Dogs and Music

I can’t remember the last time I haven’t listened to music. I literally cannot go one day without listening to some kind of music.

And admit it, music is such a big part of our lives and I thought filling this blog with a few music tracks of our ‘four-legged friends’ will certainly fill our acoustic with a...

 “Hakuna Matata” mood.

   

 

We enjoy listening to music at home, at work, in the car, while shopping, and almost any place we go. Music can make us calm, content, and happy despite our demanding lifestyles.  But did you have any idea that your pooch can also be calmed by music?

Studies have shown that by listening to music, animals tend to become calmer and at ease even in new surroundings.  So it’s an absolute yes, dogs do like music.

We have a very human tendency to project into our pets and assume that they will like what we like.

People assume that if they like Classical, their dogs will like classical. If they like rock music, they say their dog prefers rock.

Nowadays, lots of dog owners are convinced that their pooches really enjoy listening to music and they have made use of gentle, relaxing sounds to help their dogs remain calm when they are at home alone.  I wouldn’t be surprised it won’t be long before our four-legged furry companions will have their own unique music shops, and their favorite music stored in their own doggie iPods!

Several animal shelters have already begun playing soothing music to help calm down their four-legged residents.

This technique is particularly effective during celebration to aid in coping with deafening cracker bangs and distress they often experience in their stress.

Fortunately, the effects of music on dog’s well-being have spread even further to vet clinics as well.  Hospitalized pooches tend to have lower heart rate when harp music is played to them.

This suggests that music does not only help animals relax,

but also helps them to recover faster from their health problems.  It appears that both humans and pets can recover more rapidly when they feel calm and peaceful.

Research also shows that animals actually do share our enjoyment of music. They enjoy tunes especially designed using the pitches, tones and tempos that are familiar to their particular species.

Study found that classical music or soft instrumentals was more soothing than ‘psycho-acoustic’ music or specially made Pet CD’s that are designed to calm animals.

It’s worthy to note that dogs are actually not very keen on certain percussion instruments which are somewhat reminiscent of gunshot sound.  Pooches also seem to dislike the word ‘No’ added into songs.

                    

Do dogs sing with us?

Many experts think that dog’s don’t actually engage in their vocalizations to produce music, in the same way that we might sing or play a piano as part of an aesthetic experience. However, there are reports of dogs that had definite tastes in music and some sense of what constitutes good music.

Many people think of a dog's howl as a canine attempt to make music, because dogs sometimes howl when music is played or sung. Compared to wild canines, domestic dogs bark a lot more and howl only occasionally. Howling is a form of communication that can indicate loneliness in an isolated dog, but typically serves other social functions.

Wolves howl to assemble the pack and also to reinforce the identity of the group. Upon hearing one animal howling, other pack members gather together and join in.

The kind of human music that most often induces dogs to howl is produced on wind instruments, particularly reed instruments such as clarinets or saxophones. Sometimes dogs can be induced to howl by a long note on the violin or even by a human holding a long note while singing. Perhaps these sound like proper howls to the dog and he feels the need to answer and join the chorus singing.

Animals prefer music with pitches and tempos associated with something familiar:

People cannot be faulted for having the tendency to think that the music our pets like will necessarily be the same as our pets.  We tend to project these feelings and desires into our animals.

Animals prefer music with pitches and tempos associated with something familiar. In other words, this means animals are not attuned to tones.  When a piece of music is transposed a key higher or lower, they cannot establish a relationship between the notes.

Not all pets will like the music we do. At a research, tamarind monkeys were played music which sounded harsh, shrill and unpleasant.  However, it wasn’t so for the little monkeys, who actually associate with such sounds.  Whereas, the pitches of certain instruments, such as the harp, have a calming effect on animals.

Suitable times to introduce music therapy to our pets:

Music can be used to attend to a range of behavioral issues in our pets. It is an antidote for the common behavioral issues that owners sometimes face.

Though a dog doesn’t tap his foot as a person might, their internal organs do speed up or slowdown in accordance with external rhythms, a process called entertainment, and respond to the vibrations around them

Separation Anxiety:

Putting soothing music on before you leave the house can help to resolve anxiety issues in our pets.

Leave for a short time at first and gradually increase the length of time. This will give the animal an opportunity to get used to you leaving.

Fear of Thunderstorms:

The fear generated by changes in weather patterns can be tough to treat because animals instinctively know when changes will occur, usually long before they do.

Wild animals in particular need to have an excellent senses of smell, sight, hearing and even the ability to sense minute vibrations, because those senses help them survive.

If you might recollect, birds were seen heading for higher ground long before the tsunami struck in 2004. In Singapore, some squirrels went to the ground from atop the trees before a recent overwhelming haze coming from Indonesia struck.

Our pets know when they are about to occur, and you might observe your pet cowering long before.  If you cannot tell, check the weather forecast and if it bodes rain, get your music players ready.

Fireworks:

If fireworks are scheduled near your area and your little dog or cat gets tense when he hears them, get your music playing.  It can help to make the animal less tense.

Visitor excitement:

Dogs tend to have a problem being too excited about the presence of visitors. As owners, we can play some relaxing and soothing music before they come over.  The key to a successful social visit with our dogs around is to keep them calm.  This is true especially if the visitor is afraid of dogs.

Stressful times:

Stressful times for people can also be stressful times for pets. A stressful owner can be snappy with his dog when under duress.

Calming music that soothes both owner and pet can be very helpful.

Boarding:

If you run a boarding facility or are sending a dog for boarding for a holiday period, it is a good idea to keep soothing music for pets playing. Many such facilities already have this in place.

And bonding:

In today’s noisy world, full of sirens, motorcycles, or leaf blowers, and in households with multiple TVs, food mixers, tumble dryers, vacuum cleaners, dogs might just be overloaded with sensory input.

If there’s one thing we can learn, it’s that man’s best friend enjoys music in many way of the same ways that we do, which can only help the bond become even stronger.