Animals can change a life. This happened to me when I observed my dogs and cats close to my side when I played music. After two decades of research and clinical studies, I learned why. As a pet parent myself, I wanted to share this important information by writing this book. In What Dogs Hear you will learn about your dog’s amazing hearing abilities and how sound affects their behavior. Each chapter unfolds the scientific reasons why your dog responds to their sonic environment throughout each stage of your dog’s life. You’ll deepen your relationship with your dog by understanding their hearing world to resolve stress issues using technology and techniques to calm and balance behaviors. Janet Marlow’s research, insights and stories are an enjoyable reading experience that will enhance your relationship for you and your dog from puppyhood to senior. 

 “My Friend, Janet Marlow, knows more about the hearing and hearts of dogs than anyone I know. I pay close attention to whatever Janet says and now, with her wonderfully informative book, you can, too.”  - Mary Pope Osborne, author of The Magic Tree House Series

“What dogs Hear is excellent!! I have read it and I learned so much. Every dog owner should own this book, or gift it to others who are getting puppies/dogs.” - C. Martinelli

"This is a must-read for anyone who loves animals -- especially if you live with one. I know without a shadow of a doubt that our fellow creatures are feeling, thinking, conscious beings. I know that through my own experience and through the new scientific research I've learned of. But Janet Marlow offers a rare depth of understanding about how non-human animals perceive and respond to the world. If you want to get a glimpse of that world, read this book!" - Elena Mannes

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Excerpt from What Dogs Hear

“Throughout the human-canine relationship, sound as a stimulus and as a communication tool is often overlooked as a cause-and-effect of different canine behaviors. Canine acute hearing is often attributed to behaviors such as stress, anxiety, aggression, and fear. As their caregivers, we also need to know our own hearing abilities in order to recognize their needs and sound communication. Do you hear the highest frequencies and whines uttered by your dog? Have you noticed your dog’s hearing diminishing in response to you, now that he is a senior? Do you know how to mitigate your home environment to minimize stress reactivity during thunderstorm and firework events? As a researcher on canine hearing and as an inventor of solutions for canine stress triggered by sound, I am writing this book as my agreement with you to help you know your dog through their amazing hearing ability and what this means for their well-being. Each chapter is sequenced to unfold these important aspects that can be used as tools and techniques to enhance the quality of your dog’s life and bring your relationship to a deeper level of communication with continued love and bonding.” Janet Marlow 

Janet Marlow is internationally known as a composer, researcher, and author and for her contributions to the understanding of animal hearing and behavior. Her research on behalf of animals has been featured on Animal Planet, CNN, Entrepreneur Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. In 2009, she founded Pet Acoustics Inc. with award-winning products that have helped thousands of pets, pet parents and veterinarians worldwide.

1. Learn as much as you can about the breed or adoption ahead of time.

2. When you go to your first veterinarian check up, discuss what you’re feeding your puppy and evaluate what is best for her.

3. Have a crate ready for training, sleep and nap time so that your puppy can learn to rest and self-regulate feelings of separation when you need to go out. It’s tough love but it will keep your puppy safe. Play our Pet Tunes Canine music to keep puppy calm.

4. Have puppy-appropriate chew sticks and other chewing toys available for your dog especially when she goes though the teething phase. This is good for avoiding your shoes getting chewed up.

5. Create a daily routine for your puppy that suits your schedule. Dogs like routine.

6. Introduce your dog to other people to help socialize them.

7. Bring your puppy to a commercial street to get used to the sounds of traffic and unexpected noises. Verbally reassure your puppy that everything is okay!

8. Talk to your dog and start teaching her words that are identified with items. Every dog is very smart!

9. Sign up for puppy training classes. This will be fun for your puppy and very informative for you.

10. Give your puppy lots of quiet time and cuddles to deepen your person-puppy bond for a lifetime of confidence, balance and wellbeing.

We are hearing from many new customers who are adopting from shelters and bringing puppies into their home during the time of Covid-19. We wanted to share our top 10 tips to give your puppy her best start in life with you and your family.

