Pumpkin Loves Madonna

Have you ever heard a dog sing along with his favorite human companion? Most likely you have, some dogs just love to howl along while their human sings or plays an instrument. If you have never heard this, just do a little search for singing dogs on YouTube.com, you'll find many fun videos.

Although not all dogs sing, there are actually a couple of breeds that have a propensity for song. The best singer though the New Guinea Singing Dog, a wild dog that is closely related to a dingo. Sonograms show this vocalization to be very different from those made by any domestic or wild dog, including the Basenji. Unlike a howl, the Singing Dog changes the tone of its voice, warbling a song to communicate with other dogs.

The New Guinea Singing Dog is a fascinating and adept vocalist with a voice that domestic dogs can't compete with, but that doesn't stop them from trying. Sometimes you just have to figure out what makes your dog want to burst into song. I read a great story about a dog that had a favorite sing-a-long pop star.

Donna in San Jose writes about a dog that she knew back in the 1980s. When a co-worker has a fire that completely gutted her house, she asked Donna and her roommate to look after Pumpkin for a few months. Pumpkin was a mixed-breed dog with a lot of personality. It wasn't long before Donna discovered that Pumpkin was a musical genius.

Pumpkin either loved or hated Madonna. It was hard to say which, but either way she never failed to howl when the singer had a song on the radio. Pumpkin would howl uncontrollably until the song was over.

Donna writes that one night she and her friends were driving around town with Pumpkin in the back seat when another car pulled up beside them with the windows rolled down and Madonna blaring from the radio. That was all it took to set off Pumpkin who started howling at the top of her doggie lungs. She was lying down and the people in the other car couldn't see her. They looked around perplexed trying to figure out where the howling was coming from and then drove away. Donna and her friends laughed and laughed.

To this day thinking about that makes Donna laugh. Pumpkin may not have been a New Guinea Singing Dog, but she might have made a great backup singer for Madonna!