An exploratory study of the influence of musical instruments and vocals on dog behaviour

Han Meng; Clive J.C. Phillips; Han Meng; Clive J.C. Phillips

doi:10.3934/aas.2025003

AIMS Animal Science

2025, Volume 1, Issue 1: 20-38. doi: 10.3934/aas.2025003

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Research article

An exploratory study of the influence of musical instruments and vocals on dog behaviour

Han Meng ¹,
Clive J.C. Phillips ^{2
,
,}

1.
Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Australia
2.
Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute, Australia; Estonia University of Life Sciences, Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Australia

Received: 13 November 2024 Revised: 11 June 2025 Accepted: 27 June 2025 Published: 05 August 2025

Music exposure has a potentially positive effect of keeping stressed animals calm and providing an interesting stimulus to animals that are bored. Dogs in captivity, and in particular those in a shelter, face a variety of stressors, including boredom, which may reduce their welfare. In this research, a group of dogs (n = 10) in a teaching laboratory, with strict control of noise levels, were exposed to different instruments or vocal forms of music, or to a control treatment of white noise, for short, 10-minute periods, in a changeover experimental design over a period of 10 days. Four songs using strings, wind, keyboard instruments, or vocals were each repeated 10 times and compared to a control treatment. Dogs lay down less, raised their heads more, and showed signs of arousal in response to male vocals and violin, compared with other instruments and vocal types and the control. It is hypothesized that this was due to their association of vocals and stringed instruments with human and conspecific presence, respectively, whereas wind and percussion instruments did not have these effects. It is concluded that male vocals and violins are arousing to dogs and, for this reason, might be best avoided when selecting music to play to dogs in stressful situations.
- animal shelter,
- music therapy,
- dog,
- musical instrument,
- instrument classification,
- vocal
Citation: Han Meng, Clive J.C. Phillips. An exploratory study of the influence of musical instruments and vocals on dog behaviour[J]. AIMS Animal Science, 2025, 1(1): 20-38. doi: 10.3934/aas.2025003

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Abstract

Music exposure has a potentially positive effect of keeping stressed animals calm and providing an interesting stimulus to animals that are bored. Dogs in captivity, and in particular those in a shelter, face a variety of stressors, including boredom, which may reduce their welfare. In this research, a group of dogs (n = 10) in a teaching laboratory, with strict control of noise levels, were exposed to different instruments or vocal forms of music, or to a control treatment of white noise, for short, 10-minute periods, in a changeover experimental design over a period of 10 days. Four songs using strings, wind, keyboard instruments, or vocals were each repeated 10 times and compared to a control treatment. Dogs lay down less, raised their heads more, and showed signs of arousal in response to male vocals and violin, compared with other instruments and vocal types and the control. It is hypothesized that this was due to their association of vocals and stringed instruments with human and conspecific presence, respectively, whereas wind and percussion instruments did not have these effects. It is concluded that male vocals and violins are arousing to dogs and, for this reason, might be best avoided when selecting music to play to dogs in stressful situations.

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