Dog Walks

“Dogs teach us to observe the path along the way. It is one of their greatest gifts to us as pet parents.”

Walking with your dog is one of the most beautiful and valued parts of your relationship because it is a time that balances you and your dog’s partnership. A walk activates both human and canine senses while you share the fresh air, the exercise and nature. If a dog's life span is an average of fourteen years, you will walk your dog over 10,000 times! 

Dogs look forward to walks with you whether on the road, on the city street, or on the nature trail. This is where your dog enjoys your company while happily activating his senses.  When dogs walk, their most active senses are their noses and ears. When we walk, we are usually in our thoughts. A human has twelve thousand  to sixty thousand thoughts a day. Dogs help us get out of our inner monologue of thoughts by perking up to a sound, catching a whiff of an interesting scent, or stopping to analyze a foreign object. Taking a walk is an agreement between you and your dog and deepens companionship.  

Since we take thousands of walks with our dogs, I’d like to offer a musical perspective while you walk together. Walks are truly like a musical composition.  Walking together has phrasing, tempo, dynamics and form.  Phrasing has a beginning, a hi-point and an end. There is always one interesting point in the middle of a walk, like meeting a friend and their dog for a conversation. 

Tempo is the pace at which you and your dog walk. Some days are energetic, and some days require a slower pace. Whatever your pace, your dog is aware of your energy level and will adjust to your tempo. You are partners in harmony.

Dynamics are the volume levels experienced along the way. You may encounter a noisy construction zone or have a chance to pause for a quiet moment in a park, with an offered dog treat of course

Form is the route that you take. In Native American folklore, it is said to complete a journey, instead of returning the same way, find a different route home to complete the circle.

Puppy Walks

When you teach your puppy to walk on leash make sure to use your voice along the way. Your puppy is imprinting the inflection of your voice to learn and understand your training communication.  Keep your voice in a high pitch which is best for their high frequency hearing.

Establish a rhythm to your walk and keep your dog at that pace. As a simple training exercise, count a certain number of steps in a pattern and then stop to request a sit-stay. Repeat the counting pattern and then release into free-form walking, then go back to the pattern.  Use puppy walks for training, socializing and confidence in creative ways.

Listening Walks

When we walk alongside our dogs, they are not only sniffing and seeing where they are going but they are also hearing our footsteps. Tune in to hearing your own footsteps and then walk a little faster and watch your dog pick up the pace. Spend the walk listening to you and your dog’s immediate surroundings.

Imagine your dog and cat who lives about 2 to 4 feet off the floor of your house. They have a sense of safety in your normal day with the comings and goings of the family, daily scents, sounds, treats mealtime, walks and communications. Now it’s the holidays and their home is filled with family and friends. Dogs and cats feel calm when they have their routines. It’s wonderful to have a merry household for the holidays but just being aware your pet’s world of acute sensory perceptions on a different level will help you help them feel less stressed. So Pet Acoustics has produced holiday music with a dual purpose. Pet Tunes Holiday will provide a festive mood to your home while helping your pets remain calm with music sounds that elicit calm behavior. Want to know what this sounds like listen to this video presentation of Pet Tunes Holiday. Now add some toys of a squeaky Santa and feathery mouse for fun and frolic.

How many times have you seen a dog left in a car while waiting for their person to return? You can see this in parking lots and in front of store parking. It always tugs at the heart string especially seeing the dog in freeze behavior mode, staring intensely for the first glimpse of his person or family. Pet parents know to leave windows open, not to leave them in a car on a hot day at all and to keep the time short. Whether one or several dogs, the look and behavior is the same…a frozen stance. If a dog is feeling the need to freeze or be still, it means that they are experiencing a high level of unease. In some instances when a dog is still, the situation may not escalate further; the freeze may mean the dog is so uncomfortable or stressed with the situation that he feels he has no option but to shut down. Since you are the person away from your dog even if it’s to pop into a store or post office for a short period of time, it’s important to address what your dog is feeling during these moments.

We may think these short moments of anxiety dissipate as soon as your dog sees you return with a waggy tail and settles down, however please note that the physical response of pulse rate and cortisol levels takes some time to lower to your dog’s baseline or normal levels.

