Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs

‘The effect of different genres of music on the stress levels of kennelled dogs’

“…The results of this study are consistent with the findings of previous studies which highlight the potential of auditory stimulation as an effective enrichment tool within a rescue kennel environment [49,24,10,11]. During exposure to different genres of music dogs spent significantly more time lying/less time standing and had increased levels of HRV parameters suggesting increased vagal tone.…”

“…These observed changes in position are consistent with the findings of previous studies investigating the provision of music as a form of auditory enrichment [49,24,10,11]. This hypothesis is reinforced by the observation that following the cessation of auditory enrichment on S2 there was a significant decrease in the proportion of time that the dogs spent lying and a significant increase in the proportion of time spent standing.…”

“…It is therefore important that we try to minimise the stress experienced by dogs by identifying practical, affordable and effective methods to improve the kennel environment. A limited number of studies have been conducted to explore the effect of auditory stimulation on the behaviour of kennelled dogs [49,24,10,11]. All studies report an increase in time spent lying and reduced barking in dogs when classical music is played.…”

“…Body-shaking is a fear-related behaviour which was also reported to be displayed in acoustically stressed dogs [3] suggesting that the typically loud and sudden nature of heavy metal may be unsuitable for dogs. Additionally, some genres of music namely pop [49,24] and psychoacoustically designed classical music for dogs [24,11] had no observable effects on behaviour. The effects of the human voice on canine behaviour are contradictory in that Wells, et al [49] reported that radio had no effect on behaviour whereas Brayley & Montrose [11]reported that audiobooks were a more effective form of auditory stimulation compared with classical, psychoacoustically designed classical music for dogs and pop.…”

“…Interestingly, auditory enrichment, using music, has a positive effect on behaviour in a range of species; for example captive Asian elephants [53] and gorillas [52]. Furthermore, it has also been demonstrated that kennelled dogs spend significantly more time lying and less time barking when played classical music [49,24,10,11];a genre also known for its mood-enhancing [31]and relaxing effects on humans [35,45] . While many of these studies only examined short term effects, in our previous study we investigated the effects of long-term (7d) exposure to classical music on the stress levels of dogs housed in a Scottish SPCA animal rescue and rehoming centre.…”