In This Issue
Case Study: Agner
Driving Edition
Shelter Program
Thunderstorms
Book Excerpt
Case Study: Agner Wants the Music!
Agner
"The past three days my dogs have been listening to the CD in Through a Dog's Ear and it has worked wonders!

This morning, Agner, the nervous one (18-month old poodle pup) was doing his usual barking at scary noises outside like kids going to school or people talking.

I popped the CD in the computer as I was working. Soon he was asleep on my lap. He needed more space so he finally stretched out and was sound asleep on the computer as he listened to your CD. I just had to send you the attached photo because my husband and I were laughing so hard."

Thanks!

 
Books and CDs currently available:
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Coming soon in future issues of Through a Dog's Ear Newsletter:
 
Do Different Breeds Hear Differently?

How Clicker Training Uses Sound

Dogs and Deafness

Use of Sound in Doing Agility with your Dog

Hearing in Senior Canines 
 
Dog's Ear Music Club
 
Dog Eared Blog
 
Music for the Canine Household 
Dear Dog Loving Friends,

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Through a Dog's Ear Newsletter. Together we are part of a growing community of conscious dog guardians and professionals devoted to creating the best quality of life possible for our canine companions. 
 
In our free monthly newsletter you will receive:
  • Valuable how-to tips and interviews with pioneering dog professionals
  • The latest research about sensory input and canine health and behavior
  • Inspiring success stories of how people are using Dog's Ear music to help their dogs at home and in shelters overcome specific behavior problems
  • Special offers on new Dog's Ear music CDs and other sensory input products

We invite you to write us about your personal experiences with sound and animals so we can share them with others.

Musically yours,
 
Lisa Spector and the Dog's Ear team
New: Driving Edition - Music to Calm Your Dog in the Car
Driving Edition cd
Are you planning a trip with your dogs? Whether you're headed cross-country or across town, riding in the car is stressful for many dogs and in turn for the driver and passengers.

If your best friend can't settle down for the trip and gets the shakes, pants excessively, or resists the car altogether-now there's a drug-free solution: Driving Edition - Music to Calm Your Dog in the Car. Compared to other canine music, Driving Edition is unique in that it has been psychoacoustically designed to keep the dog relaxed and driver alert.  Dr. Narda Robinson, highly respected professor of veterinary medicine and writer for Veterinary Practice News, says, "Driving Edition soothes straight to the soul. Ideally, it will lead to less road rage for humans and less travel anxiety for dogs."

Driving Edition is a 74-minute recording of beautiful classical piano music. Included is a 17-page insert with highly specific sound protocols for canine automobile issues. For dogs with extreme anxiety, the album includes Travel Prep - a special 20-minute track to be listened to by your dog before getting into the vehicle. This will help your furry buddy change their negative associations with cars. For further info, please click here.
Through a Dog's Ear SHELTER PROGRAM:  FREE music to dog shelters and rescues!
Calm Canine cover
Through the good graces of our wonderful publisher, Sounds True, we are delighted to offer two hours of clinically-tested music to qualifying shelters and rescue organizations for free. Currently Dog's Ear music  is being played in shelters across the US, UK, and Australia to alleviate the stress for dogs awaiting adoption.  In research led by veterinary neurologist Susan Wagner in 2004, over 70% of dogs in shelters across the US became calmer listening to this music. In select shelters in California, New York, and Ohio, CDs have also been donated for adopters to use at home with their new dogs. Initial reports are that the music is helping canines to better transition from shelter to new home. Our hope is that this canine music therapy will cut down the return rate of dogs back to the shelters.

The music provided to the shelters is the clinically demonstrated  Calm Your Canine Companion,  Vols. 1 and 2. The qualifying factor for free CDs is a non-profit facility that temporarily houses five or more dogs for adoption or placement. The Dog's Ear Shelter Program is a win/win - reducing anxiety for canines in the most stressful of environments and providing relaxation for animal-caring staff and visitors.

Please let your local shelter or rescue know about this new and extraordinary program. For more details about how shelters can apply, please click here.
 
Does Your Dog "Freak Out" during Thunderstorms?
Thunderstorm
Summer is peak season for thunderstorms and that can be bad news for canine companions. Anxiety caused by thunder is often one of the trickiest forms of anxiety to treat. Precise music therapy is a wonderful tool for calming dogs during thunderstorms because it can take effect quickly, often within five minutes.

We recommend introducing Music to Calm Your Canine Companion to your dog prior to a storm coming in. Playing it at bedtime for a few nights (when a storm isn't present) helps introduce your dog to the music in a peaceful environment. According to the behavioral concept of classical conditioning, whereby the dog begins to associate a specific feeling with a specific experience, your dog will come to associate calmness with this music. Then when a storm is forecast, leave the music on continuous play before the storm starts and continue to play the music during the storm.

Your dog may have a location in your home he goes to during a storm, a place where he feels safe. It's important to allow him that access. (Many years ago, I came home to find my dog in the bathtub during a heavy windstorm.) For greater effectiveness, we suggest you set up a portable sound system in the area that your dog feels the safest. The music can be played at a gentle volume. It's been clinically demonstrated to calm the canine nervous system so it doesn't need to override the sound of thunder.

Further musical tips for other behavioral issues, including separation, fireworks, excitement with visitors, stressful times for people, and boarding, click here.
Through A Dog's Ear Book Excerpt:
Canines in the Coal Mine
TADE book
"In Through a Dog's Ear, we explore what's known about sound and dogs, compare current research into music and canine behavior, and begin the process of connecting the dots of a picture that has not been painted before. In the end, the picture reveals a new kind of canary in the coal mine: the behavioral problems in our dogs forewarn of a much larger problem in the human soundscape, a problem that is affecting us as much as it influences them. In fact, we believe that many anxiety behaviors common in both the American people and their dogs may be the result of cumulative sensory overload, starting with the sound environments in which we live."
 
Is it possible that the uptick in psychological and physiological dysfunctions we're now observing in the canine population may be a reaction to our ever more media-driven, high-tech 24-7 culture? Is this same environment a direct cause of the increased spread of stress- and environment-related maladies in humans, as well?

Research has shown that dogs are among the most adaptable of animals. Most dog guardians have thus assumed that it is the dog's job to adjust to whatever environment we offer them-no matter how stressful. In this case, perhaps our dogs' willingness to do anything for us has become their Achilles' heel-the result of their total compliance is that canines are more stressed than ever before.

This excerpt is from the Introduction of Through a Dog's Ear: Using Sound to Improve the Health & Behavior of Your Canine Companion, by Joshua Leeds and Dr. Susan Wagner. Used by permission of Sounds True.  � 2008 Joshua Leeds and Susan Wagner. All rights reserved.

� 2008 BioAcoustic Research & Development. All rights reserved.