Abstract
Ten healthy pet dogs with an average maximum resting heart rate of 92 bpm that had never been used in studies of auditory stimulation were exposed randomly to one of three sound conditions on each of three occasions within a 5-day period. Posture and behaviour were recorded continuously by video for a total of 20 min over three phases: 5 min before sound exposure, 10 min during sound exposure, and 5 min after sound exposure. Each dog wore a Polar HR monitor throughout testing, and heart rate was recorded by using R–R interval data. Maximum heart rate was significantly greater during heartbeat sound exposure than afterwards, and average heart rate with both heartbeat sound and classical sound showed decrease tendencies.The time spent in dynamic (e.g. movement-related) postures was significantly higher before treatment than during or after under all three conditions. These data suggest that auditory stimuli in dogs may affect physiological responses without necessarily affecting behaviour, and specifically that heart rate may be elevated by auditory exposure to a faster heartbeat.
Highlights
Dogs under stress show high levels of activity (e.g., Beerda et al, 2000), including vocalizing and locomotive behaviors
Wells et al (2002) found that dogs housed in a rescue shelter spent significantly more time being quiet when they were exposed to classical music than when they were exposed to human conversation, heavy metal music, pop music, or no music
Kogan et al (2012) reported that classical music causes kennelled dogs to spend more time sleeping and less time vocalizing than when they are exposed to other types of music, heavy metal music increased the dogs’ body-shaking movements
Summary
Dogs under stress show high levels of activity (e.g., Beerda et al, 2000), including vocalizing and locomotive behaviors. Auditory stimulation can be a useful environmental enrichment for reducing these activity levels in kennelled dogs Kogan et al (2012) reported that classical music causes kennelled dogs to spend more time sleeping and less time vocalizing than when they are exposed to other types of music (i.e. heavy metal or modified classical music designed for dog relaxation), heavy metal music increased the dogs’ body-shaking movements. Bowman et al (2015) found that dogs became habituated to the calming effects of classical music as early as the second day of exposure; auditory stimulation induced changes in heart rate variability and behaviour indicative of reduced stress levels. It seems that classical music calms kennelled dogs more effectively than do other music types
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