Please listen to the music with your companion one hour every day while having quality time.  After one week start to use the cd when you leave your dog at home for a few hours to help keep them calm.  Many people put on the radio or television as company for their dogs but I find this to be much harder because you have no real way of monitoring what their senses are receiving.  With the Buddha Bark – Dj Doggie cd you know exactly what you are getting.  There has been a great response from the bio-acoustic series from clients, doggie day spas and hotels, to rescues that the Buddha Bark Dj Doggie series cd helps to calm our canine companions.  As with anything it is only part of the solution so please remember to always give them healthy food, exercise, praise, chew toys and quality time with you.

Also, please do remember the following:

- Know your dog.  Remember that a dog’s hearing is much more sensitive than your own

- Take precautions if your dog is nervous

- Avoid playing TV and radio at the same time

- If you are not actively listening to the radio or the TV, turn them off

- Stay connected and more in tune to them as they are with us

Enjoy! To order cds please contact me at madison@buddhabark.com

Humans and canines share many of the same anatomical characteristics of the ear. The difference is the outermost section. Our ears are very much plastered to our heads, and the ability to wiggle them even a tiny bit is considered amazing. A dogs ears are made to collect sound. Some may be floppy or erect, but they are far superior to ours. A dogs ears can move independently from each other, making it easier for them to discriminate and pick up sounds all around them.

The external auditory canal leads down from the base of the outer ear called the pinna. It then makes a nearly right angle turn inward to the eardrum. Vibrations reaching the eardrum pass through the tympanic cavity via three tiny bones known collectively as the auditory ossicles. This section comprises the middle ear.

The inner ear is responsible for turning vibrations into nerve impulses. Vibrations pass through a snail-shaped tubular structure called the cochlea. This converts the vibrations into nerve impulses and then sends them along the auditory nerve to the brain for processing.

Ok, so now you know how the canine ear hears.. now lets talk about what it hears. Sound is measured in vibrations, or cycles, per second, termed either cps or hertz. It is accepted that humans can hear 20 to 20,000 hertz, with the optimum range between 1,000 and 4,000 hertz. Agreement among scientists about canine hearing, however, differs. While it is generally acknowledged that dogs hear somewhat less in the ultra-low range and considerably more in the high-frequency range, actual numbers vary widely. Most experts cite upper limits of 35,000 to even 100,000 hertz! It is said that Pavlov (famous for making a dog salivate by ringing a bell) demonstrated that dogs react to sound at 75,000 hertz. Whatever the upper number may be, it is far greater than ours!

So having a high hearing range means that dogs are flooded with sounds. One impressive talent dogs seem to have is the ability to screen incoming sounds. If you’ve watched your dog sleeping soundly suddenly spring into alert at the sound of the can opener or the crinkling sound of a bag after sleeping through loud music, a blasting t.v., or the family wrestling match, you’ve witnessed sound screening at work.

Dogs also have the ability to locate the exact point where the sound is coming from. Which isn’t really surprising if you think about it. A wolf or wild dog hearing the sound of a rabbit, but misjudging it’s location by a few yards wouldn’t make for a well fed dog.

Probably the most intriguing element of canine hearing is the mobile ear flap. Dogs can focus and capture sounds with each ear independently. Police have learned to watch their dogs’ ears for clues to a situation. Both ears focused in the same direction as the muzzle indicates a suspect in that direction, while one ear flicking repeatedly away from the forward direction to some other consistent position likely indicates a second person in the area.

So now you know how dogs hear, and what they can hear. If you’d like to test your dogs’ hearing try putting your dog in another room with someone else and have that person distract them by talking to them. Then go into the kitchen and crinkle a bag of chips or of their favorite treats and watch them come running! Another way to test your dogs’ hearing is to wisper a command to them while they are just laying around, even if they don’t obey the command, you’ll more than likely see their ears move in your direction!

The following are some ways to recognize hearing problems in your dog:

Pups are born deaf. As a matter of fact their ears don’t open until they are 10 to 14 days. If your pup is not responding to sound after that time, it may be congenitally deaf. This problem is often associated with white coat coloring, and occurs more in Dalmations, Bull Terriers, Jack Russells, and Australian Shepherds/Cattle dogs.

