whine & wah-wah

February 18, 2010 8:50 PM

pups & order. MLYT. Various dogs sing along with the opening theme of television show Law & Order.

It is theorized that the sound of the wah-wah guitar has a specific effect on canine hearing.

posted by ovvl (45 comments total)

Puppies, kitties and Jesus - tic tac toe!
posted by june made him a gemini at 8:53 PM on February 18, 2010

They probably put a dog whistle in like the Beatles...

or was that the Beach Boys?
posted by Dick Laurent is Dead at 8:55 PM on February 18, 2010

AHHH This is so funny!
posted by rebent at 9:05 PM on February 18, 2010

I like it! (I am a bit simple.)
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:42 PM on February 18, 2010

Created by Dick Wolf. Coincidence?
posted by Mr Mister at 10:01 PM on February 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

Coincidence?

I think not.
posted by axiom at 10:05 PM on February 18, 2010

THAT IS A LOT OF PUPS.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:07 PM on February 18, 2010

I'm a huge L&O fanboy (not the ubernerdy "I know everything about the shows" kind, just the "I really enjoy watching them" kind), and I heartily approve of this.
posted by yiftach at 10:11 PM on February 18, 2010

This is hilarious! I never knew this phenomenon existed. My dogs have never shown any reaction to Law & Order.
posted by amyms at 10:21 PM on February 18, 2010

I clicked on play on most of these videos, one after the other, and sat back and listened to a canon of puppies singing along to Law and Order, in canine disorder.
posted by seawallrunner at 10:36 PM on February 18, 2010

This is going to utterly make my wife's day.
posted by Sutekh at 10:55 PM on February 18, 2010

I couldn't stop laughing.
posted by naplesyellow at 11:00 PM on February 18, 2010

My now-gone dog Ginger did this very thing. She'd start singing within a half second of the music's start, before the wah wah guitar came in. I had no idea the song had the same effect on other dogs.
posted by item at 11:02 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh no. I just upset my cat a great deal.
posted by missmary6 at 11:06 PM on February 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

Are you sure they're singing? They look kind of uncomfortable.
posted by Malor at 11:08 PM on February 18, 2010

It is theorized that the sound of the wah-wah guitar has a specific effect on canine hearing.

Dogs can sense evil.
posted by benzenedream at 11:52 PM on February 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

Dogs can sense evil.

They can also sense procedural dramas.
posted by Del Far at 12:05 AM on February 19, 2010 [9 favorites]

I used to have a dog whose bark sounded just like the Law & Order "Doink Doink" stinger.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:49 AM on February 19, 2010

Some of those dogs followed along better than others.

... and the fact that they are obviously following along is awesome.
posted by flaterik at 1:49 AM on February 19, 2010

a) I don't think there is a wah wah pedal on the guitar in the L&O theme song. It would have been a cool reference to the 70s format if they had, but all I hear is a little flanging or phase shifting on that tone.

b) I once heard L&O (all flavors) described as "a grizzled old DA teaches a series of supermodels how to fight crime." If ADAs were really that good looking, I'd be a bank robber.

c) This alternative possibility was in the comments for the linked post. (YouTube, safe for anywhere.) Funniest single video I have ever watched for some reason.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:57 AM on February 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Please someone who's more skilzed than I synch these up!
posted by Pollomacho at 4:53 AM on February 19, 2010

Growing up, My family had a dog that would do this exact same howling number whenever my father did his imitation of his great uncle singing "Life is Like a Mountain Railroad." It was pretty amusing, even if the dog seemed not particularly happy about it.

Why my father was doing an impression of a family member singing a gospel song the FIRST time, I've never found out.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 4:57 AM on February 19, 2010

It's like how your pet knows that an earthquake is coming.

I dunno if this makes me special or not, but I can tell when something crazy is going to happen on House, JUST BY MEASURING THE TIME SINCE THE LAST COMERCIAL BREAK!
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:03 AM on February 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

We'll have to rewrite the books on canine psychology. Was classical conditioning just a Russian ruse all along?
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:15 AM on February 19, 2010

Our dog often howled when my sister played clarinet. Wonder if it's the clarinet (or anticipation of it) that's exciting them.
posted by gubo at 5:38 AM on February 19, 2010

I am disappointed that my own dogs never showed any reaction to L&O. :(
posted by Fleebnork at 5:49 AM on February 19, 2010

The dog I grew up with howled/sang along with the themesong from The Andy Griffith Show and the Final Jeopardy music. What was funny is the ringing in sound from a jeopardy contestant alerted him that Jeopardy was on, and he'd sit and stare at the TV until Final Jeopardy. (Okay, he'd wander off during commercial breaks, but mostly he sat and watched full episodes of Jeopardy with me... and I won about 80% of the time!)

