Hopefully someone on here might be able to give me a clue on this one!

Since day one, Connor our 3 y/o Rottie has had a very odd habit. For no apparent reason he will howl, almost always 3 times, in the middle of the night.

He does this every couple of weeks or so. It starts as a low grumble and builds to a real proper 'wolf-howl', almost like something out of Scooby-doo.

We caught him doing it once - lying on his back 'singing' in his crate, and other times he seems upset as if he had a bad dream.
It's just 3 times, then back to sleep.

The first time he did it sure made us jump, and calming down the mother-in-law was fun!

Any ideas for this strange behaviour, or is he just crazy?

Thanks
Rob

Given the sporadic nature of the howling, I'd bet emergency siren or some other weird noise.

I did wonder about that. However we live right out in the countryside so no such noises that he's not already used to.

He loves sirens (K9 Cops is his fave program), and we've been awake when he's done this once or twice and there's been nothing obvious that would cause it. They will both bark at unusual noises, and it's just Connor that howls - so I'm a bit puzzled.

I know tons of dogs that are use to sirens, yet still howl at them. They can hear and smell a lot of $#|! we don't.

Or he is mental. Kinda hard to tell over the Internet. Other than the obvious.

I change my vote to mental.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

I change my vote to mental.

A good one, Michael

Maggie howls once in a while. I think it is wildlife outside-anything from coyotes (which I hear) to a cat - the other night she was going on an on...I looked out and there was the neighborhood cat walking through the garden. I can't believe that the coyotes and foxes haven't dispatched it yet over the years.

So my vote is sensitive hearing.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

I know tons of dogs that are use to sirens, yet still howl at them. They can hear and smell a lot of $#|! we don't.

Or he is mental. Kinda hard to tell over the Internet. Other than the obvious.

I change my vote to mental.

I'm gonna go with mental, too. A Dachschund taught some Pugs I know how to howl (no, this is not a normal Pug thing) and a few of them are really into it. Still. Two years later.

We consider them mental.

Haha, I love when my dog howls/barks/chases things in his sleep.

So funny to watch! Then he wakes up and has this "What is going on" look on his face

My uncle had a GSD, down on the lower mainland where they lived on the outskirts of a bay. Not a howler but when he was about 6 months old he started doing this strange howl at precisely 8 am, every morning. This went on for years. Not particularly bothersome but the most unusual thing my uncle had ever witnessed. He had no idea why his dog would do this. There were no audible bells, whistles or sirens and no unusual movements happening at that time in the morning. Every day, Monday – Sunday, no fail.

He’d commented once that his neighbor said he could set his watch by my uncle’s dog. He was dead on accurate every morning. As youngsters, you can imagine the tall tales we got told about how smart German Shepherds are. They can tell time. All shepherds woke up at 8 am and they thought this was a good time for everyone to get up.

One morning, after my uncle retired, he’d headed out fairly early to go fishing, with his trusty shepherd. They were about 5 miles from his home and it turned 8:00 am as they were passing a shipping yard. There was an unusual whistle that blew and sure enough, true to form, his dog made the strange howl. This sound must have travelled over the bay at such a frequency that the dog was picking it up at his home.

Mystery solved, years later. He almost didn’t tell us until we got our own shepherd and he was defective, couldn’t tell time like my uncle’s could. That’s when he decided to the break the news to us.

So I’m with Marcia on this one. I think your pup’s mental faculties are just fine Rob; he’s just got sensitive hearing. You got one of the non-defective ones.

My dog Maggie will sort of whimper (or talk) in her sleep and move her legs like she is running. I like to think she is out chasing birds like she so loves to do

My vote - mental with some really weird dreams