January 31, 2024 • 44 mins
Ever been overwhelmed by the sheer power of music? Ponder over its potential to not only spark emotions in humans, but also in our beloved pets. Allow us to take you on a fascinating journey with Lisa Spector, a virtuoso concert pianist and pet music specialist, as she takes us from the glitz and glamour of Juilliard stages to the heartwarming world of pet music. Through her inspiring journey, she's used her musical prowess to create calming soundtracks that have assisted in reducing anxiety in over 1500 shelters globally, leading to increased pet adoption rates.
Now, imagine your hyperactive canine companion suddenly calming down with the soothing notes of a piano. Sounds magical, right? This episode explores the therapeutic effects of music on pets, specifically dogs. We delve into the intricate science of sound, understanding how a balanced mix of low frequencies and long, smooth lines without sudden changes can induce relaxation in our furry friends. We also throw light on how music can serve as a classical conditioning response, helping our pets cope with situations that trigger stress. If you've ever wondered what music your dog prefers, hold on till the end as Lisa answers this intriguing question. Welcome to an episode that's sure to strike a chord with every pet lover out there!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Edward (00:25):
Welcome everyone to the full episode of Pets, people
and Harmony with our specialguest, lisa Spector, the podcast
title being Heal your Pets WithMusic, and today we're going to
dig into really in the in theshort episode teaser episode, we
(00:46):
just went into the fact that,wow, our pets are incredibly
sensitive to sound and soundpollution can can be harmful and
stressful for them.
But what we're going to do inthis extended episode is that
Lisa is going to share a wholelot of her deep wisdom, coming
from a career as a performingconcert pianist and then
(01:10):
stretching out into to studyinghow music and sound affects
animals and particularlycomposing special music that has
particular kinds of frequenciesand cadences that help animals
relax.
So how did you get in?
How did you come from being aconcert pianist to making music
for animals?
Lisa Spector (01:31):
Well, I often say that my Juilliard degree has
gone to the dogs and I couldn'tbe more thrilled.
I did not go to Juilliard tolearn to play and record music
for dogs, but it's so satisfyingbecause my recordings have
helped dogs get adopted in 1500shelters worldwide and I see how
it's helped in veterinaryclinics and it's just so
(01:51):
heartwarming to me.
So it happened what appeared tobe by accident, but we know
there are no accidents.
But looking back it was justkind of divine intervention At
the time.
This goes way back 20 years,2003,.
I was a volunteer puppy raiserfor Guide Ducks for the Blind
down here in California and Ihad four month old puppy.
I was raising Yale Lab and Iowned a music school.
(02:14):
That's what I didprofessionally.
So of course I brought thepuppy to the school and I was
learning different kinds ofmusic to focus and calm my four
class of four year olds.
In the process I'd look over atmy puppy Rembunctious, you know
, he's a four month old lab andhe's, like you know, snoozing.
At no time I'm like great, thekids are focused, quiet.
(02:35):
But I'm really onto somethingwith the dogs and that's how it
all started.
Dr Edward (02:40):
Okay, so you said that your music is being played
in a lot of shelters, so whatsort of changes has it made, you
know?
What sort of data can you tellus about how bringing this music
into the shelters has helpedthese anxious, traumatized
rescue dogs that are waiting fornew homes?
Lisa Spector (02:59):
So I'm going to tell a personal story around
that and then I'll tell the dataaround it.
I, about one year into this, Igot a call from a shelter
manager in Ohio and he said Lisa, he was in tears and he said
the reason I'm crying is becausethis is the first time I've
been able to pick up the phoneand have a conversation in my 20
years here, because it's alwaysbeen too noisy with dogs
(03:20):
barking, and so it quietes thedogs, it quietes the visitors
and visitors then stay longerand then increases adoption
rates.
But he said I have to tell youabout this dog, trello.
He's been here in a year likereally stressed, and he's
listening to your music and hefinally got adopted because the
people really saw who he reallywas once he chilled out.
(03:43):
And this is based on research.
I did with a veterinaryneurologist, dr Susan Wagner,
that she tested a variety of myrecordings and other classical
music.
It was based on a researchstudy by Debra Wells, an Irish
behaviorist who had done a studyin 2001 testing a control group
(04:03):
with no sound classical pop,heavy metal and jazz.
The challenge with testingclassical I've been playing
classical piano since I wasseven.
I know dogs, you know, gotowards the piano, even deaf
dogs.
They like the vibrations.
But classical music is such anenormously broad term.
Dr Edward (04:21):
Oh God there's, so it's like a universe of music,
yeah.
Lisa Spector (04:25):
And people think, oh, I know, I'll just put my
classical station or myclassical app on.
Well, that might be playing the1812 overture, with cannons
coming out of the start.
Dr Edward (04:35):
That's not going to come in the past.
Lisa Spector (04:37):
Right, it's such a huge variety of could be 140
piece orchestra with Berliosymphony, fantastique, or it
could be solo guitar, could besolo flute or violin, which is
high frequency which charges thecanine error system.
So in the research study backin 2005, I believe that I worked
with a sound researcher andthen Dr Susan Wagner.
(04:57):
We were testing a variety ofclassical music and found the
perfect prescription ofclassical that really worked to
calm the dogs, to get them tosettle down, to get them to stop
barking, to get them to stoppanting and pacing.
And then the second study wasin a home where people knew what
their dogs anxiety issues were.
(05:19):
So we tested a wide variety ofsound phobia, hyperactivity,
excessive barking, all thethings.
Dr Edward (05:26):
Yeah, because I've read a book, the Mozart Effect,
which has kind of studied theeffect of Mozart on humans,
which seems to be quite profoundtoo.
So you're kind of trying tofind a similar thread of more
classical, piano based musicthat has the right kinds of
frequencies and cadences thathelp animals really let go and
relax.
Lisa Spector (05:43):
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Yes, although that MozartEffect, well, it has been
debunked.
Dr Edward (05:53):
But we won't go there .
That's another one I was goingto say I'm not across the whole
sound for animals thing.
I'm a musician and I'm intosound but I haven't been
studying that Although you know,I do listen to Mozart when I
want to focus.
Lisa Spector (06:10):
That's a whole other story.
Dr Edward (06:13):
So let's dig into the meat and bones of what we're
here to learn from Lisa today.
So we're going to dig into someteaching points, and the first
point that Lisa wants to expandupon with us today is the impact
of music on pet well-being.
So can you explain to us howmusic affects the mental,
(06:37):
emotional state and physiologyof our dogs, please?
Lisa Spector (06:42):
Sure.
So when you think about it,your dogs have no control over
their sound environment.
Maybe if you have a reallyskilled, trained border callee
that knows how to turn thesteering on in place talk to
Alexa, maybe.
But the people control thepets' environmental sound and I
(07:04):
always feel sorry for pets whoare in a house where one room
the TV is going, the other roomthe teenagers paying heavy metal
and the other room there's afootball game with screaming
going on.
Well, we know that dogs will doanything to put themselves near
us.
They will put themselves in themiddle of cacophony, which
(07:26):
could limit and shorten theirlife because it causes stress,
because their number one desireis to be with us and so it's our
, I think, to really be aresponsible pet parent, we have
to really control thatenvironment so that when they're
just getting one sound sourceat a time, control the volume of
it.
I don't know if I'm just lucky,but since maybe I don't know,
(07:49):
but since I really became these20 years, since I become
somewhere, every senior dog I'vehad has not lost any hearing.
Dr Edward (07:56):
Oh, really that's interesting too.
Lisa Spector (07:58):
Because I like to think it's because I'm like the
sound police, I'm like reallycareful with what they're
introduced to.
Not that I don't.
Sometimes I love Zumba and Ilove to play it, sometimes too
loud if I want to energize andit's not on a caffeine at four
in the afternoon here, but Idon't put my dog.
(08:20):
I don't subject my dog to thatif it's too loud.
They're in a separate room, theyhave a bone, they've got their
own sound environment.
So I'm really careful aboutthat sound environment in terms
of music and I think we all canbe more aware, not only of our
own musical sound and I'll getin a minute to other sounds in
the pet household but just withmusic.
(08:41):
Being aware of knowing your dogwill really danger him or
herself by wanting to be nearyou and put themself in a
cacophony of sound and it wouldcause me, like I'm not as
sensitive hearing as my dog andit would cause me so much stress
.
Dr Edward (08:56):
Yes, so you know, if people do want to listen to
kinds of quality of music thatare less relaxed about loud
volume, do you want to thinkabout headphones rather than
speakers?
Lisa Spector (09:06):
Yeah, exactly yeah , and I do that at times too
when it's like, okay, I don'twant her to hear this.
And I have a dog who is notsound sensitive.
She's 14 year old, 14 yearyoung, very healthy black lab.
But she's more sound sensitivethan she used to be, as most
senior dogs.
As they get older, Generallyyou know behaviors.
(09:29):
Newer behaviors show up,Middle-aged to later, and so one
of them is I know she's notsound fullback by any means, but
I noticed she's just moreunalert if she hears something
that's an unusual sound.