Man, I wish we had iPhones or flip cams back then. It'd be a huge youtube hit.
posted by DigDoug at 6:13 AM on February 19, 2010

One of my cats, back when I was trying to play the harmonica, had a feline take on this.
Only it involved licking my face, then gently biting my nose if I didn't stop.
posted by angrycat at 7:40 AM on February 19, 2010

This is what the Internet was made for.

(Not cat videos!)
posted by moonmilk at 8:06 AM on February 19, 2010

On Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii, there's a track, Mademoiselle Nobs with a dog howling that is so bluesy that I had thought it was actually a person...until I saw the movie. The vocals are by an Irish wolfhound named Mademoiselle Nobs.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 8:15 AM on February 19, 2010

Oh my good it's spreading! Cover your years! coverpool pontpool pontypool pontypool
posted by The Whelk at 9:13 AM on February 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

It is a well-established fact that dogs love to sing. Or express their unhappiness with high-pitched sounds by howling. Or are meat automatons programmed to respond to environmental stimuli. Or something.
posted by tspae at 9:15 AM on February 19, 2010

this has absolutely made my day. i'm mostly an L&O Criminal Intent fan, and my dog takes zero interest in that song. I'll have to test regular L&O on him and see what happens! It is amazing to see the dogs just like, completely perk up as soon as they hear the music. wow.
posted by capnsue at 9:18 AM on February 19, 2010

And it is a lot more fun than watching a Tiger Woods press conference...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 9:34 AM on February 19, 2010

And it is a lot more fun than watching a Tiger Woods press conference...

But less fun than watching a dog howling at a Tiger Woods press conference.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:38 AM on February 19, 2010

What's weird is that it looked like most of the "triggers" were L&O SVU in the specific. I don't even know where to begin with that one.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:59 AM on February 19, 2010

On Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii, there's a track, Mademoiselle Nobs with a dog howling that is so bluesy that I had thought it was actually a person...until I saw the movie. The vocals are by an Irish wolfhound named Mademoiselle Nobs.

That's really a (quite altered) version of Seamus, from the album Meddle. Seamus, actually Steve Marriott's dog, couldn't make it to Pompeii and so Mademoiselle Nobs, an Irish Wolfhound, had to stand in for him.
posted by Sparx at 11:11 AM on February 19, 2010

My girl has nothing for L&O....but have a firetruck roll by and she will try to harmonize with the siren.
posted by fluffycreature at 11:42 AM on February 19, 2010

In the canine criminal system, sonically based offenses are considered especially heinous.
posted by xod at 2:37 PM on February 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

c) This alternative possibility was in the comments for the linked post. (YouTube, safe for anywhere.) Funniest single video I have ever watched for some reason.

LAW AND ORDER: DOG ON QUILT UNIT

Someone, maybe Sars of Tomato Nation, made up rudimentary lyrics for the L&O theme song.

Here comes Law and Order
Time for Law and Or-der
dum DUM
Briscoe was a drunk
Now he beats up pu-unks
Here comes Law and Order
Time for Law and Or-der . . .

posted by Countess Elena at 4:06 PM on February 19, 2010

For reasons known only to themselves, the distributors of Law & Order in the UK have taken it upon themselves to change the theme music. Not that I'm complaining, because they've changed it to "I'm Not Driving Any More" by Rob Dougan, which is an awesome track. But the idea of dogs trying to sing along to that is more than a little odd.
posted by ZsigE at 5:53 PM on February 19, 2010

this is hilarious - i know a dog that has the same reaction. what is going on?
posted by lucysun at 7:05 PM on February 19, 2010

[This is good]

But cats are still better.
posted by Alnedra at 8:23 PM on February 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Great link. But yet another way my dog is mentally challenged - no reaction whatsoever.
posted by mozhet at 3:27 PM on February 20, 2010

It's been well documented that dogs have a shared consciousness. That's why they howl at the moon, as it syncs them up. With the phenomenon of indoor dogs, they find the need to howl at something else to tap into the canine oneness. Hence, they pick a TV show.

Because of their brethren in the K9 units, they are fond of police procedurals.
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:21 AM on February 21, 2010 [2 favorites]