University research used to create new podcast for home alone dogs
Posted on Wednesday 15 January 2020
Home alone hounds can now wile away the hours when their owners are out at work by tuning into their own playlist - with a new series of podcasts aimed at calming and re-assuring them.
Research by University of York psychologist, Alex Benjamin, helped shape the series called, My Dog’s Favourite Podcast.
Human voices
The study, called ‘Who’s A Good Boy’, explores the role of human voices in stimulating animal behaviour and was used to inform programme makers.
Alex consulted on the podcast, giving ideas and thoughts on the speech and sound production, with the wellbeing of the dogs as a priority.
She said: “Dogs are extremely social animals but, in order to fit in with our busy lives, may spend some time by themselves during the day.
“My Dog’s Favourite Podcast” is a bespoke podcast that is designed to encourage your dog to relax through calming gentle praise and story-like speech accompanied by original music and gentle ambient sounds designed to help mask startling sounds of the outside world such as traffic, car doors slamming or the bins being emptied, for example.
“I hope that the podcast becomes a fun and useful resource for owners to explore with their dogs while they are at home together as well as when their dog is alone for short periods.”
Reassurance
The Spotify series includes messages of reassurance and specially commissioned music by composer Daniel Knight. It is narrated by Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine and Ralph Ineson known for his role as Finchy in The Office.
There are four episodes available on Spotify My Dog’s Favourite Podcast
