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July 25, 2017 6:05 PM   Subscribe

Siren Songs of Samoyeds [howling and sirens, h/t Miss Cellania]
posted by Johnny Wallflower (17 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
@older dude who straight up lays on the ground for best samoyed angle: same
posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 6:14 PM on July 25, 2017 [3 favorites]


YAY SAMMIES :D
posted by The otter lady at 6:19 PM on July 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


Aww! Samoyeds! My dream dog
posted by marimeko at 6:22 PM on July 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


miniature version
posted by Countess Elena at 6:24 PM on July 25, 2017 [3 favorites]


Supercut
posted by J.K. Seazer at 7:00 PM on July 25, 2017 [3 favorites]


I dont own a Samoyed but took my new dog to the Independence Day parade and doggo did the exact same thing for the fire trucks.

Were the sirens hurting his ears, or is this just something dogs do?
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:06 PM on July 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


I was hiking on Cowles Mountain in San Diego, which is a popular trail in a large park (but it's basically just undeveloped land, not a "park") kind of right in the middle of San Diego, when an ambulance went by on one of the streets below. At least two different groups of nearby coyotes started signing in response to it.
posted by LionIndex at 7:13 PM on July 25, 2017 [3 favorites]


The best! My family had a Samoyed when I was a kid. Tons of crazy feral but sweet personality. That dog would take off running and we would get calls from towns 20 miles away, and find her days later covered in blood and shit and happy as a lark living off the land. It would take all night to clean her up. She howled at sirens too. They're a ton of work and can outrun any human for speed and distance. But magnificent.
posted by spitbull at 7:43 PM on July 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


Pumpkin would like to sing you the tiny song of his tiny people. (previously)
posted by drlith at 7:49 PM on July 25, 2017 [4 favorites]


Well that sure woke the cats up.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:52 PM on July 25, 2017 [4 favorites]


The video at the "Miss Cellania" link -- it's different and wondrous: "Samoyed Barbershop Quartet."
posted by spitbull at 7:54 PM on July 25, 2017 [4 favorites]


That's included in the FPP video, near the end. It is indeed wondrous.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:07 PM on July 25, 2017 [2 favorites]


spitbull we had a similar experience with our Samoyed when I was young. Absolutely no loyalty; it was happy to walk away with any stranger whatsoever. We'd get calls from the local grade school where it would go to take the kid's lunches.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 10:42 PM on July 25, 2017 [3 favorites]


Were the sirens hurting his ears, or is this just something dogs do?

A little of both.
posted by Splunge at 4:21 AM on July 26, 2017


I don't think sirens hurt the ears of sled dogs particularly. I've been out on the early spring or late fall tundra plenty of times with Inuit hunters who used to use sled dogs (now they use Polaris and Yamaha snow machines) and the wind can get fearsomely loud sometimes, literally howling and whistling as loud as any siren I've ever heard. These dogs were bred for that environment. (It can also get eerily quiet!) Certainly it can be loud enough that you can't hear your fellow hunters over it even if they shout. Human ears survive, I'm sure dogs' ears are fine.

I mentioned this in another recent thread on sled dogs, but it's a delightful fact to know and kind of undoes the "oh they're so cute" response a bit, in case you want to blow someone's mind. Huskies, Samoyeds, Alaskan Sled Dogs, and Malamutes are descended from dogs bred as highly efficient hunting tools under conditions that do not forgive any concessions to caloric inefficiency, over thousands of years. Therefore, in addition to being considered edible themselves (whether by humans or other dogs) if necessary, these dogs were bred to be able to survive on a diet fairly heavy on human excrement if necessary, as it was during days-long hunts in cold temperatures for widely scattered prey. Yes, the hunters fed the dogs the human shit, and the dogs scarfed it up, processing whatever caloric value could still be extracted by sending the food through one more cycle of mammalian digestion. I didn't know this growing up and we thought our Samoyed was a weirdo for her laser-like attraction to the shit of other animals, and her perfect willingness to eat it on occasion. Turns out it's a breed characteristic, and I've been told this by more than one elder Inuit hunter I have no reason to doubt. Now you know. As I often say, Samoyeds do indeed have a shit-eating grin on their faces.

Also, Samoyeds and baby diapers are a bad combination.

My other dog growing up was a little brown beagle. She was as loyal and territorial as the Sammy was promiscuous and wide-ranging. When deliverymen came up the driveway they were always afraid of the Samoyed (who was large for the breed, although when you get them wet they are surprisingly small under all that fur!) but not the beagle, and then the beagle would go after them like a ball of fire while the Samoyed just stood there grinning and hoping for some tasty shit. You could probably have hit that dog with a stick and not had it react except to grin at you and calculate her escape route to freedom. She lived to run. Sadly, it's a breed problem that they develop hip dysplasia at 7-8 years old, longer than most Inuits ever would have kept a sled dog alive, and her last few years she could barely hobble, but she still loved water and would swim happily.

Random related memory: my brother found someone who would pay him good money for Samoyed fur, and he bagged it after the daily brushings until he had a pound or more (that, my friends, is a shitload of fur) to sell to this lady, who made wool and then turned that into sweaters. A Samoyed fur sweater is an amazing thing.

If they left the door open in dog heaven, that girl probably got to hell in 5 minutes and is very happy there. She was the essence of mischief.
posted by spitbull at 6:28 AM on July 26, 2017 [9 favorites]


A Samoyed-fur sweater.
posted by spitbull at 6:35 AM on July 26, 2017 [5 favorites]


A Samoyed-fur sweater.
posted by spitbull


Obligatory Simpsons reference: See My Vest
posted by workerant at 7:34 AM on July 26, 2017 [3 favorites]


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