“It’s a question I’m sure that Beethoven and Mozart asked themselves at some point in their illustrious careers: ‘Sure, the crowned heads of Europe love my stuff, but how do dogs feel about my music?’ ” writes Bob McMillan in Sunday’s (7/13) Herald-Citizen (Cookeville, Tennessee). “Well, as it turns out, dogs are big on classical music.… [In] a study by Lori Kogan of Colorado State University … for four months, Kogan played three genres of music for 45 minutes to 117 dogs of various breeds and recorded what they were doing every five minutes.… She tested the dogs on classical music, music adjusted to dogs’ ears using the psychoacoustic approach, and heavy-metal music. She said the dogs seemed to ignore the psychoacoustic arrangements altogether. The strains of Tchaikovsky and Debussy seemed to get the dogs’ attention and had a calming, restful effect. Heavy-metal music made the dogs jitter.… Animal researchers say if you really want to hold an animal’s attention, play it recordings of its own kind, because those are the pitches and rhythms they’re most naturally attuned to.… To hedge our bets, we’re working on getting them to howl in time to classical music. And don’t worry, for relaxation, we’re definitely skipping the 1812 Overture.”
Posted July 17, 2014
