DOGS BARK less when listening to classical music than when there is silence or rock music, an international conference held in Dublin heard yesterday.
A research paper presented at the International Society for Applied Ethology congress in University College Dublin, yesterday showed that commercial classical radio was the preferred choice of dogs in an RSPCA centre.
To conduct the study, researchers from Harper Adams University College, UK, recorded over six days the vocalisation and activity behaviours of singly-housed dogs in a re-homing centre in response to classical music. "The dogs spent significantly less time barking when listening to classical music as opposed to when they were listening to commercial pop music or no music at all," says Dr Mark Rutter, one of the co-authors of the report.
"Our results also show that dogs sit and relax more when listening to classical music, regardless of whether it is a commercial classical radio station or a compilation CD. However, the dogs habituated more quickly to the classical radio station," he said.
"We know from other studies carried out in Belfast that dogs, for instance, do not like heavy metal music, but our study took this a bit further to find out what kind of music does calm them down," he said.
"The purpose of the study was to find out what calming influences might be available at homing centres because when one dog begins to bark in such a place, all the dogs bark," he said.
He said not only did that excite the animals but it was difficult for people working there, and the study was designed to look at how barking could be minimised and the dogs calmed down in the centres. "It also is of benefit to the dogs when people come looking for them to take them into their homes. They may not want a dog that will bark all the time, but they want a dog to behave naturally," Dr Rutter said.
He said he and fellow researchers had no idea why the dogs, who were tested on day one and monitored over the six days, were more relaxed when listening to classical rather than rock music.
"However, it will be useful information for people who have a dog that is barking and is annoying the neighbours. You have a classical radio station here, so I would suggest that they play that for the dog." He said it was also interesting that dogs preferred classical music to silence, but there were other mysteries which have yet to be resolved - such as which classical composer they preferred.
"Yes of course, Bach comes to mind, but we have yet to do work on that one and we have a lot more to do," he concluded.