Cat Sonorgam   “The Purr”

Cats purr at a frequency of 25 to 150 vibrations per second. Amazing! Saying the word ‘vibration’ takes longer. You can see the pattern in the sonogram and sound waves of a slight breath, then the purr vibration, then another slight breath intake and then the purr vibration. Purring is a separate phenomena to breathing but the intensity alters when there is a breath intake when listening.

The purr is our cat’s sign of contentment. They purr when they are happy, nestled up to their person, resting in a sunny spot on the couch, when they are eating and sometimes cat’s purr when they are in pain. When cats purr, it has positive effects on humans, lowering blood pressure and diminishing stress for relaxation. 

I was curious if other animals purr to share this phenomenon with you. Stated in Wikipedia there are other animals that purr. “ Other animals that have been said to purr are rabbits, squirrels, guinea pigs, tapirs, ring-tailed lemurs, elephants, raccoons and gorillas while eating.”

However, scientists continue to research this phenomena indicating that cats remain the singular species that exercise this musical hum initiated for their own healing and comfort.

Cat Questions

Here, you can see the sound of a cat question-like phrase which is a very common vocalization. So do cats speak in questions? The lifting of the voice at the end of the vocalization shown by the strong spiral takes the tone into a questioning pitch. We know that high pitched vocalizations are more likely to get the attention of the feline or human family. The question-like pitch is much like our own phrasing when we ask for something. Cats and humans also share similar sounds when we are unhappy in a lower, more intense tone. 

 A question that is interesting to pose is “Do cats learn to imitate our inflections of speech?”

It would be interesting to observe how your cat responds to your questions, Try these phrases.

Do you want a treat?

Do you want to go out? 

Listen to the melodic-like response and see if you are in conversation with your cat. So when your cat seems to ask “Excuse me but do you speak cat?” You can answer by saying “Why yes I do!”

By Janet Marlow, M.A. Sound Behaviorist

Feline Fun Fact-Smiling Or Smelling?

Have you ever eaten a mint candy and then have taken in a deep breath with your mouth open? It seems like the mint flavor intensifies with the intake of air.  Cat’s have a similar sensation when they smell which makes them look like they are smiling with their mouth open. Fact is cats have an extra olfactory organ which is connected to their nasal cavity. When they sniff and smile, this is called The Flehman Response, resulting in the curling of the upper lip. Cats are one of the few animals that have this extra olfactory organ, called the Jacobson’s organ. Combined with this extra organ when your cat shows this smiling behavior this is known as flehming.

A cat’s ability is heightened to analyze scents by intensifying the odor. They can sense how long ago an animal had been in the area and other important scent information. So if you see your cat flehming know that he is doing a careful analysis of his environment. Just smile back and be proud of your incredible cat!

I started the journey into the study of canine hearing and the responses to sound in 1994. My first research was looking up information in veterinary medical books to learn about the effects of sound on the canine ear. To my surprise, there was no information on behavioral responses to sound but solely on ear structure. My curiosity grew stronger and inspired me towards finding out more about canine hearing. It became clear to me that this was an overlooked area of canine and feline life.

I wrote to world leaders in the study of animal hearing such as H.E. Hefner and R.S. Hefner at the University of Toledo Laboratory of Animal Comparative Hearing asking them for copies of their research. I received these papers which showed hearing ranges of animals from chickens to bats in decibels and frequencies. Over three years, I began formulating a concept. I focused on canine and feline hearing ranges first as these are the most common companion animals. By acknowledging that dog and cat hyper-vigilant behavior is triggered by high and low ranges for survival, I thought surely this is occurring behaviorally in our homes. Are pet behaviors being triggered by sound and overlooked because these agitating sounds are not being heard by humans? What can be provided for pets to help them feel calm?

