The evidence

What the research says about music for dogs.

Most of these studies played music to shelter and kennel dogs through speakers in the room, and one tested pet dogs away from their owners. We sell the Barkwoo Music Box, a player worn on the collar. None of the studies tested a player like it.

Does music calm dogs?

It can help a little. Shelter and kennel dogs rested more and were quieter with classical music playing.12 In a study of 60 pet dogs apart from their owners for an hour, classical music was only moderately calming.3 When one playlist played every day, the effect was gone within a week.4 Music can comfort a dog, but it doesn't treat anxiety.

72.5%

of 13,715 pet dogs in a Finnish owner survey had at least one highly problematic behavior, such as noise sensitivity, fear or aggression.5

32%

were highly fearful of at least one noise. Noise sensitivity was the most common of the seven traits the survey measured.5

Studies · dogs

What each study found.

2002

Rescue shelter

Shelter dogs rested more with classical music.

Found: The same 50 shelter dogs had four hours of each sound on separate days: classical music, pop, heavy metal, human conversation and no added sound. With classical, they spent more time resting and more time quiet. Heavy metal went with more barking.1

Doesn't show: Whether the effect outlasts a four-hour session.

2012

Kenneled dogs

More sleep, less vocalizing with classical music.

Found: With classical music, 117 shelter and boarding dogs slept more and vocalized less than with heavy metal or no music. A classical track arranged to relax dogs had minimal effect. Heavy metal went with more body shaking.2

Doesn't show: A comparison within each dog. Not every dog heard every condition, so some results compare different dogs.

2015

Kennel stress

Classical music meant less barking and more rest.

Found: At a rescue center, 50 dogs had a week of silence and a week of one classical playlist. With the music, they spent more time sitting, lying down and quiet, and less time standing and barking. Their heart-rate variability pointed to lower stress.4

Doesn't show: Lasting calm. By day 7 of the same playlist the changes were gone, and the stress hormone cortisol showed no consistent change.

2017

Five genres

Four of five genres meant more lying down.

Found: For five days, 38 kenneled dogs heard a new genre each day, with a day of silence before the first and after the last. Whatever played, they stood less, and with four of the genres they lay down more. With reggae, the rise in lying down was too small to rule out chance. The changes held from the first day to the fifth. Heart-rate variability, which tends to rise as stress falls, was highest with soft rock and reggae.6

Doesn't show: Less barking. During the music, barking was unchanged. On the silent day that followed, dogs were more likely to bark than on the silent day before it. Cortisol, a stress hormone, rose during soft rock.

2020

Literature review

Classical music looked calming in shelters.

Found: A review of nine studies of music and dogs found that classical music appears to calm dogs in shelters, and that music designed for dogs did no better than ordinary classical.7

Doesn't show: Separate evidence. It includes the 2002, 2012, 2015 and 2017 studies on this page. Its calming results come from shelters and rescue centers. In the vet-hospital studies it covered, music made no calming difference.

2022

Pet dogs

Pet dogs settled sooner with Mozart.

Found: Each of 60 pet dogs spent an hour apart from its owner in a university research room, hearing Mozart, a Harry Potter audiobook or no added sound. Dogs given Mozart were quickest to settle, and lay down sooner than the audiobook group. The audiobook showed no apparent benefit.3

Doesn't show: A strong effect. The researchers called it only moderately calming. When 22 dogs had each of the three for 30 minutes, only their gaze at the speaker changed.

Calming music on the collar.

It's the only calming-music player made to be worn on your dog's collar, so it stays with your dog while you're out. One button press starts the preloaded playlist, with no phone, Wi-Fi or app.

Shop Barkwoo · $49.99

Sources

  1. Wells, D.L., Graham, L. & Hepper, P.G. (2002). The influence of auditory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter. Animal Welfare, 11, 385–393.↩︎
  2. Kogan, L.R., Schoenfeld-Tacher, R. & Simon, A.A. (2012). Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 7(5), 268–275. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2011.11.002↩︎
  3. Kinnaird, R.F. & Wells, D.L. (2022). The effect of auditory stimulation on pet dogs' reactions to owner separation. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 254, 105688. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105688↩︎
  4. Bowman, A., Dowell, F.J. & Evans, N.P. (2015). 'Four Seasons' in an animal rescue centre; classical music reduces environmental stress in kennelled dogs. Physiology & Behavior, 143, 70–82.↩︎
  5. Salonen, M., Sulkama, S., Mikkola, S., et al. (2020). Prevalence, comorbidity, and breed differences in canine anxiety in 13,700 Finnish pet dogs. Scientific Reports, 10, 2962. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-59837-z↩︎
  6. Bowman, A., Dowell, F.J. & Evans, N.P. (2017). The effect of different genres of music on the stress levels of kennelled dogs. Physiology & Behavior, 171, 207–215. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.01.024↩︎
  7. Lindig, A., McGreevy, P. & Crean, A. (2020). Musical Dogs: A Review of the Influence of Auditory Enrichment on Canine Health and Behavior. Animals, 10(1), 127. doi:10.3390/ani10010127↩︎