So I'm also really aware of teakettle listening and beats from
the Instant Pot and the washingmachine and all those things
we'll get into.
Dr Edward (09:48):
We'll get into that in a little bit, when we get
into the whole sound survey inthe second half of this podcast
episode.
So we've got this whole thingabout sound, and sound
sensitivity is a pretty commontype of anxiety in dogs, isn't
it?
Lisa Spector (10:07):
Yeah, so there was a study in 2020, see the 2020
or 2021, and it was.
I'm going to interject for asecond and say when I started
this 20 years ago, there were somany less studies and one of
them showed that one.
In those years, when I launchedmy first album in 2008 for dogs
(10:30):
, one out of seven dogsexhibited anxiety issue.
In 2020, 71.5% of dogs showedanxiety issues and of that, 71%,
42 or 43 around there showedsound phobias.
So here's the thing.
Dr Edward (10:49):
Hi yeah.
Lisa Spector (10:51):
Yeah, yeah, they are very.
They're hearing is is so much.
Their hearing range is so muchgreater than ours.
So you have to assume in your,in your pet household, that
there's so much more soundsensitive to, to all of those
sounds that you may be, that maybe invisible and you're not
hearing yourself.
(11:12):
But, when you really are awareof that.
I like to.
This is just my own terminology.
I describe sound phobic.
As you are aware, when your dogis sound phobic, there's
fireworks, your dog goes hidingunder the bed, you know.
Thunderstorm jumps in thebathtub, coward shakes.
That's very obvious.
(11:33):
That's one category and myterminology, sound sensitivity,
which is where a lot of the dogslie is, is less obvious.
It's a lot less obvious becauseit's more subtle.
They're always on alert.
They can't you know what's thesound outside.
They can't relax.
And you you might think, oh,it's so cute.
(11:55):
He's going to the window andbarking.
You know that's stress.
So there's different levels ofthat.
Dr Edward (12:03):
So sound can have a profoundly positive impact on
your pets, but also have aprofoundly negative impact.
So I think that's the take homefrom this first teaching point,
and the second one is theimportance of the sound we're
going to talk about, why youneed to take a sound survey and
why diminishing household noisesthat might be outside your
(12:25):
perceptual ability for yourhearing, because dogs and cats
hear a much higher range offrequencies and a much lower
range of frequencies in us, andnot only that, they're much more
sensitive, they can hear muchquieter sounds than us as well.
They've got a tremendouslygreater sensory awareness when
it comes to sound than us.
So the importance of this whatis the true importance of a
(12:49):
sound survey for your pets?
Lisa Spector (12:51):
The truest importance is to de-stress your
pet anyway again, and reallytaking control of the sounds
that you can diminish and deletereally can make a profound
impact.
And also, sometimes you mightbe thinking the issue is one
thing and it's another.
So let's say you have a washingmachine and dryer that's in the
(13:13):
garage and you contact abehaviorist because your dog all
the sudden is afraid to go inthe garage, like this is so
strange.
All the CYZ.
What happened in the garage?
Well, one time it only takesone time your dog was walking by
the dryer and the clothes weredone and the beep went off and
(13:33):
your dog went ballistic andsomething is scary in the garage
and he's never going to gowalking in the garage and it's
wintertime and you need to go tothe vet with your dog and he
won't get in the car becausehe's in the garage.
So, just the littlest thingscan really compound.
Dr Edward (13:50):
Okay, so, and diminishing household noises
what kinds of things?
If you're working one-on-onewith someone to help them with
this, what kinds of things.
What kind of changes have youseen people make in terms of
what do they do to reduce, findand reduce these kinds of sounds
?
Lisa Spector (14:08):
There's a lot we can do.
So what I invite listeners todo is to take a sound survey.
Sit in the middle of yourhousehold and living home and so
forth, with your sofa.
You can have your pet in yourlap and take a notepad for like
20 minutes and just sit and justlisten to the outside sounds.
There won't be a car rolling by, a motorcycle thunderstorm.
(14:28):
Listen to the inside sound.
Is there buzzing from theBluetooth?
I keep my Bluetooth off and I'mnot using it.
Is there a blizzard from theBluetooth?
Overhead lights?
The refrigerator, just dryer,the washing machine, the Instant
Pot, all the things, because aswe advance with technology, we
also get more overloaded withtechnology, beeps and sounds.
(14:51):
Yeah, so I have my phone onquiet 100% of the time.
I don't have alerts.
I don't want my dog or me to be, you know, to those.
I don't know what that would doTo her like constantly binging,
you know, every time I get atext.
So my phone is on.
It's a visual reminder for me.
(15:11):
It's not actually I have allnotifications off almost all the
time, but whatever is on is avisual, and so you're going to
start to notice sounds you'venever heard.
And the good news with theseappliances is very often times
we there's particularly newerappliances very often times
there is a control that we canturn off that sound as an alert.
(15:34):
Who needs to know?
Dr Edward (15:37):
when the dishes are dry, like who cares?
Not only that, a lot of theseappliances if they're plugged in
, there's a hum from thetransformers and things.
If they're turned on at thewall, there's another layer of
silent sound pollution that isfilling your animal's sensory
awareness.
So turning things, everythingoff at the wall and you're not
using it, I think, is anotherway.
(15:57):
Yeah, that can be helpful 100%,yes, 100%, yeah.
Lisa Spector (16:03):
And so with that conversation we could even turn
off Wi-Fi at night time.
We're not using it, butwhatever you can to diminish, so
you're going to be aware ofthose sounds during the sound
surveys because I guarantee youyou're going to hear sounds
you've never noticed before, andthen you're going to see what
you can diminish and delete Someof them.
You can just lower the volumeon Haven't.
(16:24):
I cook with Instant Pot all thetime.
Haven't found a way to deletethat beep, so I keep it more at
a distance from her.
So you know, and generally Idon't have her hang out in the
kitchen, so that helps too.
Dr Edward (16:37):
Yeah, and another thing that I'm hearing is that
you know you can do a soundsurvey for what you hear, but
you also need to be aware of allthese supersonic and subsonic
kind of hums and buzzes andsounds that technology makes,
that they don't try to minimizebecause it's outside the range
of human hearing.
Lisa Spector (16:57):
Right and it's a process.
So I'm not saying do all ofthis, listen and then change
everything today.
You just do a little bit at atime, really adds up and really
really does make a difference.
And you might do it, you know,one day, and then do a sound
survey again in a few weeks andsee what you hear then, because
you're going to be training yourear and you're going to be
hearing more sounds.
Dr Edward (17:18):
Beautiful.
So can you share with us alittle bit about how music can
be used preventatively and as atreatment for canine anxiety?
What, what, what.
How does it work?
What do you?
Lisa Spector (17:34):
do, sure.
So the music I play, I'm apianist, so I Okay, Wow, okay,
the music that works to calm thecanine nervous system makes so
much sense when I explain itthis way when you are saying
good night to your dog andyou're in a calm state and good
girl, good night, youinstinctively, without thinking
(17:56):
about it, you drop your voice,you speak in long what we call
in terms of legato, smoothsounds, without even thinking
about it.
If your dog is about to crossthe street and a car is coming,
the last thing you're going todo is say, phytohyr, you're
going to go.
Dr Edward (18:12):
I'm not going to do it now, it's my dog's right here
Because you're a dog, you'regoing to go with More drop, high
frequency yeah, not only highfrequency but staccato, what we
call music, from staccato, shortterms.
Lisa Spector (18:24):
That's why whistles work to get your dog's
attention.
So they're high and you blow awhistle short that gets your
attention.
I run agility she's retired nowbut I have a two-time
championship dog and in agilityshe loves tunnels.
So when I don't want her to getin the tunnel I call her at a
high frequency gee here, shortstaccato.
So that's what I do with.
(18:45):
I do the opposite of that withmusic.
I go into the low frequencies.
Long legato lines, no surprisepatterns.
If I play Beethoven, which hastypically a lot of surprising
forte, loud sounds and riffs, Ileave those out because I want
patterns of consistency.
(19:06):
I don't want anything thatwould surprise dogs Cycling
through.
Dr Edward (19:10):
It's nice and easy and you can sink into it and
relax.
Yeah.
Lisa Spector (19:15):
Yes, and that's why, generally, just putting on
classical is the first step, butI wouldn't leave it there.
That's because you might beplaying classical that doesn't
have the low frequencies anddoesn't have the legato sounds,
and we know that classical musicis one moment fast and loud and
the other moment slow and soft,and it constantly changes.
(19:37):
If you're ever having a car andhaving a conversation, that's
classical you're constantlyadjusting the volume.
Dr Edward (19:44):
Yeah, more dynamic range, exactly, Exactly.
And the pop music which hasbeen compressed or flattened.
It all sounds pretty much thesame.
Exactly yeah, so with the wholemusic that you play, that
you've created, are you onSpotify?
Lisa Spector (20:02):
I am on Spotify, yes, so my album is Doggonecom.
Or Look for Lisa Spector.
