The scientific community agrees that music can have tremendous therapeutic potential, whether for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or anxiety. But can music also help man’s best friend? A Japanese startup called One By One Music is betting on it.
This young company has embarked on a mission to use the myriad benefits of music to help dogs relax. With each dog having a unique character and circumstances, the causes of stress in an animal’s life can be numerous; but the most common include a sudden break in their daily routine, boredom, as well as separation anxiety – for instance when the dog parent has to go to work.
One By One Music has teamed up with veterinarians and researchers, some of them affiliated with Azabu University, to compose pieces of music that can be used to soothe dogs. These are generated by artificial intelligence and can reportedly reduce the stress level of the dog listening to them by up to 84%.
The Japanese company is offering a monthly subscription of 980 yen (RM33) to humans wishing to soothe their furry friends’ distress through music.
One By One isn’t the only company offering a service based on animals’ positive response to music: in June, US firm Create Music Group acquired Music for Pet, a company specialising in the creation of songs and other entertainment content for animals.
The company’s two brands – Relax My Dog and Relax My Cat – reach over 20 million dogs and cats worldwide, according to the Music Ally website.
Streaming platforms have also got on board by featuring numerous playlists aimed specifically at stress-prone canines and felines. On Spotify, Relaxmydog has 89,150 monthly listeners, and Relaxmycat 111,284. These playlists include relaxation-oriented tracks such as “Chill Dogs” and “Snoozing Cat”.
Despite all these players jumping on the pet-music bandwagon, one question remains unanswered: do the therapeutic benefits of music work on pets? It’s not clear.
In a study published in 2022 in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, researchers at Queen’s University Belfast claim that music does not necessarily relieve dogs’ anxiety when they are separated from their humans or people to whom they are very attached.
Instead, they found that silence soothed them more than Mozart’s “Sonata for Two Pianos” did – useful information for fur parents who occasionally have to leave their beloved pets at home.