The concept soon solidified in my mind. By eliminating these alert levels in our pet's environment, the result should elicit calm. Relating this to my dogs and cats who demonstrated their soothing as I practiced for performances, I saw music as the answer. As a recording artist in my studio, I was adept at manipulating sound modifying decibel and frequency content. This was the beginning of my journey.

In 1997, I invented species-specific music which is music designed for the hearing comfort range of dogs, cats, horses and birds to help balance behaviors. Since then, proven clinical studies, published research, awards and thousands of products sold globally have been a solution for separation anxiety and noise phobias for pet parents, veterinarians and shelters disbursed through my corporation, Pet Acoustics.

In 2020, I’m continuing animal hearing research in collaboration with veterinary research institutes around the world, most recently in the agricultural field for pigs and cows. Janet Marlow, Founder of Pet Acoustics.

Shai, a Golden Retriever was the Service dog for a woman who had a physical disability. Shai’s  job was to be by her side for stability and provide emotional comfort for her as she went to public places.   Shai and his person were inseparable. At a town celebration one day, Shai and his person stood by the road, where to their ears, a 21-gun salute fired near them. Shai was closest to the firing and  his hearing was stunned into near deafness and his cognitive abilities went into a severe degree of paralysis. His owner brought Shai to the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine to see if Shai could be brought back to some level of normalcy with therapeutic protocols. Shai worked with a veterinary behaviorist and after three months, Shai was returned to his person with a good balance of behaviors. However, there was one issue that was not resolved. With any sudden volume spike in an environment Shai would be triggered back  into toxic stress.

I know of this story because Shai’s owner reached out to me as a sound behaviorist to see if I had any solutions for Shai so that she could continue taking him with her in public as a support dog. I had recently developed a collar device that emits soft tones and music designed for the hearing comfort range for dogs to elicit calm during thunderstorms and firework events. I immediately sent the Ultra Calmer to her after hearing her serious situation to see if this would help.  Shai’s owner received the collar and she started using it on him to go to doctor visits and restaurants. The Ultra Calmer device is placed on the back of the neck between the ears to mask sound and to access the dog’s nervous system to help calm noise stress. It worked well for Shai.

In this video Shai is remaining calm during a thunderstorm and during their home demolition. The collar was a success for Shai helping him at home and in public places with his person continuing to have her beloved dog by her side. A happy ending to an intense situation that I was gratified to be part of. 

Dr. Dale. Krier, In-Home Veterinary Care

Dr. Dale Krier, an extraordinary veterinarian, friend and colleague and I spoke of her mobile practice during these days of Covid-19. Veterinary care in hospital practices are now complicated as you and your family want to be with your dog during euthanasia but vets are not allowing families in with their pet as a precaution. Hear Dr. Dale Krier's amazing and heartfelt stories of her In-Home visits and care embrace the heart of the human-animal family. Please visit her website: www.drdalekrier.com Presented by www.PetAcoustics.com and interviewed by Janet Marlow, CEO and Sound Behaviorist.

Dr. Dale Krier, an extraordinary veterinarian, friend and colleague and I spoke of her mobile practice during these days of Covid-19. Veterinary care in hospital practices are now complicated as you and your family want to be with your dog during euthanasia but vets are not allowing families in with their pet as a precaution. Hear Dr. Dale Krier's amazing and heartfelt stories of her In-Home visits and care embrace the heart of the human-animal family. Please visit her website: www.drdalekrier.com Presented by www.PetAcoustics.com and interviewed by Janet Marlow, CEO and Sound Behaviorist.

Introduction Podcast to Janet Marlow’s Upcoming Book What Dogs Hear Matters: From Puppy to Senior

Download a free calming song for your friends and family.

During these challenging times, it’s important to remember that human anxiety is passed onto our pets. Pet Acoustics wants to help every member in your household find calm with music tunes for dogs, cats, horses and small animals.

Enjoy this free bonus download from our Song of the Month subscription service.

Link expires on 4/30/2020.

Music composed by Janet Marlow. Copyright © 2015 Library of Congress. Copyright © 2020 Pet Acoustics, Inc. All rights reserved.

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