Dr Edward (20:07):
Doggonecom, and they can look for Lisa Spector too,
and Doggonecom and I'll get youthe streaming link to that too.
Yeah, but I just want to say toeveryone please listen on
Spotify, but go and buy thealbum from Lisa, because Lisa
only gets about 1 millionth of acent every time you stream it.
It's really no income at all.
And if you want to reward Lisafor all the beautiful creative
(20:29):
energy she's put into recordingthis album for your dogs, go to
our website.
I don't know if you're onBandcamp or any of those other
ones where you get kind ofactually paid for the music.
Lisa Spector (20:40):
I might download it, so I'm going to add to that.
So thank you for saying that.
I really appreciate it.
I will tell you, though, if youstream this music Spotify,
apple, amazon, all of them andyou play it when you're out to
prevent and treat separationanxiety, and you're playing it
all the time there's penny-down.
(21:00):
That adds up too right.
Dr Edward (21:03):
That adds up to less income, so it's a win-win.
You go out, you leave thebeautiful coming music for your
animals going the whole timethat you're out, and Lisa gets a
few pennies every week, whichis kind of nuts.
We're going to dip in now towhat we do in the middle of our
full episodes.
Every time, we have a littleself-care interlude, because I
(21:23):
personally believe, and from myexperience in life, that
self-care is the one thing thatwill help you heal and transform
your life more than anythingelse.
So for you, lisa, what's yourmost important self-care
practice?
What can you share with thesebeautiful humans and, of course,
their animals around?
Self-care.
Lisa Spector (21:43):
Not surprisingly, it's music.
Dr Edward (21:46):
There you go.
Lisa Spector (21:46):
So music is my sanity, Music is my self-care.
I've got my whole routine.
I've got what I play on thepiano in the morning.
I've got what I listen to withGina, my dog, that's coming for
me and it's a very meditativepractice.
I've got music.
That's my focus music.
I've got my focus playlist.
I've got my creativity playlist.
Dr Edward (22:10):
So you get a whole different kinds of textures and
music to help you modulate yourmood, motivate you, that sort of
thing.
Lisa Spector (22:17):
Yeah, and even though I stream all my music, I
know that an album is generally45 minutes to an hour, so if I
have a project, it's like I'm inthat chair until that album is
over.
Dr Edward (22:28):
And, by the way, if you're streaming, go into
Spotify and change your settingsto the highest quality
streaming.
It'll make a very significantdifference to the impact the
music has on you, because thequality won't be degraded.
Lisa Spector (22:41):
Right, yes, and also watch the volume.
So one of the things thathappens often.
I'm so proud that my music isplayed in 1,500 shelters, but
often times I go into thoseshelters and it's too loud,
which is not good for dogs, andpeople say, well, what volume?
Well, whatever volume, youwould be comfortable if you were
listening all day?
(23:02):
Let's say, and then lower it alittle bit, because they're more
sensitive than we are.
So be careful of the volume.
Dr Edward (23:07):
Maybe 10%, and the thing is that you'll reset your
comfortable listening volumeover time.
If you've been loving reallyloud music and you turn it down
after a week or two, suddenly begoing, oh, that sounds at a
good loudness for me.
So yeah, there's kind of thefrequencies that can upset dogs,
but excess volume is stressfulfor them too.
Lisa Spector (23:26):
Exactly.
Dr Edward (23:27):
Yeah, right Now we're going to get into where we or
not we but Lisa is going to betalking to you about how you can
take action, what you can do tomake a difference for your
animals.
Now, we've already really kindof covered the sound survey
thing.
I don't think we need to diginto that again, but I do
(23:47):
encourage you to actually takehalf an hour and get there with
your journal and really, anddon't just listen to this
podcast, because this podcast isnot just for listening, it's
also for acting upon, and youwon't make any difference in
your animals life if you justlisten to this and go oh wow,
that sounds survey thing soundslike a great idea, but you don't
actually do it.
But one thing that Lisa wantsto inspire you to do is to
(24:12):
integrate music into your dailyroutines.
So how do you, how do you teachpeople to do this?
Lisa Spector (24:19):
Yeah, so our dogs love routines, our cats need
routines.
Like, consistency is number one, as we know with cats and with
dogs.
They know their routines, theyknow when they get fed, they
know where they get fed, theyknow when you put on your
sneakers.
(24:39):
You're going to stem from allthe things.
You can integrate music thesame way.
So I love to take time afterdinner or you know closer to
bedtime and really just cuddlemy dog, massage her, do some
body work and listen to themusic together.
And when you start to make thatroutine, I will tell you.
(25:00):
I just moved houses, like twodays ago, and I forgot that
routine.
And Gina, I mean there wasanxiety around just moving for
her.
She was unsettled and I almostforgot Lisa you've got your
music.
So I just sat with her on thebed and I massaged her and I
played the music and she justinstantly settled down because
(25:21):
that's part of our normalroutine and I just forgot it in
the process of moving.
So your dogs will pick up onthat routine and it will help
you just as much as it will helpyour dog, so you can really
build that into a routinetogether.
It's just like anything walkingyour dog and being your dog and
care and body work and all thethings.
Just add this in also.
Dr Edward (25:42):
So you got to music your dog every day, not just
walk them.
Speaker (25:47):
Exactly, you can music your dog, yeah, no, at least
you're tired, yeah.
Dr Edward (25:52):
And you mentioned playing music as a prescription,
like a medicine, like a dose ofmedicine, can?
You explain a little bit aboutthat, please.
Lisa Spector (25:59):
Sure, well, veterinarians recommend it for
prescriptively, like half anhour a day, preventively.
So not only for treatment,because it does treat separation
, anxiety, sound phobias, evenaggression and all the things,
but you can also use itpreventively.
So prescriptively means reallyit builds on this concept of
(26:21):
creating a ritual.
You know with your dog thatyou're setting a time and that's
a prescription that you knowfor half an hour you're
listening to this together andit I've just seen it work so
many times.
You know over and over and howevery dog is different, but some
it's pretty quick, like onemusic track sometimes.
Dr Edward (26:42):
Do you have a few more stories you could share
with us about animals that havebeen impacted by your music and
changes that have been seenafter using?
Lisa Spector (26:49):
music.
I have profound stories that Ialmost can't believe.
So when I was originallyreleased the first recording
that I made for dogs in 2008,and I forget the exact years,
but remember the whole MichaelVick story with his fighting
dogs that were all in the states, it was a big deal.
(27:12):
So we had a whole ring offighting dogs and they got
rescued and where many of themwere tried to be rehabilitated
many more.
And I got a call from Susan,who had Little Red, one of the
Michael Vick fighting dogs, andshe called me and she said Lisa,
you should see Little Red, I'vebeen playing your music and for
(27:34):
the first time ever, she openedher belly to me and trusted me
and let me rub her belly whileyour music was playing.
That's why my Julliard degreehas gone to the dogs, because
that's worth it.
To me, that's better thanCarnegie Hall to me.
I couldn't even believe it.
(27:57):
It was such a profound storyand then that kept your company
the rest of her life.
Dr Edward (28:05):
That is a big impact.
That is a big change in ananimal that's gone through
hideous trauma from some prettyunsavory humans, which is sad,
but that's a beautiful story.
The other thing you wanted totalk about is music being a
thing.
What do you mean by that?
Lisa Spector (28:26):
So what I mean by music being a thing is that
music is invisible, so we forgetit's a thing, meaning it's a
tool.
So you can condition your dog,even to this day.
She's 14 and when I'm she'slooking or bowl or something,
I'll still pat her head and dothings that you did as a puppy
(28:47):
to condition her.
This means when you're pattingher head and she's doing her
favorite thing, looking her bowlwith some pumpkin or whatever
it is that this means that thisis a good thing.
You can use music the same waytoo, so you can use it as a
classical conditioning response.
That that is a thing, it's inyour toolbox, it's just
(29:08):
invisible.
So, dogs, I'll give you anexample.
When I adopted Gina, I hadSanchez, which my rest in peace
dog now.
He was a seven year old yellowlab.
He actually was a dog I talkedabout at the beginning of the
show with my music school.
He didn't make it, so I got toadopt him and he lived a happy
14 years with me.
(29:28):
And when he was seven, Iadopted Gina and she was one and
I was playing the piano andliterally Sanchez told Gina in
his own way oh she's playingmusic, she's playing the piano.
I mean, I'm of course puttingin English words, but I'm, she's
playing the piano, now's ourtime to settle and go to her bed
(29:50):
, and every day forward fromthere, I play the piano.
Gina goes to bed.
So it's a thing, it's justinvisible.
Dr Edward (30:01):
And what I would say, that is that if you are
proactive and you play the musicmany times and the animal
relaxes every time you play themusic, then if they get a
stressful trigger and you playthe music, they're going to go.
Oh, I can relax.
Lisa Spector (30:15):
Exactly 100%, and you want to be careful with your
timing because, let's say, it'sseparation anxiety.
What you don't want to do isput on your shoes, pick up your
keys, put on the music, becausethen it's like okay, now it's
time to settle.
