment- most are family, I rent, multi- generational, no young kids.

When everyone in the Family  is gone, I would encourage him “to chat,” and when we started over a year ago, I learned he “had a lot to say.” He talks, grumbles, has his happy comments, and tries to mimic human speech. He clearly says, “I love you.”, “cheese”, ( he loves cheese cube treats), “Mom”, ( not me, he has a human mom). He understands “water” when said and immediately goes to his bowl lapping fast so it is refilled.

He has a dazzling smile with twinkling blue eyes - that smile in a human could win elections. I have never seen a dog with such a glowing smile!

L —  uses husky sign language, like pawing the sleeping surface when he wants tummy rubs or more petting. If I stop, he “yips”, and wriggles his tummy or head to show ‘more please’, and ‘where to pet.’

He is a great alarm clock and consistently wakes anyone still sleeping at exactly 8am. ( How does he know??!) He has learned the concept of “weekend”, that took awhile, but he has learned weekends we might sleep longer. He catches on to “daylight savings time changes” by second week.

He alerts to deliveries. For example, I can ask him, in a normal conversation, “L—, can you tell me when Amazon comes, please?” (Several of us work at home. ) And sure enough, he can almost beat Alexa, for coming and scratching my office door to let me know my delivery came. He is fast! (Owner hears Alexa, I don’t, so often she has asked me “How did you know?” Since she knows I am too far away to hear Alexa. (big house) And I tell her that “L — came and told me.”  Otherwise, he isn’t scratching my door, except to wake me, (each door gets a “scratch” wake up alert), and if that doesn’t work, his idea of the “snooze” button is to “start howling at the end of the bedrooms area.” More on his howling problem below.

His executive planning and function are more like maybe an eight year old kid. If I say, “You know, “L—“, the gardener comes this morning. You know what THAT means…” He jumps up, goes to drink a lot of water, goes outside to the bathroom, and returns to where he was laying. ( He doesn’t like the noisy gardener, and it means his dog door is blocked while gardener is here.)

Unfortunately, he is mischievous naughty side - L — opens door knobs, and is a Houdini. Bedroom and bathroom doors are a problem, and yard gate.  He drinks from toilets (ugh!) and can open the lid. He opens trash cans, steals toothbrushes, and at least once the toilet brush. Several years in a row, he took the owner’s Thanksgiving turkey out of the sink, after it fully defrosted, dragged it outside and ate it. Once he also opened and ate a big box of candies and chocolates that were delivered to the Owner’s adult child. (He shared with the chihuahua.)

DOG LEFT BEHIND

This husky was the “dog left behind” by the owner’s eldest who moved out about three years ago. He still visits sometimes. The chihuahua that was here passed of old age several years ago. Since then, near as I can tell, and I watch, if the family talks “at” the husky, it is to scold him. He is the afterthought… I refill the large water 5+ times in every 24 hours, and usually it is empty when I go look. Other than snack cheese or Fresh Pet I give him, he mostly has the same crunchies the chihuahua had for years, every day.

As far as I know, and I have asked, he has never played ‘chase the ball’, ‘tug o war’, or had toys, other than my trying teaching him play with a tennis ball. He had no clue as to why I was rolling him a ball.  He has made up his own game of hide and seek. He seems to love playing that. 

HOWLING-

L had abrupt onset and slowly losing ability to howl!

We used to “celebrate” the gardener leaving on ‘gardener day’  by “howling, “ as usually no one else is home that morning.  We would howl together, for maybe five minutes, and he would walk around the grand room more like in a “wolf circle dance,” occasionally coming over to lean into me… all the while on and off having / creating eye contact  to see how long we should keep howling. ( L — is not an Alpha)

We took advantage of anytime when no one else was home and would howl, especially if an ambulance or cop car could be heard.

PROBLEM

Lately, he starts to howl and his voice cracks! He used to have probably a 4-5 octave full howl range (start low baritone- end high alto), now his voice cracks in low alto, and he keeps trying to howl… but it sounds like his “howl is broken.” 

So sad… he had a lovely singing voice, he seemed so proud of. He seems bothered, too, that his howl is broken. 

The only change about the same time was starting to feed him more balanced food as a breakfast snack. That seems to have helped him gain a few pounds of much needed weight. 

QUESTION

1. Does aging stop ability to howl?

2. Would gaining a little weight affect howling? ( I think he is still underweight…)

3. Could something in food be causing loss of ability to howl? ( he doesn’t get Fresh Pet every day… maybe several times a week)

—-

If anyone reading this is just considering getting a husky, hopefully my 3-D introduction to what life is like with our L—, will give you insight into their potentially amazing personalities.

 

—-

Can anyone help L —- get his “howl” back?