Dog howling at night
A dog howling at night was a common death omen in old British belief. A howl is really a long-distance call meaning "I am here, where are you?" Hearing one can turn you toward your own ways of reaching out.
What it may mean
Wolves howl to find each other across miles of forest, and dogs never lost the knack. A howl carries farther than a bark and says less: only "I am here, where are you?" A dog howling down the street at night is often alone, calling for its people or answering a siren it hears as another distant voice. Hearing it, you might ask how you call out when you feel far from the others: a text that is really a howl, a joke that hides a need for company, a silence that hopes someone will notice. And whose calls might you be hearing as noise when they are really asking for an answer? In old British belief the sound was ominous, and Brand himself admitted he did not know where the idea came from.
Depending on how you saw it
Howling along with a siren
Many dogs lift their heads and howl when an ambulance or fire truck passes, because the rising sound resembles a far-off howl. The dog answers a voice that is not a dog at all. Have you been answering calls lately that were never meant for you?
Howling in an empty house
A dog left alone may howl on and off for hours, a sound its owner never hears. Neighbors know it better than the family does. Who close to you might be lonely mainly when you are not in the room?
Howling to music or singing
Some dogs join in when someone plays the harmonica, the piano or a certain song, nose up and fully committed. It is participation, not complaint. Where would joining in, even off-key, be better than listening from the side?
A howl that carries for miles
On a still night a howl can travel across fields and valleys, because cool air near the ground carries sound farther. Words can carry, too. Which remark of yours may have traveled farther than you intended?
Why it happens in nature
Howling is how wolves and dogs keep in touch over long distances. Many dogs howl in reply to sirens, music or other dogs, because those sounds resemble a distant howl, and some howl when left alone. Hounds, huskies and a few other breeds howl more than most, and the sound carries farther on still nights.
What folk beliefs say
Britain
Brand records the common opinion that a dog howling by night in a neighborhood foretold death to anyone sick there, while admitting he did not know what had given rise to the belief.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 184. View the page
Scotland
In Scotland, it was said that the wind would come from whichever direction a dog pointed its nose while it howled.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 613. View the page
Persia (Iran)
In Persia, the howling of dogs was taken as a sign that angels had appeared to them.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 617. View the page
To reflect on
How do you call out when you feel far from the people you need?