Okay, now it's time to stress.
Dr Edward (30:27):
You want to try to be a trigger for anxiety rather
than a conditioning forrelaxation.
Lisa Spector (30:33):
Yeah, Exactly, mix up the times.
You added an hour before you go.
Yet you know, just mix it upalways.
Dr Edward (30:41):
Yes, and now we're coming to probably the most
exciting part of this podcast,in that Lisa is going to play us
some live music for maybe aboutfive minutes or so of deeply
relaxing beautiful dog on calmmusic.
So we're just waiting forLisa's sitting at her piano.
(31:02):
I mean, you guys can't see thatbecause we're on audio, but I'm
on video with Lisa so I can seeshe's just about to turn around
and meet the piano.
Lisa Spector (31:11):
So I thank you.
I'm going to talk a tiny bitabout it first and then I'll
play it.
So this is my podcast theme formy Zen pad and it's the first
track on my album dog on calm.
And the reason why is becausethis is an arrangement I made
for left hand only.
There's three reasons I playmusic for left hand only.
The whole album is not, butit's very base centered I talked
(31:33):
to it in the early episode isthat lower frequencies calm the
canine nervous system, so myleft hand plays lower
frequencies in this case.
It started when I broke my handseveral years ago and wasn't my
hand, was in a cast, so that'swhen I rearranged this.
Gina, my dog, thinks that, somy right hand is free to pet her
while I'm playing left hand.
Dr Edward (31:51):
Well, that is a fringe benefit for her.
Lisa Spector (31:55):
Exactly, but the real reason is because lower
frequencies calm the caninenervous system and the human
nervous system.
So when you're listening tothis, this is a great time to
have your dog nearby and listentogether and notice your
response as well as your dogs.
Do you just take a few deepbreaths and do you know that you
(32:17):
start your heart rate starts toslow, or does your dog start to
breathe a little deeper, relaxa little more?
Just notice this.
It's about two and a halfminutes and you'll recognize the
melody.
I think it's from the VivaldiFour Seasons, which is played
normally by Violin, a highfrequency, beautiful instrument
and string orchestra.
But we don't want the highfrequency, so it's the left hand
(32:38):
lower piano, beautiful.
Dr Edward (32:50):
Just getting microphones rearranged and
positioned here, yeah, about toget some beautiful music.
Well, that was a bit lovely.
(35:40):
Now for all of you listening,you'll notice the sound quality
changed a little bit into thepiano bit because I had to turn
the echo cancellation off.
It was still on and it was justaffecting the sound quality a
little bit.
But you'll notice that you gotmore of the lower frequencies
after that change and you mightnotice that differently.
Your body responded with moreof that lower frequencies, and
(36:00):
maybe even your pets.
If you're listening to thisagain, You'll notice that when
the lower frequencies becamemore obvious, everything wants
to let go and relax more.
Lisa Spector (36:11):
And I don't know if you could see that Gina came
up right when it was like sheheard what I said.
My right hand was free to pether.
Dr Edward (36:18):
That's kind of cool, awesome.
Well, what else do you have toshare with us today?
What else do you have to wrapthis up for the next little
while?
What other wisdom can you sharewith us around the beauty of
(36:40):
music and how it affects ourpets and ourselves?
Lisa Spector (36:44):
So people often ask me what composer does.
Do dogs prefer?
Dr Edward (36:52):
Ah, that's a good question.
Lisa Spector (36:54):
Yeah, I've only met one dog my entire life who
had a preference of composers.
I'll talk about that in asecond.
But it's not about the composer, it's about everything I talked
about with the prescription ofmusic the lower frequencies, the
little gato lines.
However, I do invite listenersto really pay attention to what
(37:19):
your dog likes.
Your dog might like Rakey,that's at a soft volume.
Your dog might like FrankSinatra, I don't know.
But really really notice whatyour dog likes Because, again,
they don't have control.
They don't turn on, they don'ttalk to Alexa or serious, how
(37:40):
I'm more music to play.
So that's under your control.
So really observe and alsonotice not only what they like,
but notice where do they go whenthe music is on.
Do they go towards the speakers, towards the source of the
sound, away from it?
Never make them go near thesound like this there.
You want to give them theirchoice of where they want to be
(38:02):
in relation to that sound.
It's you know it's combinationof sounds, as you, we know sound
, smell, flight, all the things.
But and you know sound, soundis that, after smell, is their
second most prevalent sense, andso it's a really in addition to
the sound survey, really be anotice, notice of where they are
(38:22):
in relation to the sound.
I do want to tell that story,is?
It's just so entertaining.
Dr Edward (38:26):
We would love to hear this.
Lisa Spector (38:28):
Dalmatian and I was playing a concert.
This was a good 20 years ago.
I was playing a concert.
I was playing the Greek pianoconcerto out of town.
So I was staying with a familywith two dogs and a parrot and
they told me this was gonnahappen.
I couldn't believe it happened.
(38:50):
So two things when I playedBach and Mozart, that Dalmatian
left the room.
Oh, it's never, well never, meta dog without preference.
But when I played the openingof the Greek piano concert,
which is high frequencies Idon't want to do it here, but
it's high frequency's chordsEvery single time that dog how
(39:10):
old, and how old, and how old,and then the other dog, the, the
smaller dog, will I would startbarking because the Dalmatian
was Howling, and then the parrot, which I'm in with, will, oh,
shut up.
It was so predictable, it was.
Dr Edward (39:29):
That's interesting.
And I'll tell you aninteresting story about my cat,
papati, little black pantherdomestic cat.
She loves whistling.
When I whistle a tune she willHeidel pop up and she'll come
over and she'll be purring likemad and rubbing herself all over
me.
And she also loves it when mypartner plays her harmonium.
She kind of drapes herself overthe harmonium.
(39:51):
So I've never had an animalthat had that kind of preference
either, but she you know, yousee, that she's just
magnetically attracted.
When I start whistling a tuneshe loves it.
Lisa Spector (40:01):
That the sweetest thing yeah.
Dr Edward (40:04):
It is yeah, okay, so we've come to the end of our
podcast episode, but we haven'tcome to the end of you being
able to learn more With Lisa,because with our podcast series
with many of our speakers, wefollow up with a two-hour
intensive online workshop, whichthe title of the one that Lisa
(40:27):
is going to be offering us, andit'll the workshop will come out
about A week or two after themain episode goes live online.
It'll be a live workshop, butit'll also be recorded and on
demand.
So if you're coming into ourpodcast ecosystem a little bit
later and it's Episode that'sbeen up for some time, you'll
(40:48):
still be able to see the linksthrough to the workshop when you
can grab, grab a seat, enroll,come along and watch on demand
or hopefully join us live.
So, understanding and usingsound to heal your pets the
kinds of things that Lisa isgoing to cover in detail with
some.
You know resources to help yoube able to do this in the right
(41:11):
sort of ways understandingcanine sensitivity to sound, how
to do a sound survey followedby Detailed action steps to help
a dog friendly canine household.
Integrating music into dailyroutines but you know in more
depth than we have spoken aboutin this, in this podcast that's
going out free to the worldsound therapy techniques for
(41:32):
improved well-being for bothends of the leash and and an
overview of Lisa's system thatshe's created to help you, help
your pets, be calmer and happier, which is the my zen pet music
system.
So, talking about volume ofMusic medicine that you're
giving your pets are talkingabout duration and Talking about
(41:54):
consistency.
There'll be some Understandingsensitivity, creating how to
create a really good canineplaylist, and you will also get
the chance to ask questions.
If you come to the live one.
If you don't get the live one,you'll be able to hear all the
questions from people who arethey on the on-demand version
(42:16):
and, of course, lisa's going toplay some more live music on
that.
That recording that'll be onzoom so that you can actually
see us and Interact and askquestions.
So I'm really excited aboutthat.
If you, if you want to learnmore, then Come along to that
and you'll see all the detailsabout how to do that in the
Information that's.
You know the text that goeswith the podcast.
(42:37):
We're really listening.
So, lisa, are you excited tocome along and teach some?
I?
Can't wait to do this with you.
Lisa Spector (42:44):
I can't wait to do this with you.
Yeah, I mean, it's my, it's myfavorite thing.
I love it.
Dr Edward (42:50):
Beautiful.
Well, thank you so much forbeing our guest today.
It's been endlessly interesting, a lot of wisdom and a lot of
really practical things thatpeople can do to make a
beautiful Difference for theirpets.
Lisa Spector (43:00):
Thank you very much.
If I could just add, if peoplewant a free PDF on how to use,
stream this music and use it forparticular anxiety issues and
the volume and all the thingsyou can go to my zen pet dot com
four slash tips.
Dr Edward (43:15):
And we will put that link in the text.
That goes with the podcast aswell.
I'll get you to send thatthrough to us, lisa, so we can
pop it up.
Lisa also has, you know, a lotof other things on that website,
so I do go and explore, and atthe end of the workshop We'll
also be talking about Lisa'sMembership, where you can get
(43:35):
ongoing music for your pets andall sorts of cool things.
