Lullabies for Animals??

Recently I came across a fascinating article on the BBC website about playing Bach to soothe animals. We all know that our beloved pets can get upset and agitated when there is chaos an confusion around them or when they've been alone for too long or when they're tired from being played with too much! There are times we'd like to soothe our pets without giving them something unhealthy or even dangerous. Here's what the site reported:

An RSCPA rescue centre has installed a £2,000 sound system to play soothing classical music to stressed dogs.
Staff at the kennels in West Hatch, near Taunton, Somerset, said they now hear Bach rather than barks.
The animals are said to respond well to the strains of Beethoven and Mozart, but are not fans of pop or dance music.
Deputy manager Anita Clarke said: "It's a very stressful environment for the dogs to be in here, so anything that can help is worth a go."

Give it a try next time your pet is fussy or cranky!

Happy New Year to you and Your Pets!

Happy New Year to your and your pets. Hope you both did some healthy celebrating and are now happily into your New Year. Jack (my Papillon) spend most of New Year's Eve curled up on the couch in his little bed, listening to Oldies. He seems to really prefer oldies to classical or rap or reggae. Does your pet have a favorite type of music? If so, I'd love to hear about it. Just click where it says "respond" and share what your pet likes. Catcha later! Alice and Jack

What are your resolutions about your pets?

Many of us have treasured, beloved pets. But how much time do you spend with yours? Oftentimes, pets are home alone all day long waiting for their beloved humans to return home and play with them. Is this you? Not that you don't love your pet dearly but you returm home from a long day and you're exhausted. You know you should spend some quality time with your pet, but you think, "let me just sit down for a minute and rest." We all do this with the best of intentions but your pet is totally dependent on you for food, water, love, entertainment and exercise. One of things I've started doing for Jack is to leave the radio, TV or a CD on for him. Many animals do seem to enjoy this and Jack is one of them. At least give it a try! Your pet may thank you!

Do dogs and cats like holiday music?

I never cease to be amazed by the new holiday music every year. Several years ago and version of "Jingle Bells," barked by dogs was taking over the radio waves. This year I've now heard the same "Jingle Bells" meowed by cats! I suppose it's clever but do you think dogs and cats get much out of it? My high school psychology professor cautioned us against anthropormorphizing, but I doubt the animals are impressed or amused! What do you think?

Want to get your pet some healing music?

Perry Wood has proven himself as a tremendous musician with his unusual debut album ANIMAL HEALING. Musically similar to the calming sounds of Steven Halpern and Kevin Kendle, Wood's delicate melodies shimmer with healing power, reducing stress and removing tension from one's animal companion. Working with Margit Coates, a respected animal healer, Wood's music is composed to touch the soul of the animal and its loving guardian in order to strengthen the bond and enhance their understanding and appreciation of each other. This hour-long recording has two extended tracks that take listeners on a journey to a soothing, calm place where animals and humans can find comfort. ANIMAL HEALING is great for jumpy cats or dogs that suffer from separation anxiety. According to the album's extensive liner notes written by Coates, this music will help open the listeners heart chakra and assist in greater intuitive communication between animal and guardian.

Research on Music and Animals

In Boston, David Schwartz has been studying the relationship of music and language for a long time. Recently, his study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Schwartz's study also casts light on the long-running question of whether animals understand or appreciate music. Despite the apparent abundance of "music" in the natural world -- birdsong, whalesong, wolf howls, synchronized chimpanzee hooting -- previous studies have found that many laboratory animals don't show a great affinity for the human variety of music making.
Marc Hauser and Josh McDermott of Harvard argued in the July issue of Nature Neuroscience that animals don't create or perceive music the way we do. The fact that laboratory monkeys can show recognition of human tunes is evidence, they say, of shared general features of the auditory system, not any specific chimpanzee musical ability. As for birds, those most musical beasts, they generally recognize their own tunes -- a narrow repertoire -- but don't generate novel melodies like we do. There are no avian Mozarts.
But what's been played to the animals, Schwartz notes, is human music. If animals evolve preferences for sound as we do -- based upon the soundscape in which they live -- then their "music" would be fundamentally different from ours. In the same way our scales derive from human utterances, a cat's idea of a good tune would derive from yowls and meows. To demonstrate that animals don't appreciate sounds the way we do, we'd need evidence that they don't respond to "music" constructed from their own sound environment.

My Sister's cat, Mo

I'm visiting my sister in Spartanburg, S.C. right now and she is the proud mother of a beautiful white kitty named "Mo." Her real name is Pianissimo because she is very, very soft. We think that Mo is a music lover because one of her favorite resting places is my sister's violin case! I will post a picture of this later.

Do you have any pictures of animals with musical instruments or anecdotes about animals and music? If so, please send them to me and I will post them.