In Review---Riding in Cars & Dogs



Joshua Leeds and Lisa Spector
Through A Dog's Ear

Music to Calm Your Dog in the Car
Sounds True


Concert pianist Lisa Spector has the good fortune of a dog named Sanchez who relaxes when he hears classical piano. So when Lisa takes Sanchez along in her car, playing a recording of classical piano music is similar to hitting Sanchez' snooze button. Sound unreasonable? Too good to be true?

For those folks with anxious dogs that pant excessively or bark in the car or won't get in the car to begin with, there is hope. The latest installment of the Through A Dog's Ear project, Music to Calm Your Dog in the Car is now available. Again, psycho-acoustic expert Joshua Leeds, pianist Lisa Spector have teamed up. The beauty of this recording is that it relaxes dogs without putting the driver to sleep.

Music by Chopin, Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Scarlatti, Mozart, Gluck and Debussy flows generously off of this disc. While the music acts as a wonderful soundtrack for a drive in any setting, it also calms the canine. And that means drivers can keep their eyes on the road and not be overwhelmed by their dog's anxiety.

Of course, there is more to calming the canine than just popping a CD in the car stereo. Directions of prepping the dog, working with different levels of anxiety and other instructions appear in the CD booklet.

According to the press notes, 29 million Americans take their pets on vacation with them and 75% travel by car. However, not all dogs enjoy travelling at all and are filled with anxiety. Some dogs shake or pant excessively, others vomit, bark, whine, jump into the front seat of the car nearly causing the driver to crash the car (I had that happen to me), or just flat out refuse to get into the car at all (I also had that happen to me).

The beauty of this CD is that the music has already been researched on dogs and been proven to be effective. The music is also pleasurable for the driver and other passengers in the car and provides a calmer commute for both animals and their human companions. Even if your dog is not anxious while riding in a car, this recording can still be enjoyed by all.

*Note in the directions to prep the dog for a ride in car, it mentions idling the car for 15 or 20 minutes. Personally, I don't think this is a good practice for the environment and with the price of gas being what it is, you would get zero miles to the gallon.

soundstrue and ThroughADogsEar

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