Dog Music For Dogs

Dog Music For Dogs I am a big fan of exploring Spotify and generally finding weird things that allow me to make mini-conspiracy theories. One such example of this that I would like to share with you is the artist on Spotify called Sleepy Dogs. I initially went down this hole last fall when browsing the 2015 Album “Puppy Socialization” by Karl Carling. I was in the mood for playing some prank sounds and it just so happened this album is great for it. And let’s get this out of the way – Puppy Socialization is not music. The album mostly consists of sounds that would normally make a dog bark or become frightened, and I believe the intent of this record is to play these songs to a puppy so they get used to the sounds. Tracks include “Constant Car Horn Blasts”, “Human Female Sneeze”, and “Dinner Dishes Dropping onto a Wooden Floor”. “Large Party Crowd of Young Adults” and ”Angry and Hungry Cat Meowing” are also favorites. And then there are just a couple tracks that are just so oddly specific: “Fokker F-100 Passenger Jet Passes Overhead” and “Cadillac Car Starts, Idles and Pulls Away at Fast Speed” are such hilarious examples. Put that is not this story. When I was browsing Karl Carling’s masterpiece, I noticed the album “Dog Music – Calming Sounds for Dogs” by Sleepy Dogs as a recommended album. An adorable cover (as seen below): a puppy with headphones on, surrounded by multicolored musical notes. Simple. I needed to know more. When I got to the album and saw the track list I was…well…overwhelmed. The Album “Dog Music – Calming Sounds for Dogs” is an hour one minute in length. But that hour one minute is spread out over 86 tracks. 86! Each song also has a wonderful title. The opening song is a subtle but effective: “Dog Music” – really gets to the point. I will just list some of the songs so you get an idea of why I love this so: - Music for Puppies - Pet Music - Calm Dog Music - Doggie Bath - Music for Dogs While at Work - Music to Make your Pet Smarter - Doggy House - Music for Dog Relaxation - Music for Animals - Night Night Doggy - Pet Relaxation Music for Puppies - Supercalm Dog Music - Background Music for Dogs - Soft Music for Dogs - Pet Music for Dogs - Calm Pet Music for Dogs - Dog Music for Dogs My Personal Favorites: - My Puppy Loves Me - Your Puppy Loves you (the closing track) - Dreams of Playing Fetch and the best: - The Best Music for Dogs Ever Now those were just 22 of the tracks on this album. Imagine that but 86. So now you are probably wondering how long these songs are right? The tracks range from 39 seconds to 50 seconds, the average about 45-46. What does the music sound like? Is it really for dogs? Well….Maybe? The album is basically one person playing heavily reverbed piano for the whole album and maybe an ambience pad is present at some point. It’s impossible to know if it was written or improvised but I’m leaning on the latter. But the “songs” are not self-contained – they all flow into one another ever 45 seconds. It’s like a bizarre reductionist “Dark Side of The Moon”, stripped away of everything. Frankly put, the album is impossible to critically listen to…it truly is background music for gogs. But “Dog Music – Calming Songs for Dogs” is only Sleepy Dog’s debut album. What else has Sleepy Dogs Released? Here is full their discography: - Dog Music – Calming Songs for Dogs (2018) [86 tracks] - Soothing Music for Dogs (2018) [81 tracks] - Music for Dogs – Relaxing Sounds for your Dog (2018) [79 tracks] - Dog Music – Sleeping Music for Dogs (2019) [87 tracks] - Dog Music – Calming Music for Dogs (2019) [36 tracks] Their first four albums are very similar. The covers are ostensibly the same: dog with headphones, snoozing, surrounded my colorful musical notes. Only the breed of the dog is different. They are also the same type of vibe as the original album – a robust track list with reoccurring titles about “relaxation”, “for dogs”, and “sleep”. Each album, about an hour in length, features that same drowsy (almost inspirational), reverbed, piano improvisation. The latest release is absolutely Sleepy Dog’s most experimental work. The album cover for “Dog Music – Calming Music for Dogs (2019)” is the exception in that there is only a purple background and no notes or text. Just the dog with headphones. Pleasant and subtle. It’s still about an hour in length, except the songs are all labeled Dog Music, Pt. 1 – 37. The songs are more in the 1:30 – 2:00 range, but the music is still the same. It could honestly be the same music for all five albums and I wouldn’t notice… that bland. So…what do make of this? There are loads of questions surrounding Sleepy Dogs. Who recorded this? Is there any science that this music actually works for dogs? Sleepy Dogs has almost 95,000 monthly listeners. People have their dogs listen to this! Do the dogs like it? Do dogs understand music? Is the music composed or improvised? Are, like, tests done? To make sure dogs respond positively to the music? Each Q begets another. My hypothesis is as follows: Sleepy dogs used practically every combination of “dog music” so that nervous pet owners will ultimately stumble upon their albums to play to dogs in order to generate all Spotify steaming revenue for ambient pet music. This is why “separation”, “anxiety” and “for dogs” are so frequently used the track title. I can totally see some of my more unsure pet owning acquaintances searching in spotify "Best Music for Dogs Ever". It's a good plan! My dream vision of what ultimately happened here is some random dude with an electric keyboard decided to record 5 half-assed improvisations with the reverb turned to 100, photo shopped album covers in less than 8 minutes, chopped up the tracks to be about 45 seconds each, and labeled the tracks with as many key words as possible in order to generate some side revenue. This situation would be so cool. I doubt that’s the case…but It’s also not impossible. Does it actually work? Can music make Dogs less anxious? Well there are a couple of different studies about this and several sides. We need to start at the neurological theories surrounding canine anxiety. In 2009 Dr. Robert Krishner and Dr. Laura Wantanabe conducted a study where….jk jk jk. Not going to get into that.I just think this is a funny corner or Spotify. Best Music for Dogs Ever? That’s hilarious.