Did you know that your dog has an excellent taste in music?
Well, a study by the Scottish SPCA and University of Glasgow proves that they do.
The study found that dogs prefer reggae and soft rock music.
Reggae fans know that the Jamaican beats offer a meditative type of music that soothes the soul.
And researchers say that dogs like reggae music the best.
The study involved researchers playing a variety of music to dogs who were at a rehoming center in Dumbarton.
The dogs were studied for any physiological or behavioral changes that occurred while the music was playing.
The study found that there were positive behavioral changes when the dogs listened to reggae and soft rock.
But the study also found out something which is incredibly interesting. It found that each dog has its own musical tastes.
“Overall, the response to different genres was mixed highlighting the possibility that like humans, our canine friends have their own individual music preferences,” Professor Neil Evans told BBC. “That being said, reggae music and soft rock showed the highest positive changes in behavior.”
Dogs were played five different genres of music including soft rock, Motown, pop, reggae, and classical.
Regardless of what kind of music was played, the dogs spent “significantly more time lying and significantly less time standing” when music was being played.
“We were keen to explore the effect playing different genres of music had,” PhD student Amy Bowman said. “It was clear that the physiological and behavioral changes observed were maintained during the trial when the dogs were exposed to a variety of music.”
But the when reggae and soft rock was played, stress levels in the dogs went down according to the dog’s heart rate.
So, the music helps to calm dogs.
Shelter dogs can often be scared, shake, bark, or be aggressive when entering a shelter setting and new home life that they aren’t used to.
This can make them less likely to be adopted since people “want a dog who is looking very relaxed and interacts with them.”
Music can calm them down and help make them more adoptable.
“We want the dogs to have as good an experience as they can in a shelter,” Evans told The Washington Post.
The SSPCA says now it’s looking to invest in sound systems for their kennels to help calm shelter dogs.
“At present, both our Glasgow and Edinburgh centers are able to pipe music into their kennels,” Gilly Mendes Ferreira of the SSPCA said. “In the future, every center will be able to offer our four-footed friends a canine-approved playlist, with the view to extending this research to other species in our care.”
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