Singing shepherd

This is Ernie. He's a sweet, shepherd/hound mix that I adopted to a very nice family just over two years ago. The hound/shepherd mix is a good one. The hound part will likely take the edge off of what otherwise might be a high-strung, somewhat neurotic, German Shepherd Dog. Hounds make great family dogs; they always seem to love children and tolerate them well.


I once fostered two Black and Tan Coonhounds. They were really nothing but trumpets on four legs. Although hounds are wonderful dogs, I avoid fostering them because so many of them are so very vocal. We have too many dogs around to have them making that kind of noise. Some dogs, however, vocalize or sing only in reaction to certain stimuli.


Sirens always initiate a group howl at our place, led by Cabell. Most of the dogs join in, and those that are outside gather in a group to do it. It really does seem to be a social event for those involved and any dog stuck in the house when a group howl is happening usually wants to go outside to join in. We once had a foster rottie mix, Charlie (shown here), who would howl when the coffee maker started up in the morning. That was considerate of him perhaps, although we did have the coffee maker set to start before we really wanted to wake up. Our late rottie, Jack, would sing in response to any high-pitched, "tinny" sound like a harmonica.



Here is a link to a YouTube video that Ernie's adopters sent to me about a year ago, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zaBPLlje9o, with Ernie singing along as one of their children plays the violin.