Lisa Spector (43:39):
Fabulous, this was so fun.
Thank you, Dr Edward.
Dr Edward (43:42):
You're welcome.
Thank you and goodbye for nowto all of you.
I hope you'll be back for ournext episode and if you've got
Any questions, you know come on.
Come to Hollins.
Your body balance comm.
Love to hear from you.
Love to hear what you thoughtof the podcast.
Please, you know, join ourcommunity rate, review and share
with your friends so that weget this information out to make
(44:04):
the difference to more and moreanimals and people over time.
Goodbye for now.
Thank you so much for listening.
Welcome everyone to the full episode of Pets, people
and Harmony with our specialguest, lisa Spector, the podcast
title being Heal your Pets WithMusic, and today we're going to
dig into really in the in theshort episode teaser episode, we
(00:46):
just went into the fact that,wow, our pets are incredibly
sensitive to sound and soundpollution can can be harmful and
stressful for them.
But what we're going to do inthis extended episode is that
Lisa is going to share a wholelot of her deep wisdom, coming
from a career as a performingconcert pianist and then
(01:10):
stretching out into to studyinghow music and sound affects
animals and particularlycomposing special music that has
particular kinds of frequenciesand cadences that help animals
relax.
So how did you get in?
How did you come from being aconcert pianist to making music
for animals?
Lisa Spector (01:31):
Well, I often say that my Juilliard degree has
gone to the dogs and I couldn'tbe more thrilled.
I did not go to Juilliard tolearn to play and record music
for dogs, but it's so satisfyingbecause my recordings have
helped dogs get adopted in 1500shelters worldwide and I see how
it's helped in veterinaryclinics and it's just so
(01:51):
heartwarming to me.
So it happened what appeared tobe by accident, but we know
there are no accidents.
But looking back it was justkind of divine intervention At
the time.
This goes way back 20 years,2003,.
I was a volunteer puppy raiserfor Guide Ducks for the Blind
down here in California and Ihad four month old puppy.
I was raising Yale Lab and Iowned a music school.
(02:14):
That's what I didprofessionally.
So of course I brought thepuppy to the school and I was
learning different kinds ofmusic to focus and calm my four
class of four year olds.
In the process I'd look over atmy puppy Rembunctious, you know
, he's a four month old lab andhe's, like you know, snoozing.
At no time I'm like great, thekids are focused, quiet.
(02:35):
But I'm really onto somethingwith the dogs and that's how it
all started.
Dr Edward (02:40):
Okay, so you said that your music is being played
in a lot of shelters, so whatsort of changes has it made, you
know?
What sort of data can you tellus about how bringing this music
into the shelters has helpedthese anxious, traumatized
rescue dogs that are waiting fornew homes?
Lisa Spector (02:59):
So I'm going to tell a personal story around
that and then I'll tell the dataaround it.
I, about one year into this, Igot a call from a shelter
manager in Ohio and he said Lisa, he was in tears and he said
the reason I'm crying is becausethis is the first time I've
been able to pick up the phoneand have a conversation in my 20
years here, because it's alwaysbeen too noisy with dogs
(03:20):
barking, and so it quietes thedogs, it quietes the visitors
and visitors then stay longerand then increases adoption
rates.
But he said I have to tell youabout this dog, trello.
He's been here in a year likereally stressed, and he's
listening to your music and hefinally got adopted because the
people really saw who he reallywas once he chilled out.
(03:43):
And this is based on research.
I did with a veterinaryneurologist, dr Susan Wagner,
that she tested a variety of myrecordings and other classical
music.
It was based on a researchstudy by Debra Wells, an Irish
behaviorist who had done a studyin 2001 testing a control group
(04:03):
with no sound classical pop,heavy metal and jazz.
The challenge with testingclassical I've been playing
classical piano since I wasseven.
I know dogs, you know, gotowards the piano, even deaf
dogs.
They like the vibrations.
But classical music is such anenormously broad term.
Dr Edward (04:21):
Oh God there's, so it's like a universe of music,
yeah.
Lisa Spector (04:25):
And people think, oh, I know, I'll just put my
classical station or myclassical app on.
Well, that might be playing the1812 overture, with cannons
coming out of the start.
Dr Edward (04:35):
That's not going to come in the past.
Lisa Spector (04:37):
Right, it's such a huge variety of could be 140
piece orchestra with Berliosymphony, fantastique, or it
could be solo guitar, could besolo flute or violin, which is
high frequency which charges thecanine error system.
So in the research study backin 2005, I believe that I worked
with a sound researcher andthen Dr Susan Wagner.
(04:57):
We were testing a variety ofclassical music and found the
perfect prescription ofclassical that really worked to
calm the dogs, to get them tosettle down, to get them to stop
barking, to get them to stoppanting and pacing.
And then the second study wasin a home where people knew what
their dogs anxiety issues were.
(05:19):
So we tested a wide variety ofsound phobia, hyperactivity,
excessive barking, all thethings.
Dr Edward (05:26):
Yeah, because I've read a book, the Mozart Effect,
which has kind of studied theeffect of Mozart on humans,
which seems to be quite profoundtoo.
So you're kind of trying tofind a similar thread of more
classical, piano based musicthat has the right kinds of
frequencies and cadences thathelp animals really let go and
relax.
Lisa Spector (05:43):
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Yes, although that MozartEffect, well, it has been
debunked.
Dr Edward (05:53):
But we won't go there .
That's another one I was goingto say I'm not across the whole
sound for animals thing.
I'm a musician and I'm intosound but I haven't been
studying that Although you know,I do listen to Mozart when I
want to focus.
Lisa Spector (06:10):
That's a whole other story.
Dr Edward (06:13):
So let's dig into the meat and bones of what we're
here to learn from Lisa today.
So we're going to dig into someteaching points, and the first
point that Lisa wants to expandupon with us today is the impact
of music on pet well-being.
So can you explain to us howmusic affects the mental,
(06:37):
emotional state and physiologyof our dogs, please?
Lisa Spector (06:42):
Sure.
So when you think about it,your dogs have no control over
their sound environment.
Maybe if you have a reallyskilled, trained border callee
that knows how to turn thesteering on in place talk to
Alexa, maybe.
But the people control thepets' environmental sound and I
(07:04):
always feel sorry for pets whoare in a house where one room
the TV is going, the other roomthe teenagers paying heavy metal
and the other room there's afootball game with screaming
going on.
Well, we know that dogs will doanything to put themselves near
us.
They will put themselves in themiddle of cacophony, which
(07:26):
could limit and shorten theirlife because it causes stress,
because their number one desireis to be with us and so it's our
, I think, to really be aresponsible pet parent, we have
to really control thatenvironment so that when they're
just getting one sound sourceat a time, control the volume of
it.
I don't know if I'm just lucky,but since maybe I don't know,
(07:49):
but since I really became these20 years, since I become
somewhere, every senior dog I'vehad has not lost any hearing.
Dr Edward (07:56):
Oh, really that's interesting too.
Lisa Spector (07:58):
Because I like to think it's because I'm like the
sound police, I'm like reallycareful with what they're
introduced to.
Not that I don't.
Sometimes I love Zumba and Ilove to play it, sometimes too
loud if I want to energize andit's not on a caffeine at four
in the afternoon here, but Idon't put my dog.
(08:20):
I don't subject my dog to thatif it's too loud.
They're in a separate room, theyhave a bone, they've got their
own sound environment.
So I'm really careful aboutthat sound environment in terms
of music and I think we all canbe more aware, not only of our
own musical sound and I'll getin a minute to other sounds in
the pet household but just withmusic.
(08:41):
Being aware of knowing your dogwill really danger him or
herself by wanting to be nearyou and put themself in a
cacophony of sound and it wouldcause me, like I'm not as
sensitive hearing as my dog andit would cause me so much stress
.
Dr Edward (08:56):
Yes, so you know, if people do want to listen to
kinds of quality of music thatare less relaxed about loud
volume, do you want to thinkabout headphones rather than
speakers?
Lisa Spector (09:06):
Yeah, exactly yeah , and I do that at times too
when it's like, okay, I don'twant her to hear this.
And I have a dog who is notsound sensitive.
She's 14 year old, 14 yearyoung, very healthy black lab.
But she's more sound sensitivethan she used to be, as most
senior dogs.
As they get older, Generallyyou know behaviors.
(09:29):
Newer behaviors show up,Middle-aged to later, and so one
of them is I know she's notsound fullback by any means, but
I noticed she's just moreunalert if she hears something
that's an unusual sound.
So I'm also really aware of teakettle listening and beats from
the Instant Pot and the washingmachine and all those things
we'll get into.
Dr Edward (09:48):
We'll get into that in a little bit, when we get
into the whole sound survey inthe second half of this podcast
episode.
So we've got this whole thingabout sound, and sound
sensitivity is a pretty commontype of anxiety in dogs, isn't
it?
Lisa Spector (10:07):
Yeah, so there was a study in 2020, see the 2020
or 2021, and it was.
I'm going to interject for asecond and say when I started
this 20 years ago, there were somany less studies and one of
them showed that one.
