by Suzana Vuksanovic

Created on: March 12, 2010

Music is unequalled in its capacity to transmit mood. It seems this facility not only crosses cultural boundaries across the entirety of the human species – but inter-species as well.

Yes, pets respond to music. They also respond to different types of music differently. They definitely like some genres better than others. If you have pets experiment after reading this article and you will be amazed at their reaction to a variety of music.

Not only animals but plants, too, have been shown to respond to music. It is startling how much their reaction differs according to what kind of music is being played. But we don't need special equipment to get a pretty good idea of how our pets are feeling. Of course, the better you know your pet, the better you'll understand how you pet expresses their moods.

All animals (and plants) seem to respond well to harmonic and melodic music. Classical music and acoustic music both seem to influence animals into being calm and relaxed. (When I pick up my flamenco guitar and start having a strum, my dogs like to array themselves around me as close to the source of their contentment as possible.)

In contrast dissonance and fast heavy rhythms (for example hard rock, metal, thrash, punk and any music that gives out an 'angry' feel) have an upsetting and repulsive effect on animals. Their response tends to be to get away from the sound source as quickly and as far as possible. If forced to remain within the sphere of the music's effective volume they will either cower and curl up in a corner or become defensive and aggressive.

Some music gets animals excited. This area seems to be far more individually determined than the others: even though the reaction of a dog to loud rock music is predictable, the same dog may have a completely different (or indifferent) response to a piece of music that another dog is reported to become ecstatic over. What do dogs do when they get excited by a certain piece of music? Well, it varies from dog to dog, but here are some observations that I have made:

*they start running around the room, or in and out of the room, non-stop

*they start barking loudly and rapidly,

*howling is not uncommon

*tugging at a forearm or otherwise show an indication that they want to play

When it comes to music animals can be more similar to humans than we realise. Take the above description of a dog's reaction to a piece of music that excites him: play that piece of music often , and never accompanied by any reinforcing action to tie the positive feelings aroused by the music to concrete results for the dog. It won't be long before you find that your pet's tastes have moved on and that you can no longer get the same reaction from them as you did when they first heard that particular piece of music. The likes and dislikes do not only vary between one individual animal and another, but also within the same individual over time.

Experimenting with a variety of sounds will teach you exactly how your pet responds to them as they change, and therefore will show you the best music to get a desired response from your dog.

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