Perhaps your dog barks excessively until you return? Some dogs may jump back and forth from the back seat to the front seat as a stress anxiety behavior. These short time periods in the car are signs of stress. Stress behavior in dogs is the focus of Pet Tunes Canine calming music which we hope you already have for your dog. We wanted to underline the portability and stress-modifying tool of Pet Tunes music that it is not just for separation anxiety at home but to be used also for these moments of anxiety and stress while in the car or other places you take your dog.

OTHER PLACES WHERE DOGS FEEL STRESS

CAR TRAVEL, VET VISITS, GROOMING SESSIONS, KENNEL STAYOVERS, POST SURGERY RECUPERATION

We love our dogs and cats. We love everything about them, the feel, their touch, their funny personality, the calm and active times we share daily. There are many levels of relationship that we cherish throughout their lives as we care for their well being. The last week in September is Pet Acoustics’ spotlight on pet hearing health. National Pet Hearing Health Week goes from September 26 to 30th. Each day we are asking you to observe your pet’s hearing ability as part of their health at any age. In our research over the past twenty five years, we’ve learned many aspects of what entails pet hearing health. Pet Acoustics now offers the first FREE Home Pet Hearing Test for dogs or cats to know for sure if your pet has full or partial hearing range. Learn more.

One pet parent said “ I just whisper “treat” and if my dog comes running I know they have hearing”. We’ve learned that knowing if your pet has hearing health requires more care and attention and that pet hearing has three levels of responses, high, medium and low ear/brain triggers. Each of these mean different triggering responses to animals. Simply put, human and animal health parallel. Human babies start with extraordinary hearing, the best the human ear can do, from the lowest vibrations to the highest sounds. As we age, our hearing diminishes in capacity and in old age, we lose more and more ability to hear. This, of course, varies form person to person but generally this is the case. In dogs and cats, the same range from birth to senior applies to our animal friends. This is why it’s important to acknowledge that your pet will be losing some hearing ability as they age. Most of the time, we recognize that our dog or cat is not hearing after the fact of hearing loss, when they no longer respond to our call, or have a new level of anxiety as this sense diminishes. So keeping track of your pet’s hearing ability throughout their life is a new and important awareness. which is what our Pet Acoustics National Pet Hearing Health Week is all about. Take time once a year to know the status of your pet’s hearing as a check-up.

Senior to geriatric dogs, who fall in the age range of seven to fourteen years or older, experience hearing loss as they age. The physical cause is due to degenerative changes in the nerves inside the ear. Loss of hearing is very gradual, so as a pet parent you may not notice the change right away. The common form of deafness in pets is age-related hearing loss, referred to as ARHL. Most experience some degree of ARHL, beginning in the third trimester of life. ARHL begins by affecting the middle to high frequency range of sounds but eventually encompasses the entire range of frequency hearing ability by the geriatric stage. 

For seniors, acknowledging their hearing loss is an important step to helping them navigate a new life stage. When our pets have pain or have an illness, pets often become stoic, not showing feelings of pain. Fortunately, when they’re in our care, we can be on the lookout for signs of hearing loss. Perhaps your pet no longer comes when you whistle, shows changes in daily behaviors, has an increased startle reflex specifically to touch, creates a louder than usual bark to get your attention, increases sleep time or has general apathy. When you have suspicions that there is something wrong with your pet’s hearing, take her to the veterinarian for evaluation and possible treatment.

Veterinary check up

Your veterinarian will observe your pet’s hearing ability. They’ll likely check to see if your pet responds to sounds outside their field of vision and take note if your pet has involuntary flicking or twitching of the ears, called-Pryor’s reflex-in response to sound.  

BAER Hearing Test- A veterinary procedure is an electro-diagnostic test used to evaluate the hearing of dogs, cats and other. domestic animals. It evaluates the components of the external ear canal, middle/inner ear cavities, cranial nerve and selected areas of the brainstem.

Pet Acoustics Home Pet Hearing Test is an easy, hands-on way to observe and record if your pet has full hearing or may have partial hearing or hearing loss. We’ve simplified the science of pet hearing into key ranges; high, mid, and low frequency hearing. This natural method includes animal vocalizations that are familiar to your pet. After conducting the test, you will know better if your pet hears all three levels or may have hearing loss.  