In those years, when I launchedmy first album in 2008 for dogs
(10:30):
, one out of seven dogsexhibited anxiety issue.
In 2020, 71.5% of dogs showedanxiety issues and of that, 71%,
42 or 43 around there showedsound phobias.
So here's the thing.
Dr Edward (10:49):
Hi yeah.
Lisa Spector (10:51):
Yeah, yeah, they are very.
They're hearing is is so much.
Their hearing range is so muchgreater than ours.
So you have to assume in your,in your pet household, that
there's so much more soundsensitive to, to all of those
sounds that you may be, that maybe invisible and you're not
hearing yourself.
(11:12):
But, when you really are awareof that.
I like to.
This is just my own terminology.
I describe sound phobic.
As you are aware, when your dogis sound phobic, there's
fireworks, your dog goes hidingunder the bed, you know.
Thunderstorm jumps in thebathtub, coward shakes.
That's very obvious.
(11:33):
That's one category and myterminology, sound sensitivity,
which is where a lot of the dogslie is, is less obvious.
It's a lot less obvious becauseit's more subtle.
They're always on alert.
They can't you know what's thesound outside.
They can't relax.
And you you might think, oh,it's so cute.
(11:55):
He's going to the window andbarking.
You know that's stress.
So there's different levels ofthat.
Dr Edward (12:03):
So sound can have a profoundly positive impact on
your pets, but also have aprofoundly negative impact.
So I think that's the take homefrom this first teaching point,
and the second one is theimportance of the sound we're
going to talk about, why youneed to take a sound survey and
why diminishing household noisesthat might be outside your
(12:25):
perceptual ability for yourhearing, because dogs and cats
hear a much higher range offrequencies and a much lower
range of frequencies in us, andnot only that, they're much more
sensitive, they can hear muchquieter sounds than us as well.
They've got a tremendouslygreater sensory awareness when
it comes to sound than us.
So the importance of this whatis the true importance of a
(12:49):
sound survey for your pets?
Lisa Spector (12:51):
The truest importance is to de-stress your
pet anyway again, and reallytaking control of the sounds
that you can diminish and deletereally can make a profound
impact.
And also, sometimes you mightbe thinking the issue is one
thing and it's another.
So let's say you have a washingmachine and dryer that's in the
(13:13):
garage and you contact abehaviorist because your dog all
the sudden is afraid to go inthe garage, like this is so
strange.
All the CYZ.
What happened in the garage?
Well, one time it only takesone time your dog was walking by
the dryer and the clothes weredone and the beep went off and
(13:33):
your dog went ballistic andsomething is scary in the garage
and he's never going to gowalking in the garage and it's
wintertime and you need to go tothe vet with your dog and he
won't get in the car becausehe's in the garage.
So, just the littlest thingscan really compound.
Dr Edward (13:50):
Okay, so, and diminishing household noises
what kinds of things?
If you're working one-on-onewith someone to help them with
this, what kinds of things.
What kind of changes have youseen people make in terms of
what do they do to reduce, findand reduce these kinds of sounds
?
Lisa Spector (14:08):
There's a lot we can do.
So what I invite listeners todo is to take a sound survey.
Sit in the middle of yourhousehold and living home and so
forth, with your sofa.
You can have your pet in yourlap and take a notepad for like
20 minutes and just sit and justlisten to the outside sounds.
There won't be a car rolling by, a motorcycle thunderstorm.
(14:28):
Listen to the inside sound.
Is there buzzing from theBluetooth?
I keep my Bluetooth off and I'mnot using it.
Is there a blizzard from theBluetooth?
Overhead lights?
The refrigerator, just dryer,the washing machine, the Instant
Pot, all the things, because aswe advance with technology, we
also get more overloaded withtechnology, beeps and sounds.
(14:51):
Yeah, so I have my phone onquiet 100% of the time.
I don't have alerts.
I don't want my dog or me to be, you know, to those.
I don't know what that would doTo her like constantly binging,
you know, every time I get atext.
So my phone is on.
It's a visual reminder for me.
(15:11):
It's not actually I have allnotifications off almost all the
time, but whatever is on is avisual, and so you're going to
start to notice sounds you'venever heard.
And the good news with theseappliances is very often times
we there's particularly newerappliances very often times
there is a control that we canturn off that sound as an alert.
(15:34):
Who needs to know?
Dr Edward (15:37):
when the dishes are dry, like who cares?
Not only that, a lot of theseappliances if they're plugged in
, there's a hum from thetransformers and things.
If they're turned on at thewall, there's another layer of
silent sound pollution that isfilling your animal's sensory
awareness.
So turning things, everythingoff at the wall and you're not
using it, I think, is anotherway.
(15:57):
Yeah, that can be helpful 100%,yes, 100%, yeah.
Lisa Spector (16:03):
And so with that conversation we could even turn
off Wi-Fi at night time.
We're not using it, butwhatever you can to diminish, so
you're going to be aware ofthose sounds during the sound
surveys because I guarantee youyou're going to hear sounds
you've never noticed before, andthen you're going to see what
you can diminish and delete Someof them.
You can just lower the volumeon Haven't.
(16:24):
I cook with Instant Pot all thetime.
Haven't found a way to deletethat beep, so I keep it more at
a distance from her.
So you know, and generally Idon't have her hang out in the
kitchen, so that helps too.
Dr Edward (16:37):
Yeah, and another thing that I'm hearing is that
you know you can do a soundsurvey for what you hear, but
you also need to be aware of allthese supersonic and subsonic
kind of hums and buzzes andsounds that technology makes,
that they don't try to minimizebecause it's outside the range
of human hearing.
Lisa Spector (16:57):
Right and it's a process.
So I'm not saying do all ofthis, listen and then change
everything today.
You just do a little bit at atime, really adds up and really
really does make a difference.
And you might do it, you know,one day, and then do a sound
survey again in a few weeks andsee what you hear then, because
you're going to be training yourear and you're going to be
hearing more sounds.
Dr Edward (17:18):
Beautiful.
So can you share with us alittle bit about how music can
be used preventatively and as atreatment for canine anxiety?
What, what, what.
How does it work?
What do you?
Lisa Spector (17:34):
do, sure.
So the music I play, I'm apianist, so I Okay, Wow, okay,
the music that works to calm thecanine nervous system makes so
much sense when I explain itthis way when you are saying
good night to your dog andyou're in a calm state and good
girl, good night, youinstinctively, without thinking
(17:56):
about it, you drop your voice,you speak in long what we call
in terms of legato, smoothsounds, without even thinking
about it.
If your dog is about to crossthe street and a car is coming,
the last thing you're going todo is say, phytohyr, you're
going to go.
Dr Edward (18:12):
I'm not going to do it now, it's my dog's right here
Because you're a dog, you'regoing to go with More drop, high
frequency yeah, not only highfrequency but staccato, what we
call music, from staccato, shortterms.
Lisa Spector (18:24):
That's why whistles work to get your dog's
attention.
So they're high and you blow awhistle short that gets your
attention.
I run agility she's retired nowbut I have a two-time
championship dog and in agilityshe loves tunnels.
So when I don't want her to getin the tunnel I call her at a
high frequency gee here, shortstaccato.
So that's what I do with.
(18:45):
I do the opposite of that withmusic.
I go into the low frequencies.
Long legato lines, no surprisepatterns.
If I play Beethoven, which hastypically a lot of surprising
forte, loud sounds and riffs, Ileave those out because I want
patterns of consistency.
(19:06):
I don't want anything thatwould surprise dogs Cycling
through.
Dr Edward (19:10):
It's nice and easy and you can sink into it and
relax.
Yeah.
Lisa Spector (19:15):
Yes, and that's why, generally, just putting on
classical is the first step, butI wouldn't leave it there.
That's because you might beplaying classical that doesn't
have the low frequencies anddoesn't have the legato sounds,
and we know that classical musicis one moment fast and loud and
the other moment slow and soft,and it constantly changes.
(19:37):
If you're ever having a car andhaving a conversation, that's
classical you're constantlyadjusting the volume.
Dr Edward (19:44):
Yeah, more dynamic range, exactly, Exactly.
And the pop music which hasbeen compressed or flattened.
It all sounds pretty much thesame.
Exactly yeah, so with the wholemusic that you play, that
you've created, are you onSpotify?
Lisa Spector (20:02):
I am on Spotify, yes, so my album is Doggonecom.
Or Look for Lisa Spector.
Dr Edward (20:07):
Doggonecom, and they can look for Lisa Spector too,
and Doggonecom and I'll get youthe streaming link to that too.
Yeah, but I just want to say toeveryone please listen on
Spotify, but go and buy thealbum from Lisa, because Lisa
only gets about 1 millionth of acent every time you stream it.
It's really no income at all.
And if you want to reward Lisafor all the beautiful creative
(20:29):
energy she's put into recordingthis album for your dogs, go to
our website.
I don't know if you're onBandcamp or any of those other
ones where you get kind ofactually paid for the music.
Lisa Spector (20:40):
I might download it, so I'm going to add to that.
