Modern life has many people leaving their dogs home alone for many hours throughout the day. While necessary, this can create separation anxiety in the animal, resulting in troublesome behaviors. Dogs who are distressed by spending too much time alone can act out by barking, howling, and whining, chewing furniture, shoes, or other valuables, scratching the doors, windows, or walls, or even urinating and defecating indoors, despite being housebroken.
The savvy dog-owner can learn from these behaviors, and take steps to curb their dog’s anxiety during the time they are away. While there are many ideas for helping to calm a dog’s nerves, one of the most interesting is to incorporate some relaxing dog music into the home.
Believe it or not, the right type of music can actually make a big difference in lowering their stress level.
If your first instinct is that maybe dogs just feel more comfortable with extra noise, studies suggest you may be mistaken. Leaving the television or radio on for a dog has been suggested to actually create additional stress for a pet, due to the random nature of the type, volume, speed, and pitch of the sounds. A well-chosen selection of soothing music for your dog is the right choice.
So what type of relaxing dog music should you look for to help your pet with his separation anxiety or other stress?
First and foremost, it should be classical in style.
Classical music is now widely used in many animal shelters and hospitals to create a calm, serene atmosphere for all types of animals. Both dogs and cats have been studied, and have demonstrated a preference for classical music. Dogs, in particular, will actually bark less frequently in the presence of this calming influence.
In addition, it makes sense to look for music that has a relaxing feel to it all the way through.
If you were to purchase a CD with a typical selection of classical music, the dynamics may be too drastic to qualify as relaxing dog music. A soothing instrument like a solo harp can be ideal. It may even help humans to relax, too!