Stella: "What an unpleasant sound―won't you please turn it off?"

If you were to poll my dogs regarding their least-favorite human-created sound, the shrill whine of the vacuum cleaner would certainly win, paws down. I'm guessing that the sound of the blender would come in second. If you really pay attention to all the human-made sounds that we force our dogs to be exposed to, you might be surprised at just how noisy and unnatural their sonic environment is (unless you live in the country).

Just this morning, for example, in addition to the blender, I heard a siren from a fire engine, the whistle of a train, the radio, the alarm clock, the cell phone, the telephone, the dryer, the buzz of a table saw coming from someone else's back yard, and a dog barking frantically and incessantly (I'll label that "human-created" because it's not natural for a dog to be barking like that and a human created that situation). We become inured to it, but these intrusive sounds must be taking their toll on our dogs as well as on ourselves.

This is the downside to dogs' super-adaptability. We force them to tolerate a lot of unnatural and even harmful aspects of our own lifestyles—and they do it willingly. They do it because they love humans unconditionally and want to please us. We should not take advantage of this.

I started thinking about this issue after reading the draft of a book called Through a Dog's Ear, by Joshua Leeds and Susan Wagner, D.V.M., which will be available after March 1, 2008. Leeds is an expert in psychoacoustics (the effects of sound on human beings), and Wagner is a veterinary neurologist, specializing in the human-animal bond. That combination is a powerhouse in and of itself, but they also teamed up with Lisa Spector, a concert pianist who graduated from Juilliard and has loved and been involved with dogs her entire life. Well, you know a team like that is going to come up with something wonderful, and that's exactly what they did.

The authors contend that many of our dogs' behavior problems can be traced back to or at least aggravated by the daily bombardment of human-made sounds. Given that as many as 90 percent of people who take their dogs to the vet mention a behavior problem (ranging from mild anxiety to severe aggression), some help is definitely called for. So Leeds and Wagner wrote a book about both the kinds of sounds that make dogs anxious and the kinds of sounds that make dogs relaxed.

We all know that classical music is reputed to have a calming influence on dogs, and we may even leave the classical music station on when we leave for work. But it turns out that it's not quite that simple. The authors and Spector experimented with modified classical music and presented the various versions to shelter dogs and dogs in homes in a methodical manner to check for the reduction of behaviors associated with anxiety. And what they discovered was that the most relaxing music of all for dogs was classical music in which the tempo had been slowed down to 50 to 60 beats per minute (about the same as the relaxed human heart—coincidence? I wonder) and the complexity had been reduced so that there were fewer instruments and fewer types of instruments—in most cases, just solo piano.

To get this modified classical music out to the public, Leeds and Spector have produced two CDs: One is a stand-alone 60-minute CD, and the other is a 45-minute "starter" CD that accompanies the book and that I have already played many times for my dogs. It's actually designed to be pleasing to the human ear as well as to the canine ear, and I would call it an enormous success. My canine household settles right down when this CD starts up, and so do I.

These CDs can be used in a multitude of ways to encourage relaxation. I've started hitting the "on" button as I'm going out the door, but they can also be played during thunderstorms, fireworks, visits from loud guests, illness—even in preparation for euthanasia, one of the most stressful times of all. Or just a daily dose of them, like a multivitamin, might be a good idea in order to provide a relaxing foundation to everyday life.

Simultaneously, we can attempt to reduce the noise level in our own household and immediate vicinity. How about turning off the TV when no one is really watching it? Setting your alarm clock radio to a classical music station instead of a buzzer? Teaching our dogs a word, such as "Noisy!" to let them know that we're about to make a loud noise, like turning on the blender? (I used to do that with my "nervous Nelly" Druzhok, and he really appreciated it because it prevented him from startling when I made the noise.) How about speaking to our neighbors who make unnecessary loud noises, such as one of mine who guns his engine in the driveway ad nauseam on certain days? I myself have made a pledge to turn the radio station to classical music whenever I have dogs in the car with me, instead of the news and talk shows that I'm addicted to.

Throughout the book, the authors emphasize that cleaning up your dog's sonic environment will also have a beneficial effect on your own stress level and mental health. As someone once said, "Animal rights = human rights." This is just one more example of it.