How it works

• Sign up on PetAcoustics.com to start the free Pet Acoustics Home Pet Hearing Test 

• Click on each audio test 

• Mark your pet’s observable reaction after playing each sound. 

• The survey test takes one minute to complete.

You’ll be emailed the test results which you can share with your veterinarian.

I was in a pet store with my son, purchasing some treats for my dog, “Rigby". We walked by the parakeet cages and stopped to observe them. At this moment, I shared with my son, the story of “Perky” and “Spotty”, my first pets as a child of seven. In our small New York apartment, these two birds, one yellow and one blue, opened up a wondrous world adding to my seven year life. I loved these birds with all my heart. I learned birds take care of each other, preening, playing and sleeping on one talon. It was absolutely fascinating to see. When I opened the door each day, they were able to fly around my room, perching on my finger as I talked to them in my high pitched child voice as I recall. The interspecies trio was a joyous part of our day. Two summers later, I went to camp and the birds were taken to a pet store to stay, as my parents were away as well and petsitting was not a profession back then. When I came back home, we went to pick up the birds and the pet store owner sadly stated that the birds had died. He said that one bird had been sick and died and then the other refused to eat and died. Needless to say this was a trauma to my young heart. My son turned to me and comforted my tearful state in the store as I finished relaying the story. Animals give depth to our lives in the most beautiful and profound ways at any age.

Decades later, with Pet Acoustics Inc. I dedicated my research to understand birds and their environment. Birds are natures musicians and when they are left home alone, they feel disconnected from communication. Providing them with sounds of nature and calming music gives them this sonic connection. That is why I developed the product Pet Tunes Avine, inspired by my childhood heartfelt connection to Perky and Spotty.

janetmarlow@petacoustics.com

Bringing a puppy home and creating an environment that nurtures calm behaviors sounds easier than it is in reality. Even if you’ve had many dogs throughout your lifetime, each dog, each breed, each circumstance brings a new challenge to this wonderful handful of furry being.

Adopting a puppy into your home is an undeniable joy. Seeing a puppy’s playfulness and energy is endearing and entertaining. The first two years of a puppy’s life are full of new experiences about their world, and hearing is essential for their learning and training.

Newborn puppies are deaf until about three weeks of age. Until then, a puppy uses her sense of smell to navigate to Mom, siblings and her surroundings. Eyes begin to open in the second week of life, between ten to fourteen days. Puppies’ ears begin to open generally around fourteen to eighteen days old and continue to develop until eight weeks old. Once they have their full hearing ability, they hear twice the frequency levels of humans and sounds four times farther away. When you first bring home a puppy, at this early age, the distinctive sound of your voice becomes imprinted as their new family.

Hearing and Sleep

Canine ears, like human ears, never close! When we sleep, our ears are still hearing, though our brains go in and out of responding to sound according to the different stages of sleep. There are two basic types of sleep: REM-sleep and non-REM sleep, (rapid eye movement) which has three different stages.

Stage One occurs right after you fall asleep and is very short.
Stage Two is a light sleep. Heart rate slows and body temperature drops.

Research has identified that the brain waves of dogs during sleep are comparable to those of humans. Have you seen your dog twitch when she is sleeping? This is when your dog has entered REM sleep or rapid eye movement. Compared to humans who have 25% of REM deep sleep, dogs only need 10% of REM for health. Getting quality sleep every day is a key component of your dog’s health at any age.

If your dog experiences agitating noises while home alone, your dog may not be getting sufficient rest. This is important because during sleep, dogs, just like humans experience allostatic regulation, which is the balancing of cell function. How much sleep a dog needs depends on the breed of dog, the size of the dog, their diet, daily walks, and amount of play exercise.

