(Canine Mixtape) A Dog’s Taste in Music Has More Style Than You Think

Photo credit: Anna Shvets

I have often found myself turning on the television or radio for my dogs before leaving the house to run errands. I always assumed they would not pay much attention to either but hoped that it would stop them from being utterly bored by sitting in silence or at minimum distract them from barking at passersby. Besides, the worst that could happen is that they would whine at whatever was on Animal Planet or fall asleep to the sounds of NPR.

Not surprising, classical music is often the go-to sound for pets when owners want to calm or entertain their little beasts. I was interested to learn that dogs become bored by Classical music. A recent study conducted by the Scottish SPCA and University of Glasgow found that dogs are more interested in soft rock and reggae.

But the question begs – how do we know that?

Due to the growing trend in research on how music affects human psychology, there has also been an increasing interest in the animal sciences on the very subject. 

Researchers for the study ‘The effect of different music genres on the stress levels of kenneled dogs’ examined how the sounds of soft rock, Motown, pop, reggae, and classical music affected a dog's behavior. They found that music does calm dogs, noting that dogs spend more time lying down and are less likely to bark when the music of any of the genres played. The study also revealed that a dog's heart rate variability and creatinine levels were higher when soft rock and reggae were played, which tells us that the dog's stress was further decreased. 

However, when it came to the sounds of Motown, pop, and classical music, there was a limit to their response time. Even if your playlist includes a little Diana Ross or George Michael, your pet will still enjoy it.  

I have taken the findings of the aforementioned study and created a mixtape of modern music that reflects the retro sound of softrock from the 70’s-80’s. Check out the list below or play your pup our Canine Mixtape on Spotify:

Animal Republic - Canine Mixtape

1. California – The Lagoons

2. After The Moment – Craft Spells

3. Static – Still Corners

4. I Was A Fool – Sunflower Bean

5. Oh Canada – Nadia Reid

6. Once Around The Block – Badly Drawn Boy

7. Need Your Love – Tennis

8. San Francisco Street – Sun Rai

9. Be Sweet – Japanese Breakfast

10. Currents – Still Corners

11. Breathe, Be Happy – Tep No

12. Blanket Song – Kikagaku Moyo

13. Cold Little Heart – Michael Kiwanuka

14. Two Fish and an Elephant – Khruangbin

15. Craziest Things – Babeheaven

16. Depths (Pt.1) – Yumi Zouma

17. Bendable – Keep Shelly in Athens

18. Shallow – Brothertiger

19. The Haste – Casa del Mirto