Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

March 28, 2017 10:52 PM

Nobody's sure why dogs tilt their heads [cheery lecture with music], but everyone agrees it's adorable [intro music, human noises, whining, barking].

Five Malamute puppies [diegetic ringtones] (previously, but video link has rotted)
Two Malamute younguns [diegetic music box]
One Malamute puppy [really annoying human noises]

posted by Johnny Wallflower (18 comments total)

Why do wolves tilt their heads? It's an instinct that helps them better locate the source of a sound vertically as well as horizontally.
I'm not sold on the mystery here, I think we pretty much figured this one out. Why is it adorable, though?
posted by sanedragon at 11:21 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think we pretty much figured this one out

Yeah? Well, y'know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

so fucking adorable though
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:33 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

My childhood dog suffered from attacks of vestibular disease, which led to some permanent effects on his balance-related systems. While most of it was sad and scary, the permanent head tilt he gained for the last few years of his life was, frankly, charming.
posted by R a c h e l at 12:57 AM on March 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's an instinct that helps them better locate the source of a sound vertically as well as horizontally.

That may be the origin of the behavior, but once evolved, that behavior can be applied to different purposes, as the first video suggests.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 1:00 AM on March 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Flagged! There are clearly *five* puppies in that video. More warning please, some of us are trying to distract ourselves before the inevitable grind of the daily commute. You might want to ask a Mod to edit the link to give people the heads up.
posted by Helga-woo at 1:03 AM on March 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Pomeranian puppy listens enraptured to audio of wolves howling, then joins in
posted by J.K. Seazer at 1:07 AM on March 29, 2017 [15 favorites]

BTW, sound localization, the ability to hear a sound and then know which direction it came from, is one of the things humans do really, really well. In good conditions, humans can locate sounds to within 1 degree. It's one of the few human senses that is much more developed than in most animals. We are better than dogs at localizing sound. Owls are also really good at it.
posted by ryanrs at 3:29 AM on March 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

These videos are good for my soul.
posted by DigDoug at 4:25 AM on March 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

*tilt*
posted by Wolfdog at 5:07 AM on March 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

Things I could watch for literally hours:

* campfires
* cats chasing laser pointers
* that gif of how sewing machines work
* toddlers falling down
*dog head tilts
posted by middleclasstool at 5:36 AM on March 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

Mod note: Corrected the number of puppies... head tilt?
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:19 AM on March 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

It took us years (and the help of a more enthusiastic chihuahua) to get our pug to properly howl. To her, the call of the wild is, at most, a distant echo, because pug of course.

Even if she didn't join in when we howled, she gave us a peculiar quizzing look as if to convey, "This means something. Not sure what, but I think it's important."

Now she howls with a wonderful very-old blues-singer gravelly voice and it's as adorable as it sounds.
posted by tclark at 9:10 AM on March 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

The real question is why do humans find this so freaking adorable?
posted by AFABulous at 9:16 AM on March 29, 2017

Semi-related (there is head action involved): broccoli has caused system failure
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:17 AM on March 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's an instinct that helps them better locate the source of a sound vertically as well as horizontally.

I am right...in...front...of...the...dog when I ask "are you hungry?" Right in front. I am located in front, like five feet away. Its not an unusual sound, I say it twice a day at least. Not hard to locate at all.

I've always imagined that it pushed the neurons together a little closer for extra thinking.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:15 PM on March 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, same here.... I think the tilt has evolved for multiple applications as dogs have become more socialized.

Here's my Annie tilting her head again and again at the suggestion of treats when I'm sitting two feet in front of her. It's like she's saying, Yes, I am REALLY paying attention now give me the ^%$** treat.
posted by mochapickle at 1:40 PM on March 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, my neighbor has a 3/4 timber wolf who head tilts at me when I'm standing right there... It's like she's scanning her internal database to see if she knows any of the words I'm saying. She's very social so I'm not sure if that's her wolf instinct or her learned dog instinct...
posted by mochapickle at 1:42 PM on March 29, 2017

I've always imagined that it pushed the neurons together a little closer for extra thinking.

I don't think that's fair. From the dog's perspective, "are you hungry?" is kind of a silly rhetorical question. The head tilt represents a "gee I dunno, is water wet?" but dogs are too endearing to pull off smartass most of the time so they have to settle for cute.
posted by Drastic at 2:07 PM on March 29, 2017 [2 favorites]