natural pet
Finding the Right Tune for Pets Music Calms the Animal Soul by Julie Peterson
S
ometimes it takes a little dog to bring about a big truth, as Cheryl Christine, a professional musician and composer
in Ridgeland, South Carolina, learned. “I was playing the piano at a party and the owners had a hyper little dog. After a while, I started playing some of the music from
my CD and the dog stopped, turned around and came up to me, and just sat there and listened. The owners were shocked.” The mood of dogs and cats can be improved by hearing the right kind of tunes, but it’s important to choose their music wisely, because they are more highly attuned to sensory cues than humans.
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The nicest notes for animals have been well studied, especially dogs. Colorado State University researchers found that auditory stimulation with music can be helpful or detrimental. Results of a study in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior suggest that dogs sleep more and bark less when they listen to classical music; and they shake more and rise to their feet when exposed to heavy metal music, possibly from nervousness. Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a zoologist and certified applied animal behaviorist in Wisconsin, wrote her dissertation on the effect of different types of sounds upon working domestic animals. “What is important is not whether the music is ‘classical’ or ‘heavy metal’, but whether it includes a set of acoustic features that appear to be universally associated with soothing or stimulating internal states,” states McConnell in her blog, TheOtherEndOfTheLeash.com. McConnell explains that, “Pure tones and regular rhythms are associated with positive states.” On the other hand, harsh, noisy tones and irregular rhythms are linked with negative ones. She adds, “A tempo matching an animal’s resting heart rate (or respiration) tends to be calming.” Composers and musicians are currently writing music specifically for animals with the aim of reducing stress from noise or separation, assisting with healing, controlling overeating and soothing irritability.
Compositions for Cats
Christine was volunteering at a local animal shelter that played country music for the cats. “I wondered what their reaction would be if I wrote some meditative music with different tones—beta/alpha waves—to present to them alternative sounds,” she says. She composed some music and experimented with it in the cat room, noticing that the animals reacted positively to certain tones. That eventually led to a CD for cats, and then one for dogs, with the proceeds donated to the ASPCA and the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, in New York City.
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Resounding Research
