Demon Sounds
Most dogs have a wide array of sounds that they produce—from whining, gruffing, howling, barking, to grumbling. They use these sounds to get your attention, to give you a warning, to beg for food and to sit on your lap, to express displeasure and a number of other unknown reasons. Some of these sounds are pleasant, such as the little tufts of sound that float from brand-new puppies as they discover the world, or when your dog whines when he knows that you are not feeling quite yourself. Another good sound is when your dog is about to mess on the floor and barks to be let out. Some sounds are unpleasant, like incessant barking, grumbling at the TV and passersby and howling like a broken record at invisible entities.
Toady makes all of these sounds…plus one. Toady also makes what I call “demon sounds”. To properly imagine these sounds, pretend that you are alone in the forest being stalked like prey by some massively over-sized canine. This thing in the forest wants to eat you, and you can hear it growling and slavering in pursuit of you. Now imagine what the growling would sound like. Deep, menacing, bone-chillingly terrifying—with an edge almost like two rocks scraping together. Now add a the sound of a few demons from hell—giant things with slow, bass toned, voices and you have what Toady sounds like. He doesn’t make this sound when he is displeased; he makes it when we play together. I take his favorite toy (a Kong Wubba) and hold on to it for dear life. Toady takes the other end and pulls me around the house—utterly and unequivocally providing joy to the perpetual child inside of me. All the while, Toady is “demoning”. The first time it happened, I have to admit that I was frightened. Perhaps that isn’t the right sentiment—I was scared shitless. But, when I said “mine”, looked him in the eyes, and took his “squeakit” away, he let it go without a fight and sat there staring at me with about 10 inches of tongue hanging out of his mouth. After that, I got used to it.
Now when we play it delights me to hear those sounds. They appear to be ferociously dished out, but in reality it’s just how Toady tells you he’s having fun. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to play with him as rough as I or my husband do. We have established guidelines with Toady so that he knows when he’s getting carried away or we are exhausted and want to stop. Still, somewhere deep down, when I hear those sounds a part of me (instincts probably) tells me to run. I never will, but I can imagine that anyone else in their right mind would. I am more afraid of our 9lb ninja cat than I am of our silly 120lb dog.
Toady and my husband playing with the squeakit. He was making demon sounds the whole time.
fostrickson 
Sounds as if he would be a good guarddog. 😉
He is! Sometimes too good though! lol
You need to get a recording of this demon sound….might make for some good Halloween sounds!!
Very true, great idea! I will have to try that someday.
VIdeo??? 🙂
I will attempt to get one eventually, but I’m usually too caught up in being dragged around the house to remember! lol
Ha! I understand…
I can easily imagine what Toady’s demon sounds are like. My friends’ two dogs do the same thing when they play tug-of-war together. It’s cute to us now, but terrifying when heard for the first time.
I guess it’s sort of like when you hear wolves howling for the first time—gut wrenchingly scary, but then you get used to it.
Oh, what a delightful dog!
I’m inclined to think the same! 😉
I love your blog it’s great. My dog does the same thing. You can have anythiing except his favorite toy then he growls and carries on like a pork chop. It’s so funny. His toy is so old and decripit as he’s had it since he was a puppy. He continually licks it and cuddles up to it like a security blanket. I am a follower of yours now. cheers Judy
Thank you, Judy! I am glad that you enjoy it! 🙂 Dogs are funny creatures; I always love to hear about dogs that act like mine. It makes me feel like mine are at least half normal.
I love Toady’s face in the photo, it speaks volumes! 🙂
Me too! He’s such a playful boy when he wants to be.
HE DOES look like Max! Silly dogs! You should hear the demon sounds that come out of sweet little Roxi LaBow! I cannot believe those crazy sounds come out of that little dog! hahahaha Thanks for stopping by!
Maybe they are long lost relations?! Thanks to you, too!
I believe that these “demon” sounds are actually Toady’s way of laughing! Zoe made the same type noises when we played fetch and take away the jolly ball. I read something about this once where an animal shelter or vet office played recorded sounds of dogs playing (that sound quite ferocious at times) in where the animals were kept and the dogs would calm right down when they heard it.
That’s interesting. I know it’s not a negative sound, but it is quite intimidating! Haha.