My dog, the diva

    My dog Artie howls when I sing. He is very discerning. It’s only when I sing, no other singers live or recorded move him to vocalize. It’s only on certain warm up exercises and songs, but the list is long and ever-growing. He howls on Lean On Me, Over the Rainbow, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Can’t Help Falling in Love and many other standards, plus several of my own songs including I Can’t Fix You and Finally Love. It sounds like he’s in agony and wants me to stop singing, but sometimes he wags his tail at the same time. Occasionally, if he’s feeling lazy, he’ll stay on the bed at the other end of the house and howl while I’m warming up in the kitchen. My friend Lauren says on those occasions he’s just phoning it in. But usually he trots to wherever I’m singing and starts his earsplitting caterwaul. If he hears me singing on CD he howls, too. He has great breath support: he howls from the diaphragm with impressive volume and endurance. Darn it.
    I adopted Artie in 2003, he started howling in 2004 and hasn’t stopped since. At first I thought he just wanted attention, so I tried an experiment. I changed the verse of one of the songs that set him off and instead sang lyrics about how great Artie is. He stopped howling for a minute and I thought I’d found the solution, but then his howling started up again. Then I changed one of my warm ups exercises so I now I sing “Artie is the best boy in the world”. That one makes him howl louder than the others. My other rescue dog Ruby just sits there listening when I sing, thank God. As soon as I stop singing Artie stops, too.
    I know it sounds cute, but it’s incredibly annoying and makes it very difficult to practice. I love Artie a lot, but not his howling. When the weather is warm I can put him outside, and sometimes that distracts him enough so he forgets to howl when he comes back in through the dog door. But lately he’s onto me and won’t go outside when I’m singing. I’ve tried howling along with him, giving him treats, and on a dog trainer’s recommendation, walking him around the house to distract him. He continues to howl.
    In frustration I contacted an animal psychic --go ahead, mock me. She told me that Artie thinks he’s a much better singer than I am and is trying to drown me out. It’s not that he thinks I’m a bad singer, just that he’s much better. So we’ve got a Black Swan situation here, my beloved dog wants to be the top diva in the house. At least I have an excuse if  I hit a clunker at a gig-- it’s Artie’s fault for disrupting my concentration during rehearsals.
    Think I’m exaggerating? Go to my site here and listen to exhibit A.