Canine rest periods weave in and out of daily life. As sleep or rest is a major part of their day for health and rebalance, the acoustics and sounds in their environment is a key factor. If their environment is noisy, like the reverberating cement walls of animal shelters, dogs hardly get a chance to rest deeply. In a veterinary kennel, the same acoustic issues can apply

Stage Three is the deep sleep

Each of these stages is linked to specific brain waves and neuronal activity. These are developments which can exacerbate the emotional stress of separation anxiety. Have you seen your dog go into a deep rest right after a veterinary checkup? Just being home helps your dog succumb to the quiet and safety to release muscle tension due to stress. There’s no place like home!

When a puppy is learning to be home alone, they can experience acute separation anxiety. The release of the adrenaline hormone causes a state of stress and if the stress continues, cortisol, known as the stress hormone, is released into the body, causing your dog to be anxious and reactive. During the night, if you’ve ever tried to sleep while your puppy is being crate trained, you have heard with your own ears the level of stress they are experiencing. It’s understandable that your puppy just wants to be cuddled and be close to you for deep relaxation but just like a baby, they need at some point to self-regulate into a state of relaxation.

“ I have a new puppy that has separation issues not only when I'd leave the house, but when I leave the room. He will cry, bark and even go to the bathroom in his crate when I'd leave. I use Puppy Calm music now and my puppy knows when the music goes on it’s time to crate up and goes to sleep and rests.”

“Our puppy is very anxious and this really helps calm him. He sleeps really well, it's soothing and helps block out any sounds that would wake him. If he's whimpering or barking, he usually calms down within 3 or 4 minutes after playing the soothing sounds. I also enjoy having it on during the day to keep him calm while I work (since I work from home).”

New! special music designed just for growing puppy behavior balance.

$34.99 SD card

compatible with Pet Tunes speaker or other device.

Horses and humans share the most closely related hearing ranges of any other mammals on the planet. The human frequency hearing range is 20Hz to 20,000Hz -- the frequency hearing range of a horse is 55Hz to 33,500Hz. A whisper in his ear, or a personalized whistle from the barn to come in from the field, represent a significant aspect of how we connect to and bond with our horses through sound.

Sounds trigger both positive and negative behaviors in horses. An inability to flee the paddock during a loud thunderstorm can cause high agitation. A sudden jarring noise or shrill frequency can tense muscles, causing stress. Providing the best sonic environment for your horse can be as important as giving him the best veterinary care and diet. One tool you can use to balance his environment is music.

The Equine Network #AskAnnie Podcast Hosted by Annie Kennedy

In Episode 62 I sat down with Dr. Sarah Ruess of Boehringer Ingelheim Equine Health and Janet Marlow of Pet Acoustics to discuss their project, Relax Trax. We discuss how these two masterminds worked together on this project, how horses are impacted by sound, and how Relax Trax can work in conjunction with other products like ULCERGARD. Tune in to hear this awesome conversation and their advice on preventative measures to take to reduce stress in your horse anywhere you like to listen to podcasts or by using the link below:

https://apple.co/38QAP0n

Observing your horse’s ears in response to sound is one of the most insightful key that trigger equine behaviors. Today, caregiving to our animals is evolving to better health and understanding. We are learning more and more how to balance their needs for well-being and sound as a trigger for behavior is an important tool and understanding for their best life!

Purposeful scenarios using Pet Acoustics equine music

While riding – Playing music while you’re on the trail adds an entertaining dimension to riding for you and your horse. However, for safety’ make sure the volume level doesn’t overwhelm your ability to hear what’s going on around you.

In the barn -- Play the music at a moderate level on your sound system. Horses don’t need loud music to experience the sound waves. Position the sound source at approximately ear level or slightly above your horse’s head so he can both feel and hear the music.

During farrier, dental and veterinary visits – These are often not a horse’s favorite experiences, so play music to distract him and diminish anxiety. Music also helps mask sounds from any medical equipment being used.

For massage and grooming -- Horses love to be massaged. Use music to bring your horse into a deeper state of relaxation.

During post-surgery recuperation -- Music is especially beneficial for horses on stall rest while recovering from surgery. It will allow for deeper muscle relaxation during difficult stages of healing.

For trailer transport -- Engine frequencies and vibrations are very potent to equine ears. Music can help him feel a little less anxious, especially when he’s being backed into the trailer.

