What type of music calms dogs

As an owner left me with her poodle, Jimmy, she asked me to play Beethoven for him, especially if he started to bark or pace back and forth. As soon as she left, Jimmy indeed barked. And barked. But when I turned the music on, he stopped and laid on the couch. It found that two genres, soft rock and reggae, caused dogs to be more relaxed and less stressed than others.

For the study, researchers examined the effect of various genres of music on the stress levels of kenneled dogs. To do so, they looked at the physiological and behavioral response of 38 dogs over five days and played five genres of music for them: soft rock, Motown, pop, reggae, and classical. When dogs heard soft rock and reggae, their Heart Rate Variability HRV — the time intervals between heartbeats — was higher, which meant decreased stress. Pro Tip: If you are planning on leaving music on for a dog that suffers from separation anxiety, you want to make sure you also play it at other times when you are home.

If your dog barks at any noise they hear outside, you can play music or turn on a fan or white noise machine to help mask the sounds. This can lessen the amount of barking your dog does while alone or at nighttime — something you and your neighbors will appreciate. I personally use the Snooz sound machine to mask outdoor noises that cause my younger dog to bark.

For dogs that already get anxious or are fearful of certain noises like thunder or fireworks, you'll want to work with a certified dog trainer to start a desensitization and counterconditioning plan. You can read the basics of this training technique in our Getting Your Dog Ready for Fireworks article.

For puppies and dogs who haven't yet shown anxiety or fear of loud noises, it's worth it to introduce noises in a positive way to prevent noise phobia or anxiety from developing.

Let us know what music you play to de-stress your pet or yourself in the comments below! Information Notice The personal information collected is intended for Ceva Animal Health, and Ceva group companies, in order to manage your request. This information may be passed on to service providers in order to organize this management. In accordance with the Regulations on personal data you have rights of access, rectification and limitation of processing of your data. You may also, in certain limited cases, oppose the treatment, withdraw your consent and request the deletion and portability of your data.

For any request relating to your personal data please go to this page. Is Music Therapeutic For Dogs? Can Music Calm Doggy Stress? Extensive research has been done on the effects of sound and music on the human brain, but what about the effect it has on dogs? The most notable study—which looked into the effects of relaxing music for dogs in stressful environments —was performed by Dr. Despite these promising results, Dr. Verdino points out that the effect of calming music for dogs is not fully understood.

Although scientists aren't sure why and how music affects the brain, they do know one thing: Relaxing sounds and music affect physiological processes in the autonomic system, according to Dr. A study conducted by animal behaviorist Dr. Deborah Wells shows that classical music helps dogs relax. The dogs rested more, spent more of their time being quiet, and spent less time standing than when exposed to stimulation such as heavy metal music, pop music and conversation.

Why classical music in particular?