Music: Hounds of Christmas

The record industry’s newest Christmas release is a dog. Or rather, five dogs —two shepherds, a poodle, a terrier and a pinscher, all performing a ruff-voiced version of Jingle Bells. The record is a howling success.

Originally released in 1955 by RCA, a company whose trademark is a pensive pooch, the canine rendition of Jingle Bells sold 500,000 copies, then vanished into limbo. Recently, Howard Smith of Manhattan FM station WPLJ started plugging it again and received so many inquiries from listeners that he alerted RCA. When officials dug up a copy and played it for Sam Goody, one of their major distributors who also owns a big chain of New York-based record stores, Goody staggered them by ordering 10,000 copies.

Goody was barking up the right Christmas tree. Last week he quintupled his order; at week’s end, RCA had sold over 400,000 copies. One Manhattan record store was even doling out pre-bagged doggie disks. Still scrambling to keep up with demand, an RCA spokesman said: “Another company is planning a competitive version by a chicken. We hope it lays an egg.”