Masking thunderstorms -- Thunder can reach volumes up to 115 decibels. The horse and human hearing comfort range is 60 to 80 decibels. If thunder is disturbing to you, you’ll understand why it can trigger behaviors of anxiety and flight in your horse.

For therapeutic riding -- Blood pressure studies that compared the cortisol levels of riding horses, racehorses and therapy horses revealed that the latter have the highest levels, which means they have the highest levels of stress. The ability of therapy horses to restrain their behaviors during student/instructor/horse sessions is a remarkable empathic trait, but also physically distressing. Playing calming music during student/horse sessions can make the experience more entertaining while helping the horse feel calmer.

Does your dog have singing talent to win a DogGrammy?

Pet Acoustics has created The 1st Singing DogGrammy Award Contest culminating with a live event on June 15th to announce the winner!!

The talented canine winner will receive $250.00 cash, (1) Pet Tunes Canine, (1) Ultra Calmer Collar , (1) Fit Tunes and (1) Pet Acoustics Logo Hat.

How to participate:

Record your dog singing

Go to this Link: https://www.facebook.com/SingingDogGrammyAward

Post the video on Send Message with your dog’s:

Name and your email address

Join the Pet Acoustics Award Event Live!! on June 15th on facebook.com/petacoustics with the announcement of the talented canine winner!!

When a storm is occurring in your area, it is heartbreaking to see your wonderful dog panting, pacing and drooling in a highly anxious state. You’d like to hold your dog and help her break out of this behavior, but more often than not your loving efforts are to no avail. Dogs and cats can also suffer static shocks in the buildup to a thunderstorm. If you become nervous or anxious yourself, your dog may mirror your behavior. “There’s something about their makeup that makes their thresholds for developing this, or their ability to recover, lower than that of other animals,” says Lore Haug, DVM, a veterinary behaviorist at Texas Veterinary Behavior Services.

The decibel range of a thunderstorm is between 100 dB to 115 dB, way beyond the safety range for canine ears. Thunder also occurs in the infrasonic range (below 20 Hz), which is inaudible to humans. During a storm, pressure will occur in a dog’s ear, which is experienced as a pulsating sensation. Both ultrasonic and infrasonic sounds can be observed in the same thunderstorm. A clap of thunder can reach 120 dB. So, you can understand why a thunderstorm is an intense experience for their ears and ours.

 A dog will want to escape to safety, and the shift to flight-or-fight behavior can happen quickly. Pet parents have shared with me stories of their dog jumping into a bathtub, shaking under a bed, and running right through electric fences. If a dog lives in an area that has rolling thunderstorms due to afternoon heat, the dog will develop storm phobia, which will need a behaviorist and calming tools to overcome. There are also hereditary predispositions to fear or anxiety reactive to thunderstorms, especially common in some hunting and herding breeds which includes the German Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, Border Collie, Havanese, Shorthaired Pointer, Vizsla, and Bichon Frise.

 Young dogs and senior dogs display fear of thunderstorm sounds for different reasons than adult dogs. To a young dog, storms are a new experience to learn and can be terrifying as awareness grows. Senior and geriatric dogs, whose hearing has greatly diminished, will still experience the pressure of sound by absorbing vibrations in their bodies and through their paws, which can be disorienting.

 To assist a young pup in desensitizing to loud noises like thunderstorms or fireworks, you can pop bubble wrap in a room where they are. First, use your Decibel App to test the loudness of the pop yourself. Have your dog smell the sheet of bubble wrap to know where the sound is coming from. Then, keeping a distance from your dog in the room, pop one bubble and stop, then say “It’s okay.” During another session, pop two bubbles and repeat saying “It’s okay.” Evaluate your pup’s response to see if it lessens reactive behavior as you increase the experience. Make sure to keep the bubble wrap away from your dog’s head and ears.  Your reassurance by saying “It’s okay” will be good practice for when you and your dog are on the street and there's a loud pop sound that may startle your dog. Desensitizing your dog to street sounds, trucks and car horns is a good practice when they are young to minimize noise phobias later on.

 For adult dogs and cats, playing Pet Acoustics music will mask the thunderstorm sounds. For senior and geriatric pets, it’s best to confine their movement to one area or room to prevent injury during agitated roaming.