Can Wagner cure your dog’s anxiety?
Daily Comfort ZoneFrom a BBC feature:
… One of Margot’s trainers recommended Through a Dog’s Ear, a series of slow-tempo, predominantly piano compositions designed to help reduce stress in dogs. It was created by Joshua Leeds, a psychoacoustic expert (who studies how sound is perceived), and Susan Wagner, a veterinary neurologist, who have studied the effects of this music on dogs. They observed over 150 dogs in private homes and kennels and found that more than 70% of kennel dogs and 80% of dogs in homes exhibited fewer anxiety symptoms (including pacing, trembling, and panting) after listening to predominantly piano music.
On her security camera, Strull saw the impact on Margot almost immediately. She says she used to receive texts from her neighbours complaining about Margot barking when she was left alone. Now, rather than pacing and barking, Margot peacefully naps, with Brahms or Beethoven on in the background, while her owner is gone. “There have been times where I haven’t gotten home till 4am, and she’s just asleep…”
Read on here. (You know you’re going to.)
main image: Country Life
I’m a Wagnerite, but any time I’d play a recording of Wagner (with singing), my dog would quietly leave the room.
Dogs seem to have reactions comparable to a certain type of music lovers who peacefully slumber with Beethoven or Brahms in the background, also in concert halls.
Wagner however, who was fond of dogs and always had one, sometimes had an effect on them similar to lots of music lovers:
“Whatever the reason, Robber’s story ended bitterly for the composer, as he recounts in his autobiography. About a year after Robber’s disappearance Wagner stepped out of his house on a foggy morning and nearby spotted a dog. At first he thought he was seeing a ghost, but no, it was Robber. He yelled to the dog, who approached him, then drew back timidly, turned around, and began to run in the opposite direction. Wagner ran after him. Taking on ever-greater speed, while occasionally pausing at street corners to look back at the composer, Robber eventually evaded him.”
https://operawire.com/the-wonderful-world-of-opera-dogs-richard-wagner-his-beloved-cannines/
Also when working on Meistersinger, Wagner was bitten by his dog in his right hand which meant that for months he could not write.
‘Never heard this rather poignant tale until today. Who knows what happened to the dog during his missing year. Perhaps someone cruel caused him to lose his trust. Very sad that Wagner and the dog never reconnected. Robber sounds like he was a very good boy nevertheless.
Anyone who lives with animals surely knows that they’re fully capable of enjoying music. I don’t know that Wagner effectively soothes the “savage” beast, but both my dog and cat seem to rapidly drift off to dreamland if I play something (not strident) with strings especially. The Andante Cantabile from Tchaikovsky’s first string quartet seems a favorite for them both.
I don’t think that the Ride of the Valkyries would calm my cats. They prefer Mozart and Schubert.
Here on the estate we use soft playing of Boulez to keep the rodents away. Unfortunately it attracts cockroaches but recently we discovered that Philip Glass can create an excellent, major deterrent zone.
Poor Philip. 🙁