Many people are stunned when my pet human insists that all TV, radio and music is turned off in the house during their dog’s acupuncture session. So i thought i would take this opportunity to talk about this from my canine point of view!

Music has a very powerful effect on all of us animals. Calming and classical music has been proven to relax people as well as animals. Have you ever notice that you become agitated while shopping in a store playing annoyingly loud music? Perhaps you would have stayed and shopped longer if the music was happy, peaceful or classical? Have you ever tried to eat in a restaurant that had really bad booming music? My pet human, aka Beta-chic actually has the nerve to ask the owners to please turn the music down. If they don’t then she walks out never to shop in that establishment again. In fact there are now several restaurants in Salem that neither of my pet humans will eat at because of the extremely loud music – or worse the annoying sound of several TVs blasting. Do we really need all this noise?

A dog’ sense of hearing is the second most developed organ. We dogs can hear a lot better than humans. We can hear frequencies such as ultrasounds. We hear things you can’t even fathom! So can you even imagine what booming loud music does to us – especially music with lots of heavy base like rap. It is upsetting, disturbing and can make us very cranky! (It does the same to people too!)

There are now several relaxing musical CDs out on the market to play for your pets while you are away. Or you could play classical music for your animals and your plants. I am a very fortunate dog. My pet humans despise TV so much they don’t even have cable so we never have that blasting in our home.

So to insure a calm and peaceful environment for the dog patient and Beta-chic, Four Paws Acupuncture has a policy to have no music or TV on during the session. It makes for a more positive experience for all and is in the best interest of the dog. We hope that this trend becomes so popular that all animal shelters, vet hospitals and doggie daycare centers start playing music to soothe us savage beasts too!
Until next post – Happy Tails
Quan Yin
Pawsitive Relations Director of Four Paws Acupuncture
p.s. Here is an article about the effects of classical music on animals below.

Animal welfare: Classical music soothes the wanderlust of zoo elephants
Playing Elgar, Puccini and Beethoven to the animals reduces abnormal behaviours such as swaying, pacing and trunk tossing
James Randerson, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 November 2008 11.05 GMT

The rousing, patriotic sweep of Elgar’s Nimrod, the mournful tones of Nessun Dorma and the urgent eight-note allegro con brio opening to Beethoven’s fifth – they have all been helping animal behaviour experts to make life more comfortable for the elephants at Belfast zoo.

The researchers have discovered that playing classical music to the animals reduces abnormal behaviours such as swaying, pacing and trunk tossing, although they said elephants don’t seem to have a favourite composer.

“We tend to see in some situations that elephants don’t cope well with captivity just because they have this inherent instinct to roam vast distances,” said Dr Deborah Wells at Queen’s University in Belfast. “The rationale underlying this study is really to try and improve their welfare and in particular to try to improve these stereotypic patterns of behaviour that elephants are prone to.”

Her team recorded the behaviour of four female Asian elephants every minute for four hours a day over three five-day periods. “Every single behaviour the elephants could perform, we recorded,” said Wells.

During the first five days the animals were not exposed to any music. In the second five days the researchers placed a speaker in their enclosure playing a CD of classical music by the likes of Mozart, Elgar, Handel and Beethoven. During the final five days the speaker was switched off.

The team report in the journal Animal Welfare that the frequency of abnormal behaviours dropped dramatically while the music was playing whereas normal behaviours, such as feeding, remained unchanged.

“Elephants are incredibly sensitive beasts,” said David Field, zoological director of London and Whipsnade zoos.”Their appreciation of noise communication is far beyond our hearing range. They communicate in deep infrasonic vibrations … so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if [classical music] has this calming effect.”

He said keepers at London and Whipsnade zoos often put a radio on in the enclosures of animals that have to be kept on their own – for example sick animals or new arrivals at the zoo. Whipsnade’s elephants in particular seem to appreciate background music. “We always do tend to have music on but we certainly wouldn’t stick to classical music and I think our elephants are a bit partial to Terry Wogan and Chiltern FM,” he said.

Wells has already investigated the effect that music has on dogs and gorillas. “Classical had the most beneficial effect. Heavy metal had quite an adverse effect on the dogs,” she said.

She said dog shelters have begun playing classical music to calm their animals as result of that study.

To read the rest of this article go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/17/elephants-zoos-classical-music-elgar

Four Paws Acupuncture now has a few new and old policies, which need to be addressed. I thank everyone for their support and as I have become busier a few changes need to be made:

* For liability reasons as well as the safety of your dog, the owner MUST be in the room during the entire acupuncture session. This means in the room the dog is being treated! I appreciate that all TV, radios and music is off during this time.

* Please schedule your dog’s session during a time there will be little or no distractions. Your dog’s session begins as soon as I arrive at your home. Cooking dinner, helping children with homework or un-necessary phone calls, etc. take up time that should be focused on your dog. Your full attention and participation during the dog’s session is crucial for positive results.

* I do my best to give every dog my undivided attention during its treatment and each dog is allotted an hour time slot. This does not include the time it takes me to drive to and from your home, which can be anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes each way. It is only fair to the patient who is scheduled after your dog that you respect this time slot. If you keep me waiting this affects the next dog and dog owner’s time, which is unfair to them.

* As you know, I do not have an office staff to make calls and return emails. Due to the large volume of calls and emails I receive every day I want to make sure my patients have first priority of my attention. Therefore, if you need to reschedule an appointment less than 48 hours before your scheduled time please call me. I now have a waiting list and do not check e-mail when out on house calls.

* There is a 24-hour cancellation policy and unfortunately I will now have to enforce it. I understand when true emergencies come up and you need to cancel at the last minute, and I am happy to allow for these things. For less than actual emergencies, however, those who cancel with less than 24 hours notice are subject to being billed for the full session cost.

Those who stand me up or cancel at the last minute more than 3 times will be placed on a same day call basis. This means no more advanced scheduling, just call me the day you want an appointment and if there is slot available you may have it.

* Please do not try to contact me via Facebook for appointments. I do not always check my Facebook account. Please call me or email me. If it is an emergency please call. I do not always check email over the weekend.

* If you have any feedback on how I can improve my services and make the house call more efficient please let me know. My goal is to help your dog get the best treatment possible in order for him or her to recover and heal properly.

Thank you,

jeanie marie kraft, L.Ac.