Asking for a friend who owns a Dalmation male 6 months old.
Twice last week after waking from a sleep he has stood up and started to howl for 2/3 minutes.  She said he appears happy and his tail is wagging.  I know a wagging tail doesnt necessarily mean happiness but she said he is fully awake, wagging his tail and does not seem distressed.  I couldnt think of a reason for this so wondered if anyone else had experienced it? He is a lovely dog, training coming on nicely, entire and deaf in one ear (didnt know if any were relevant!)

In the wild howling is a way of contacting the pack so it is possible that on waking this dog wants to make sure he is in contact with everyone. Or it could be he likes doing it.

could be his deafness,his hearing in the other ear might not be good so he howls to see if anyones there ,my cat is totally deaf now and meows for no reason ,makes me wonder if she can only hear herself, like when you stick your fingers in your ears and hum,thats another theory :)

If it were my dog I'd want to know much more about this as I think it quite worrying

Where is he sleeping?  Is he in a crate or contained area?  How does she respond to him howling?  2 or 3 minutes is a very long time if he cannot be distracted from it...

It would be an unusual behaviour to just start from nothing so she ought to look at whether it's been growing or developing over time and has simply turned into a bit of a habit to get her attention.  However if it is a new behaviour I'd want to explore possible health issues and suggest she talk to her breeder and, next step, would be to get him a thorough once over by a vet.

I will ask her where the dog has slept before the howling starts.  I think she said she tried to talk to him to get him to stop but he wagged his tail and carried on. I'll get more info from her especially if anyone thinks it a worrying behaviour.

could it be your dog's hormones, seems a bit young, but could be, my tibetan mastiff when his hormones kicked in (about a year old) he would sing a mourning full sound. (howl) once he was fixed the howling stopped.  was a nice sound however so sad it has now gone away.  maybe your dog is going though a similar experience.

I also agree what people are saying that he may just want the attention, I would keep an eye on it and if it continues and you are worried take him/her to the vet.

I had a rescue dog that did this. he was suffering from Petie Mal. he went on Epilepsy tabs and this helped. he used to do this sometimes two/three times a night, he had to sleep in my room due to this.

could it be your dog's hormones

Not that it matters really but he is not my dog, just for clarification!.  I may suggest she takes him to her vet if it happens again just to rule out anything serious.

Thanks for your thoughts on this.