Music to Their Ears: Calming Your Dog With Music
We've long been aware of the awesome power that music holds to elevate moods and even promote health. Studies have been conducted on the positive impact that Mozart has on plants and humans alike, but what about your pets? The fact is, the right music can work wonders on your dog's mood, calming a hyper pup or relaxing an anxious, nervous dog.
Scientific research has actually found that certain types of music – specifically classical music, played on a lower frequency and simplified down to its basic chords – can drastically relax the behavior of dogs, helping with stressful situations that dogs often cannot cope with. There are even special CDs of music composed for specific situations, such as car rides or separation anxiety.
How It Works
Dr. Alfred Tomatis, often referred to as the "Einstein of the ear", studied psychoacoustics extensively to discover the exact effects of music on the human psyche. This research has been carried over to dogs and other animals in recent years, and the applications have shown remarkable results.
Animals especially benefit from musical therapies, as they cannot "talk things out," or have stressful situations explained to alleviate their anxiety. That's where music, and psychoacoustics, come in to play. Through a Dog's Ear provides a collection of CDs for relaxing dogs, utilizing the research of Dr. Tomatis and the extended studies of Dr. Susan Wagner and Joshua Leeds. A carefully chosen collection of musicians has arranged some of the most effective, relaxing classical compositions to more simplistic tones that will soothe your dog, no matter her mood.
How to Use Music to Calm Your Dog
There is an art to using music to calm your dog, and using the wrong music can have the opposite of the desired effect. For instance, we all know rock music is not exactly calming and will likely make animals hyper, but would you have guess that jazz music will aggravate dogs? Even standard classical music can sometimes have little to no effect.
Instead, researchers at Through a Dog's Ear have found that by simplifying music and playing it in a lower key, it becomes easier (thus less stressful) for dogs' brains to process and enjoy. Dogs – and even people – who listen to the carefully arranged pieces find themselves quite relaxed and at ease.
There are even compositions available for specific situations that often stress dogs, such as driving. Many dogs find car travel extremely upsetting and might become panicky when confronted with the notion if being inside a car. Other dog's become very excited and overly hyper and can cause dangerous distractions fire the driver.
The CD for car trips opens with a 20 minute "pre-drive" track that you play for your dog before getting into the car. This will calm her down considerably while they're still in the comfort of their own home. Once in the car, your dog will have even more calming music to relax to – music that will not relax you so much that you should not drive (some of the other CDs advise human listeners not to operate heavy machinery while listening).
Using music to calm dogs, whether for stressful situations (like moving or during firework displays), or simply for day-to-day relaxation, is another great natural and healthy way to improve your dog's health and happiness today!
