My dog...

[Fiery_Alto]

Ive been practicing in my kitchen lately, to get a different reflection of my sound. My dog, as soon as she hears me start to play, houls in this very agonizing way and strays as far away as she can go. I know this may seem like a silly question, but is there any chance I might be hurting my dog by practicing longtones in my kitchen? :?

[larry]

My wife is a soprano singer and whenever she practices, our female labrador retriever comes into the music room, sits down next to her, lifts her snout in the air, and howls along. More so, the higher my wife sings. Pretty funny actually!

We used to think that it was a pain thing, but given that the dog will deliberately nose her way into the room just to howl along has made us reconsider. We now believe that it is a vestigal "pack howl" thing and the dog, hearing the howling from my wife, wants to participate in the pack's vocalizations!

She will sometimes howl with me when I practice altissimo, so the highness of the notes seems to matter to her!

Of course, your dog appears to try to move AWAY from the source of the sound rather than towards it, so maybe our dog psychology approach doesn't work for your situation...

Or as SpongeBob says: "Squidward, the JellyFish don't seem to like your clarinet playing - could you maybe play a little...uh... better?"

[Nefertiti]

Most people don't know this but dogs are born with perfect pitch. It's actually a rare dog that doesn't have it. Usually dogs act like that if your playing out of tune. Either sharp or flat. Practice with a tuner. You'll notice that when you play a note perfectly in tune the dog will be fine but when you play sharp or flat on a note the dog will start howling. I hope this helps.

[larry]

Are you serious?! Dogs know about western 12-note scales?!

I think you're pushing my legs, man! :lol:

[Kareeser]

That's amazing!

It's like... a $300 dollar tuner that costs thousands more to maintain! :D

On the upside, it doesn't need batteries...

[Crumit]

My sax teacher's dog yowls during my lessons, usually when we're playing in the lower octave. I can't tell if this indicates disdain or the urge to join in. But at home, my cat likes my playing. When I start practicing, she jumps on my lap and purrs, which is a little hard to manage, balance-wise, but very complimentary.

[tophatsax]

My Golden/Chow mix howls, but only when I play my Dukoff mouthpiece in Tenor. Not with any other pieces or with the bari.

[gary]

My Siamese would jump off her warm perch on the first note and start slinking out of the room. She would stop every few feet and look back at me over her hunched shoulder with a real hurt look on her face. Like it was personal. "Why are you doing this to me?"

[sskilton]

My dog too, purposely noses her way into the room that I practice in, curls up round my feet and sleeps.

Perhaps she's deaf. Although she can hear the sound of her food bowl being put down at a hundred paces.

:?

[DD]

My Yorkie likes sax sounds in the following order: Soprano - curls up on carpeted step 8 feet away with paw up to right ear; Alto - takes paw away from ear; Tenor - moves closer to source of sound; Bari - curls up at my feet to get full vibrational effect.
He hates the clarinet and heads to the other end of the house.
But he also has no fear of the neighbors' 3 mastiffs - that makes me curious regarding the level of his mental capacity. Maybe he just has a general affinity for larger, louder objects.

[rodelliot]

Most people don't know this but dogs are born with perfect pitch. It's actually a rare dog that doesn't have it. Usually dogs act like that if your playing out of tune. Either sharp or flat. Practice with a tuner. You'll notice that when you play a note perfectly in tune the dog will be fine but when you play sharp or flat on a note the dog will start howling. I hope this helps.

That sounds like a load of bunk, but I promise this part is true. My dog NEVER howls or runs away when I play.

Hmmm, maybe there is something to that perfect pitch thing! :lol:

[Dog Pants]

My Dog Pants. :)

Wella bloke could hardly resist now could he? :D

[larry]

My Dog Pants. :)

Wella bloke could hardly resist now could he? :D
Ouch!
"I thought you said your dog doesn't bite!"
"That is not my dog."

[Frank D]

My dogs are completely indiferrent to my playing. :(

[Super 20 Player]

Paging Pastor Howlin' Dog Rob...

[jazzbluescat]

Most people don't know this but dogs are born with perfect pitch. ...........

I believe the "most people don't know" part. :twisted: :lol:

[Vortex]

A little on the side here, about 20 years ago my studio used to have a resident parrot named Forty Bucks, named after his price tag. Any time a band came through and really sounded good, it would kaw along with them in approval. The bird had a really good ear as it spotted all the ones we thought were good too. If the band was bad or just okay, it wouldn't do anything (except swear, I think somebody from one of the bands taught it how to cuss)

Now I have two dogs, one's very old and obese and just just lays around and stinks all the time (wait, why do I feed him?) and the other is younger, frisky, starting to get fat, and an eating machiene! Both don't seem to care about my playing.

[sax_appeal]

Hey Vortex, your dogs sound a lot like mine! (til the old smelly one died)

I'm becoming a cat person, I think. They're pretty smart and they've got good taste. I caught our cat trying to knock my mother's oboe off its stand and yet she cuddles up to my bari when I leave it on my bed. She always disappears when I'm practising alto and tenor though

[Vortex]

Maybe I'm overprotective of my horns, but I try not to let my dogs even brush against it (especially when on its stand). My main concern is them getting hairs stuck on/around the toneholes which could then crease the pad and cause a leak, b/c they shed a lot.

