I would like to say this dog is singing to soothe the crying baby. It sure looks like it to my anthropomorphizing eyes. But my dealings with wonderful dog music specialist Lisa Spector have made me question this. She works with bio-acoustic researcher Joshua Leeds, who has theories about why certain sounds, like the theme song to Law & Order, make some dogs howl. When I can reach them, I’ll post their expert opinions. In the meantime, the dog is singing “Rockabye Baby.” Clearly.

Update: OK! We are now lucky enough to have Lisa Spector’s expert opinion on this howling dog. I am thrilled that my anthropomorphizing may have roots! Here’s what she wrote:

Joshua and I talked about it and this is what we discussed. It’s almost hard to tell with such a short clip. We’d love to know more about the dog. Does he howl regularly at different sounds – i.e. sirens?

This is almost the opposite of the Law and Order clip. In this it seems like the dog is very content. He’s either trying to calm the baby by howling. It may work because his tones are long and sustained (and beautiful). Or it’s possible that he’s trying to alert the adults nearby that the baby is crying. But, the former is probably more likely, since the baby stops crying so quickly and the dogs keeps howling even when the baby is quiet.

In any case, it was delightful watching this precious clip. What was also interesting was the other dog under the table. Was that dog trying to get away from the sounds of the crying baby to begin with? I couldn’t see enough of that dog to read their body language.

Wow! We’re very happy to Lisa’s sound opinion on this little video. It makes it even more enchanting now. Thanks, Lisa and Joshua! And a big happy howl to ever-watchful Dogster Nancy Aingworth, for calling my attention to this video. Aroo to you, Nancy!)