http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/06/18/jon-swihart/ Roger Bourland writes about music and life Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:46:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/06/18/jon-swihart/#comment-582 Red Black Window » Blog Archive » Howling: our dogs can’t help it Mon, 03 Jul 2006 12:59:27 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/06/18/jon-swihart/#comment-582 [...] We have two dogs, Giaco and Cody, who are Italian Greyhounds. Underline: HOUNDS. I now know that if you have a dog that has any kind of “hound” or “hund” in its name, it howls. It is likely that “hound” and “howl” are related phonemically in humans trying to describe what this genetic swatch, er, breed does. They like to howl. Our dogs, after they became adult dogs, began to learn how to howl: first Cody (Giaco was absolutely baffled), and then 6 months later, Giaco got it. Cody is the alpha male, so HE has to decide that it’s time to howl. Giaco will hear something disturbing and race to Cody to alert him to his suspicions: Cody invariably trusts Giaco’s intuition and begins to bark, and then howl. Howling can be triggered by a variety of phenomena: another dog or other dogs daring to walk past Cody’s house; a suspicious sound that can include a sound that we might make unknowingly that they have never heard before; by the way — they don’t respond to our parrots constant attempt at training them; one of their many very good human friends that come to visit us (Giaco insists on hugging, Cody waits and licks face) but the best trigger for howling is the 911 fire engines that kick up all the time in our Hollywood neighborhood. [...] [...] We have two dogs, Giaco and Cody, who are Italian Greyhounds. Underline: HOUNDS. I now know that if you have a dog that has any kind of “hound” or “hund” in its name, it howls. It is likely that “hound” and “howl” are related phonemically in humans trying to describe what this genetic swatch, er, breed does. They like to howl. Our dogs, after they became adult dogs, began to learn how to howl: first Cody (Giaco was absolutely baffled), and then 6 months later, Giaco got it. Cody is the alpha male, so HE has to decide that it’s time to howl. Giaco will hear something disturbing and race to Cody to alert him to his suspicions: Cody invariably trusts Giaco’s intuition and begins to bark, and then howl. Howling can be triggered by a variety of phenomena: another dog or other dogs daring to walk past Cody’s house; a suspicious sound that can include a sound that we might make unknowingly that they have never heard before; by the way — they don’t respond to our parrots constant attempt at training them; one of their many very good human friends that come to visit us (Giaco insists on hugging, Cody waits and licks face) but the best trigger for howling is the 911 fire engines that kick up all the time in our Hollywood neighborhood. [...]

]]> http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/06/18/jon-swihart/#comment-561 Roger Bourland Sat, 24 Jun 2006 22:25:22 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/06/18/jon-swihart/#comment-561 Thanks Inco! I love your Museum of Dust blog and visit it every day. RB Thanks Inco! I love your Museum of Dust blog and visit it every day.
RB

]]> http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/06/18/jon-swihart/#comment-559 Incognita Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:02:28 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/06/18/jon-swihart/#comment-559 Everyone should have a painter like this in their life! Congratulations both on a lovely addition to your lives, beautiful pooches -- and obviously the perfect partner... Everyone should have a painter like this in their life! Congratulations both on a lovely addition to your lives, beautiful pooches — and obviously the perfect partner…

]]>