Dogs find classical music ‘more calming’ than the human voice

Classical music can help calm your dogs faster than the human voice or silence, new research reveals.

A new study by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast saw 82 dogs of a variety of breeds left unattended in a university office – with their owners’ consent – they were then played either Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos or an audiobook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The study found that, while no soundtrack seemed to reduce the pets’ initial stress after their owner left, the choice of background noise did have an effect on how quickly they calmed down.

The researchers said: “Dogs exposed to classical music were significantly faster to lie down than animals in the audiobook and control conditions.”

The dogs listening to audiobooks spent more time gazing at the speaker, the researchers observed.