It's not sane

[lizblackdog]

Good things about living alone with two dogs - I can have a bath at 3am if I want to.


Bad things about living alone with two dogs - one of Squish's Songs To Howl With comes up on the shuffle while I'm in the bath and I can't go and switch songs because I'm all wet and naked and foamy and the gimpy knee makes getting out of the bath something I'm extremely unwilling to attempt twice.

I'm not completely stupid, BTW - most of his known trigger songs are off my playlist. But Squishy's passion for music is a fluid, evolving thing. Some songs just make him howl very softly, some only make him howl sometimes, and some he suddenly starts howling to after years of silent listening. The spotted maestro doesn't like to perform until he's sure he's got all the key changes straight in his head. But his timing is always impeccable.

Comments

[revolution-grrl.livejournal.com]

Have I ever told you how delightful it is to me that he howls to certain songs? I mean, as a person living in an apartment with a barker, I understand it can be problematic with the neighbors, etc, but in terms of the actual dogginess of it, it's just delightful.

Is there a pattern in what songs he likes? Are they all slow, or all acoustic, or anything like that?

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

There's a particular howly tone that sets him off - Led Zeppelin, the Doctor Who theme. Songs that go "oooooooooo". Songs with "woo-woo" backing vocals (Sympathy For The Devil).

But there's a lot of stuff that I can't explain. Nearly any Ramones song will do it, nearly every Nick Lowe song will do it, and the one that set him off tonight was Paul Simon's Call Me Al. And it's not necessarily the voices - he's heard at least three radically different cover versions of London Calling and they all set him off, although the tempo, the instruments and the voices were different each time. So the actual tune must play a part too.

I don't know if you saw Squish's music videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWct1YDEdwI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N9gy-tqcZA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf54ZndcwXw

Sometimes I encourage him. Sometimes I sing along with them - they love that. But not at 3am.

[revolution-grrl.livejournal.com]

OMG, those are AWESOME! Thank you, thank you!

[danasaur.livejournal.com]

Chalupa will only sing along to songs with harmonicas, at least she's predictable.

[pgh-anarchist.livejournal.com]

Mine don't sing - thank god. They do bark if I start to sing to them, and I can't say I blame them as my voice could crack diamonds, it's that good. :0 And my cats do not appreciate it if I try to dance with them. Unappreciative buggers.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Awww!

I used to love dancing with Spike. Before I had Squish I'd get up and bop around with him whenever a suitable song came up on the shuffle. I can't do it any more though - dancing or playing tuggy indoors provokes a HUGE barkstorm from the Squisher and sometimes a dogfight. It's my one big regret about keeping the spotted one.