They can hear and smell things a mile away, easily.
Few things are as beautiful as the belling of hounds.
Though my last Ibizan Hound passed away almost 2 years ago, my current Dobe was “raised” by her and even now, when he starts an alarm/alert bark, sometimes he “channels his inner hound” and begins with a bay, instead.
It’s funny to see him stop like “Where the hell did *that* come from??”
When I leave the room, he howls and sounds like a one-Dober-man pack of mournful hounds, a’baying.
Nature and nurture collides...he has an “accent”.
:)
Hahahaha...that’s funny.
I was just reading the James Herriot veterinary series, and in one of the stories, he talks about two champion border collies who were best friends, raised together, and lived on the farm together. Then, the farmer sold one of the dogs leaving only one.
The remaining dog ended up having epilepsy, which not ended his career, but the crusty farmer who had no use for pets...well...he kept the dog as a pet.
When they were diagnosing him, the owner said “Funny thing, that dog has never made a sound in his entire life. Never barked, not even once.” The vet was amazed if that was true.
Anyway, they ended up at a fair some months or years later, where there was a sheepdog competition, and while his dog couldn’t compete, the one they sold to another farmer was competing.
The Vet just happened to be there, and they sat in chairs watching the trials and as their former dog appeared with its owner, the owners saw the dog and knew it was their former dog, but they didn’t think their dog would remember it.
As the dog began its trial, their own dog saw it, and sat up straight in rapt attention, as only border collies seem able to do in that way, it’s eyes fixed on his former pal.
When his former pal ran by with the sheep, the dog let out one lone, single, “Woof!”
Everybody turned to stare at the dog!
I love that story.
I was at a trial some years back, and there were people with their border collies sitting on the side watching, and every time the sheep came by with a competing dog, they all did the same thing: They literally trembled with intense, unblinking concentration, and as the dog and sheep passed, they would crouch involuntarily and shake as if they were going to explode!
Sigh. I love dogs. I hope I get to have another one before I go.
That’s pretty cool the dog learned an accent.
I will however say that there’s some days you just want to throttle them when they’re whining or otherwise using the real high pitch bay to annoy the ever loving heck out of you and you ask yourself if you love them enough lol.