my Sparkie is a basset/beagle mix (according to the vet, he was dumped, and we brought him home). Fortunately he rarely howls. I have found that he hears/senses things that we cannot. Currently he is on a mission to erradicate our yard of gophers, if he could just catch the little devils LOL he's doing more damage to our yard than the gophers, he digs up thier holes/tunnels. Anyhow, if he's inside and senses a gopher, another dog, or anything that might be after his chickens, he goes wild.
Last week he chased off 2 VERY large dogs-- I told dh that the one looked like a small grizzly-- Sparkie is maybe 20 lbs LOL He chased them off though, and spent the rest of the night pacing the fence line snarling.
Dh's office is just down from the humane society, and we think that Sparkie was dumped there before they opened (they don't open till noon). Dh called me from work and told me that they had been feeding this dog in the office, and if I didn't come get him before the HS opened, that one of the ladies were going to take him there. We didn't know he had any real purpose in life until we got chickens. He was MEANT to be a chicken dog-- and you'd better not mess with his birds!
I thougt I had a picture on photobucket of him, but I don't