[Bbtenor4LIFE!]

Whenever anything's loud in my house, by dog barks. When I practice outside, my cat runs away into the woods. When I first started playing clarinet a couple of years ago, my aunt's cat ran, especially when I was only using the mouthpiece :shock:

[bruce bailey]

The cat hates high D on soprano! When I play oboe, I run away into the woods....

[Mel]

Most people don't know this but dogs are born with perfect pitch. It's actually a rare dog that doesn't have it.

I have a rare dog!!!

When my dog was a few months old, he would sing to anything produced by a musical instrument, and he had absolutely no sense of intonation. AND, on top of that, my dog would come over and lick the instrument and my hand if I were to ever stop playing. Basically, this meant I would have to play until he had enough. (He even liked my despicable flute skills!)

Now, at three years old, my dog has become VERY picky. He doesn't sing to just anything anymore--he chooses the music he likes. If I'm playing something he doesn't like, he'll come over, whine, and lick my hand until I stop playing and choose something that he likes. (One of the reasons why I lock myself in a room when I practice with my precious sax.) But at least he's developed his pitch so that he's always spot-on when he sings along now.

Sometimes I worry that he might be more "musical" than I am. :?

[paulwl]

my studio used to have a resident parrot named Forty Bucks [...] I think somebody from one of the bands taught it how to cuss)
The real surprise would be a parrot that hung around musicians and didn'tcuss.

Now I have two dogs, one's very old and obese and just just lays around and stinks all the time (wait, why do I feed him?)
Better you should ask: "why don't I wash him?"

Or if the aroma is more "episodic" in nature: "what do I feed him?"

You cat-owned may be able to advise me. I have a jones on 2 Abyssinians I saw down at the pet shop. How do Abys take to music? They're very quiet, refined, tiptoe-y cats (a friend's Aby once stole a whole steak off my dinner plate just after I was served...)

[Morry]

The cat hates high D on soprano!

Who doesn't?

[steve]

Nefertiti has it almost right....but forgot the most imporatant thing. My dog's perfect pitch allows me to tune to him...very accurate D (concert). I've found it a bit hard to fit an 80 lb. Golden Retriever in my sax case, however.

[DougR]

You must never put the dog in the case.
http://www.dslextreme.com/users/rotts4su/misc.photos.html

[Gayle Fredenburgh]

I've recently been adopted by a 3.2 pound Yorkie. Like every small dog she loves to bark. I never heard her howl until I was testing a soprano sax. She doesn't pay as much attention to alto or tenor unless playing in the upper register. We've had some wonderful duets. She will follow my articulation well-- tongue 3 short notes and she'll put 3 small accented barks in her singing. She also will follow my lead with direction of notes and sing low to high sounds in an echoing style. I often wonder what she is thinking but there must be some sort of enjoyment in it for her.

[HC]

Hmm... Nefertiti, my dog howls while I play the piano. That thing is recently tuned yet he howls.

Also howls when the fire truck (or anything with a sirin) goes by our house.

[Vortex]

[quote]Now I have two dogs, one's very old and obese and just just lays around and stinks all the time (wait, why do I feed him?)
Better you should ask: "why don't I wash him?"

Or if the aroma is more "episodic" in nature: "what do I feed him?"

You cat-owned may be able to advise me. I have a jones on 2 Abyssinians I saw down at the pet shop. How do Abys take to music? They're very quiet, refined, tiptoe-y cats (a friend's Aby once stole a whole steak off my dinner plate just after I was served...)

Getting a dog like that in the bathtub could prove dangerous. I do bathe him from time to time, but after a couple days he manages to get that characteristic scent again. At $30 a bath at the local groomer, keeping him smelling good all the time would get quite expensive, and at the expense of the cleanliness of the trunk of my car, too... so much shedding...

[Mel]

I feel sorry for you, Vortex. My dog absolutely loves baths. He gets one once a week in the summer and once a month in the winter. As for the scent, I think it's caused by dog food. My dog used to smell; then we stopped feeding him dog food, and we've never had a problem since. Also, we found that regular shampoo works better and smells better than dog shampoo. Somehow, manufactures think that if they don't put a *dog scent* in their products, be it shampoo or food, then they can't market them for dogs... :?

[HC]

I feel sorry for you, Vortex. My dog absolutely loves baths. He gets one once a week in the summer and once a month in the winter. As for the scent, I think it's caused by dog food. My dog used to smell; then we stopped feeding him dog food, and we've never had a problem since. Also, we found that regular shampoo works better and smells better than dog shampoo. Somehow, manufactures think that if they don't put a *dog scent* in their products, be it shampoo or food, then they can't market them for dogs... :?

lol :twisted:



Sure... he wouldn't smell, but then wouldn't he be sorta dead?

[Mel]

LOL. Actually, in addition to being a picky "musician," my dog is actually quite a spoiled, picky eater. This works out fine because we live in a place where dog food is quite expen$ive (must be imported), so he just eats whatever my mom manages to cook up for him.