So thank you for saying that.
I really appreciate it.
I will tell you, though, if youstream this music Spotify,
apple, amazon, all of them andyou play it when you're out to
prevent and treat separationanxiety, and you're playing it
all the time there's penny-down.
(21:00):
That adds up too right.
Dr Edward (21:03):
That adds up to less income, so it's a win-win.
You go out, you leave thebeautiful coming music for your
animals going the whole timethat you're out, and Lisa gets a
few pennies every week, whichis kind of nuts.
We're going to dip in now towhat we do in the middle of our
full episodes.
Every time, we have a littleself-care interlude, because I
(21:23):
personally believe, and from myexperience in life, that
self-care is the one thing thatwill help you heal and transform
your life more than anythingelse.
So for you, lisa, what's yourmost important self-care
practice?
What can you share with thesebeautiful humans and, of course,
their animals around?
Self-care.
Lisa Spector (21:43):
Not surprisingly, it's music.
Dr Edward (21:46):
There you go.
Lisa Spector (21:46):
So music is my sanity, Music is my self-care.
I've got my whole routine.
I've got what I play on thepiano in the morning.
I've got what I listen to withGina, my dog, that's coming for
me and it's a very meditativepractice.
I've got music.
That's my focus music.
I've got my focus playlist.
I've got my creativity playlist.
Dr Edward (22:10):
So you get a whole different kinds of textures and
music to help you modulate yourmood, motivate you, that sort of
thing.
Lisa Spector (22:17):
Yeah, and even though I stream all my music, I
know that an album is generally45 minutes to an hour, so if I
have a project, it's like I'm inthat chair until that album is
over.
Dr Edward (22:28):
And, by the way, if you're streaming, go into
Spotify and change your settingsto the highest quality
streaming.
It'll make a very significantdifference to the impact the
music has on you, because thequality won't be degraded.
Lisa Spector (22:41):
Right, yes, and also watch the volume.
So one of the things thathappens often.
I'm so proud that my music isplayed in 1,500 shelters, but
often times I go into thoseshelters and it's too loud,
which is not good for dogs, andpeople say, well, what volume?
Well, whatever volume, youwould be comfortable if you were
listening all day?
(23:02):
Let's say, and then lower it alittle bit, because they're more
sensitive than we are.
So be careful of the volume.
Dr Edward (23:07):
Maybe 10%, and the thing is that you'll reset your
comfortable listening volumeover time.
If you've been loving reallyloud music and you turn it down
after a week or two, suddenly begoing, oh, that sounds at a
good loudness for me.
So yeah, there's kind of thefrequencies that can upset dogs,
but excess volume is stressfulfor them too.
Lisa Spector (23:26):
Exactly.
Dr Edward (23:27):
Yeah, right Now we're going to get into where we or
not we but Lisa is going to betalking to you about how you can
take action, what you can do tomake a difference for your
animals.
Now, we've already really kindof covered the sound survey
thing.
I don't think we need to diginto that again, but I do
(23:47):
encourage you to actually takehalf an hour and get there with
your journal and really, anddon't just listen to this
podcast, because this podcast isnot just for listening, it's
also for acting upon, and youwon't make any difference in
your animals life if you justlisten to this and go oh wow,
that sounds survey thing soundslike a great idea, but you don't
actually do it.
But one thing that Lisa wantsto inspire you to do is to
(24:12):
integrate music into your dailyroutines.
So how do you, how do you teachpeople to do this?
Lisa Spector (24:19):
Yeah, so our dogs love routines, our cats need
routines.
Like, consistency is number one, as we know with cats and with
dogs.
They know their routines, theyknow when they get fed, they
know where they get fed, theyknow when you put on your
sneakers.
(24:39):
You're going to stem from allthe things.
You can integrate music thesame way.
So I love to take time afterdinner or you know closer to
bedtime and really just cuddlemy dog, massage her, do some
body work and listen to themusic together.
And when you start to make thatroutine, I will tell you.
(25:00):
I just moved houses, like twodays ago, and I forgot that
routine.
And Gina, I mean there wasanxiety around just moving for
her.
She was unsettled and I almostforgot Lisa you've got your
music.
So I just sat with her on thebed and I massaged her and I
played the music and she justinstantly settled down because
(25:21):
that's part of our normalroutine and I just forgot it in
the process of moving.
So your dogs will pick up onthat routine and it will help
you just as much as it will helpyour dog, so you can really
build that into a routinetogether.
It's just like anything walkingyour dog and being your dog and
care and body work and all thethings.
Just add this in also.
Dr Edward (25:42):
So you got to music your dog every day, not just
walk them.
Speaker (25:47):
Exactly, you can music your dog, yeah, no, at least
you're tired, yeah.
Dr Edward (25:52):
And you mentioned playing music as a prescription,
like a medicine, like a dose ofmedicine, can?
You explain a little bit aboutthat, please.
Lisa Spector (25:59):
Sure, well, veterinarians recommend it for
prescriptively, like half anhour a day, preventively.
So not only for treatment,because it does treat separation
, anxiety, sound phobias, evenaggression and all the things,
but you can also use itpreventively.
So prescriptively means reallyit builds on this concept of
(26:21):
creating a ritual.
You know with your dog thatyou're setting a time and that's
a prescription that you knowfor half an hour you're
listening to this together andit I've just seen it work so
many times.
You know over and over and howevery dog is different, but some
it's pretty quick, like onemusic track sometimes.
Dr Edward (26:42):
Do you have a few more stories you could share
with us about animals that havebeen impacted by your music and
changes that have been seenafter using?
Lisa Spector (26:49):
music.
I have profound stories that Ialmost can't believe.
So when I was originallyreleased the first recording
that I made for dogs in 2008,and I forget the exact years,
but remember the whole MichaelVick story with his fighting
dogs that were all in the states, it was a big deal.
(27:12):
So we had a whole ring offighting dogs and they got
rescued and where many of themwere tried to be rehabilitated
many more.
And I got a call from Susan,who had Little Red, one of the
Michael Vick fighting dogs, andshe called me and she said Lisa,
you should see Little Red, I'vebeen playing your music and for
(27:34):
the first time ever, she openedher belly to me and trusted me
and let me rub her belly whileyour music was playing.
That's why my Julliard degreehas gone to the dogs, because
that's worth it.
To me, that's better thanCarnegie Hall to me.
I couldn't even believe it.
(27:57):
It was such a profound storyand then that kept your company
the rest of her life.
Dr Edward (28:05):
That is a big impact.
That is a big change in ananimal that's gone through
hideous trauma from some prettyunsavory humans, which is sad,
but that's a beautiful story.
The other thing you wanted totalk about is music being a
thing.
What do you mean by that?
Lisa Spector (28:26):
So what I mean by music being a thing is that
music is invisible, so we forgetit's a thing, meaning it's a
tool.
So you can condition your dog,even to this day.
She's 14 and when I'm she'slooking or bowl or something,
I'll still pat her head and dothings that you did as a puppy
(28:47):
to condition her.
This means when you're pattingher head and she's doing her
favorite thing, looking her bowlwith some pumpkin or whatever
it is that this means that thisis a good thing.
You can use music the same waytoo, so you can use it as a
classical conditioning response.
That that is a thing, it's inyour toolbox, it's just
(29:08):
invisible.
So, dogs, I'll give you anexample.
When I adopted Gina, I hadSanchez, which my rest in peace
dog now.
He was a seven year old yellowlab.
He actually was a dog I talkedabout at the beginning of the
show with my music school.
He didn't make it, so I got toadopt him and he lived a happy
14 years with me.
(29:28):
And when he was seven, Iadopted Gina and she was one and
I was playing the piano andliterally Sanchez told Gina in
his own way oh she's playingmusic, she's playing the piano.
I mean, I'm of course puttingin English words, but I'm, she's
playing the piano, now's ourtime to settle and go to her bed
(29:50):
, and every day forward fromthere, I play the piano.
Gina goes to bed.
So it's a thing, it's justinvisible.
Dr Edward (30:01):
And what I would say, that is that if you are
proactive and you play the musicmany times and the animal
relaxes every time you play themusic, then if they get a
stressful trigger and you playthe music, they're going to go.
Oh, I can relax.
Lisa Spector (30:15):
Exactly 100%, and you want to be careful with your
timing because, let's say, it'sseparation anxiety.
What you don't want to do isput on your shoes, pick up your
keys, put on the music, becausethen it's like okay, now it's
time to settle.
Okay, now it's time to stress.
Dr Edward (30:27):
You want to try to be a trigger for anxiety rather
than a conditioning forrelaxation.
Lisa Spector (30:33):
Yeah, Exactly, mix up the times.
You added an hour before you go.
Yet you know, just mix it upalways.
Dr Edward (30:41):
Yes, and now we're coming to probably the most
exciting part of this podcast,in that Lisa is going to play us
some live music for maybe aboutfive minutes or so of deeply
relaxing beautiful dog on calmmusic.
So we're just waiting forLisa's sitting at her piano.
(31:02):
I mean, you guys can't see thatbecause we're on audio, but I'm
on video with Lisa so I can seeshe's just about to turn around
and meet the piano.
Lisa Spector (31:11):
So I thank you.
I'm going to talk a tiny bitabout it first and then I'll
play it.
So this is my podcast theme formy Zen pad and it's the first
track on my album dog on calm.
And the reason why is becausethis is an arrangement I made
for left hand only.
There's three reasons I playmusic for left hand only.
The whole album is not, butit's very base centered I talked
(31:33):
to it in the early episode isthat lower frequencies calm the
canine nervous system, so myleft hand plays lower
frequencies in this case.
It started when I broke my handseveral years ago and wasn't my
hand, was in a cast, so that'swhen I rearranged this.
Gina, my dog, thinks that, somy right hand is free to pet her
while I'm playing left hand.
Dr Edward (31:51):
Well, that is a fringe benefit for her.
Lisa Spector (31:55):
Exactly, but the real reason is because lower
frequencies calm the caninenervous system and the human
nervous system.
So when you're listening tothis, this is a great time to
have your dog nearby and listentogether and notice your
response as well as your dogs.
Do you just take a few deepbreaths and do you know that you
(32:17):
start your heart rate starts toslow, or does your dog start to
breathe a little deeper, relaxa little more?
Just notice this.
It's about two and a halfminutes and you'll recognize the
melody.
I think it's from the VivaldiFour Seasons, which is played
normally by Violin, a highfrequency, beautiful instrument
and string orchestra.
But we don't want the highfrequency, so it's the left hand
(32:38):
lower piano, beautiful.
Dr Edward (32:50):
Just getting microphones rearranged and
positioned here, yeah, about toget some beautiful music.
Well, that was a bit lovely.
(35:40):
Now for all of you listening,you'll notice the sound quality
changed a little bit into thepiano bit because I had to turn
the echo cancellation off.
It was still on and it was justaffecting the sound quality a
little bit.
But you'll notice that you gotmore of the lower frequencies
after that change and you mightnotice that differently.
Your body responded with moreof that lower frequencies, and
(36:00):
maybe even your pets.
If you're listening to thisagain, You'll notice that when
the lower frequencies becamemore obvious, everything wants
to let go and relax more.
Lisa Spector (36:11):
And I don't know if you could see that Gina came
up right when it was like sheheard what I said.
My right hand was free to pether.
Dr Edward (36:18):
That's kind of cool, awesome.
Well, what else do you have toshare with us today?
What else do you have to wrapthis up for the next little
while?
What other wisdom can you sharewith us around the beauty of
(36:40):
music and how it affects ourpets and ourselves?
Lisa Spector (36:44):
So people often ask me what composer does.
Do dogs prefer?
Dr Edward (36:52):
Ah, that's a good question.
Lisa Spector (36:54):
Yeah, I've only met one dog my entire life who
had a preference of composers.
I'll talk about that in asecond.
But it's not about the composer, it's about everything I talked
about with the prescription ofmusic the lower frequencies, the
little gato lines.
However, I do invite listenersto really pay attention to what
(37:19):
your dog likes.
Your dog might like Rakey,that's at a soft volume.
Your dog might like FrankSinatra, I don't know.
But really really notice whatyour dog likes Because, again,
they don't have control.
They don't turn on, they don'ttalk to Alexa or serious, how
(37:40):
I'm more music to play.
So that's under your control.
So really observe and alsonotice not only what they like,
but notice where do they go whenthe music is on.
Do they go towards the speakers, towards the source of the
sound, away from it?
Never make them go near thesound like this there.
You want to give them theirchoice of where they want to be
(38:02):
in relation to that sound.
It's you know it's combinationof sounds, as you, we know sound
, smell, flight, all the things.
But and you know sound, soundis that, after smell, is their
second most prevalent sense, andso it's a really in addition to
the sound survey, really be anotice, notice of where they are
(38:22):
in relation to the sound.
I do want to tell that story,is?
It's just so entertaining.
Dr Edward (38:26):
We would love to hear this.
Lisa Spector (38:28):
Dalmatian and I was playing a concert.
This was a good 20 years ago.
I was playing a concert.
I was playing the Greek pianoconcerto out of town.
So I was staying with a familywith two dogs and a parrot and
they told me this was gonnahappen.
I couldn't believe it happened.
(38:50):
So two things when I playedBach and Mozart, that Dalmatian
left the room.
Oh, it's never, well never, meta dog without preference.
But when I played the openingof the Greek piano concert,
which is high frequencies Idon't want to do it here, but
it's high frequency's chordsEvery single time that dog how
(39:10):
old, and how old, and how old,and then the other dog, the, the
smaller dog, will I would startbarking because the Dalmatian
was Howling, and then the parrot, which I'm in with, will, oh,
shut up.
It was so predictable, it was.
Dr Edward (39:29):
That's interesting.
And I'll tell you aninteresting story about my cat,
papati, little black pantherdomestic cat.
She loves whistling.
When I whistle a tune she willHeidel pop up and she'll come
over and she'll be purring likemad and rubbing herself all over
me.
And she also loves it when mypartner plays her harmonium.
She kind of drapes herself overthe harmonium.
(39:51):
So I've never had an animalthat had that kind of preference
either, but she you know, yousee, that she's just
magnetically attracted.
When I start whistling a tuneshe loves it.
Lisa Spector (40:01):
That the sweetest thing yeah.
Dr Edward (40:04):
It is yeah, okay, so we've come to the end of our
podcast episode, but we haven'tcome to the end of you being
able to learn more With Lisa,because with our podcast series
with many of our speakers, wefollow up with a two-hour
intensive online workshop, whichthe title of the one that Lisa
(40:27):
is going to be offering us, andit'll the workshop will come out
about A week or two after themain episode goes live online.
It'll be a live workshop, butit'll also be recorded and on
demand.
So if you're coming into ourpodcast ecosystem a little bit
later and it's Episode that'sbeen up for some time, you'll
(40:48):
still be able to see the linksthrough to the workshop when you
can grab, grab a seat, enroll,come along and watch on demand
or hopefully join us live.
So, understanding and usingsound to heal your pets the
kinds of things that Lisa isgoing to cover in detail with
some.
You know resources to help yoube able to do this in the right
(41:11):
sort of ways understandingcanine sensitivity to sound, how
to do a sound survey followedby Detailed action steps to help
a dog friendly canine household.
Integrating music into dailyroutines but you know in more
depth than we have spoken aboutin this, in this podcast that's
going out free to the worldsound therapy techniques for
(41:32):
improved well-being for bothends of the leash and and an
overview of Lisa's system thatshe's created to help you, help
your pets, be calmer and happier, which is the my zen pet music
system.
So, talking about volume ofMusic medicine that you're
giving your pets are talkingabout duration and Talking about
(41:54):
consistency.
There'll be some Understandingsensitivity, creating how to
create a really good canineplaylist, and you will also get
the chance to ask questions.
If you come to the live one.
If you don't get the live one,you'll be able to hear all the
questions from people who arethey on the on-demand version
(42:16):
and, of course, lisa's going toplay some more live music on
that.
That recording that'll be onzoom so that you can actually
see us and Interact and askquestions.
So I'm really excited aboutthat.
If you, if you want to learnmore, then Come along to that
and you'll see all the detailsabout how to do that in the
Information that's.
You know the text that goeswith the podcast.
(42:37):
We're really listening.
So, lisa, are you excited tocome along and teach some?
I?
Can't wait to do this with you.
Lisa Spector (42:44):
I can't wait to do this with you.
Yeah, I mean, it's my, it's myfavorite thing.
I love it.
Dr Edward (42:50):
Beautiful.
Well, thank you so much forbeing our guest today.
It's been endlessly interesting, a lot of wisdom and a lot of
really practical things thatpeople can do to make a
beautiful Difference for theirpets.
Lisa Spector (43:00):
Thank you very much.
If I could just add, if peoplewant a free PDF on how to use,
stream this music and use it forparticular anxiety issues and
the volume and all the thingsyou can go to my zen pet dot com
four slash tips.
Dr Edward (43:15):
And we will put that link in the text.
That goes with the podcast aswell.
I'll get you to send thatthrough to us, lisa, so we can
pop it up.
Lisa also has, you know, a lotof other things on that website,
so I do go and explore, and atthe end of the workshop We'll
also be talking about Lisa'sMembership, where you can get
(43:35):
ongoing music for your pets andall sorts of cool things.
Lisa Spector (43:39):
Fabulous, this was so fun.
Thank you, Dr Edward.
Dr Edward (43:42):
You're welcome.
Thank you and goodbye for nowto all of you.
I hope you'll be back for ournext episode and if you've got
Any questions, you know come on.
Come to Hollins.
Your body balance comm.
Love to hear from you.
Love to hear what you thoughtof the podcast.
Please, you know, join ourcommunity rate, review and share
with your friends so that weget this information out to make
(44:04):
the difference to more and moreanimals and people over time.
Goodbye for now.
Thank you so much for listening.
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