Any dog that does not seem responsive to sound, no matter it’s breed or age, should be checked for effective hearing. You can perform a very rough test by standing behind your dog and clapping your hands loudly, but your veterinary neurologist can perform an actual hearing test called a BAER, or brainstem auditory evoked response, test. This test simply measures the degree of hearing loss in each ear.

Since the middle ear is long and curves at a near right angle, it is important to clean your dogs ears regularly. The middle ear is a great place for bacteria and yeast to grow, especially if your dogs ears are floppy. Bacteria and yeast can cause painful ear infections and block, even destroy in worst cases, your dogs hearing.

dogs are like special needs kids

According to an article in the Sunday Globe dogs are the new kids – at least for some upscale urban residents who don’t have kids (yet).

“With more professionals opting to wait longer before having children or getting married, dog specialists say urbanites are redirecting their attention and disposable income to their dogs, dropping hundreds of dollars to ensure that their four-legged friends get the best in food, grooming, wellness and care.”  And why wouldn’t you?  They give us constant unconditional love, they are a part of the family unit , always there for you to snuggle on a rainy day, the best workout partner, always there to make you smile and warm your heart, to remind you to always be present and enjoy the moment.  Dogs are the new kids.  I see an importance to help educate people on wellness so that they can feed them better food and give them the best care for optimal wellness to have a life of quality and to be with us longer as they are a part of the family, the new kids, and gods angels sent to us here on earth to remind us about the heart of love, to keep us connected to the earth and to smile each day and wag our tails.

The “dog mom” from one couple who doesn’t have kids says “She does not feel as though her family is missing anything.    Gershwin (her lab mix) receives glowing report cards from Dog Day Afternoons (where he goes for the day care) and gets shampooed weekly at a grooming salon.”

What does this tell us about the essential motivation of humans?  An obvious point – perhaps this behavior suggests that for some at least the need to care for “offspring” is genetic – and that if we don’t have our own offspring we look for substitutes.

Did you know that Seattle now has more dogs than children?  So does San Francisco.  In a recent poll, 45 percent of dog owners said that having a dog is better than having a child.  There’s a popular book out called, “Why Dogs Are Better Than Kids” that , in a tongue-in-check style, explains why (“Dogs give you warning before they throw up in the car”).  There are no college fees with dogs or talking back at you.  Yes, dogs are the new kids but by no means are we saying that they are better than kids or that kids are better than dogs.    They just have different roles in our lives – as they should.  It makes me smile to see so many – millions of families taking their companion in as a true part of the family.    The US has a birth rate of 13 births per thousand, down from 30 births per thousand at the beginning of the last century.  At the same time, 63 million American households have dogs, up 23 percent in the last 10 years alone.

In a time where our technological society is ever increasing it is even more important to stay connected to the earth and the animal kingdom – to embrace our canine companions and connect with someone that needs that unconditional love back.  Every where we turn we see wi-fi, remote pc access services, cell phones and networks that allow us to work where we want , often from home or even a far away remote place, now more than ever like never before.   We talk with friends on the phone while we drive and do errands.  We get our news online when we’re ready to read it, and shop without ever leaving home.  We have video games that can simulate real life scenarios and online communities where you can become who you want and buy all the assets and amenities of a real life.  You can become that online avatar persona and escape into a world where there are no consequences.   Meanwhile as society and technology is creating this – it is also pulling us away from connecting to each other and the earth that has given us a home.  We are becoming more isolated.  We have chat rooms and internet game sites.  College kids don’t study together or see each other at the library anymore: they do their homework online from their rooms.  Even volunteering can be done without a time commitment.  We’ve become so accustomed to having everything exactly when and how we like it – from news to shipping to social interaction – that we don’t have the patience for being around other people like we used to .  We don’t want to wait in line.  We don’t want to wait at the restaurant.  We don’t want to even wait through commercials anymore.  We don’t want to wait for our luggage at the baggage claim.    We don’t want to wait to save up for what we want.  Having choice is good.  It drives free markets, keeps prices low, and gives consumers the power to decide who succeeds.  Having convenience is good, too.  But how much is enough? What happens to us when we have exactly what we want all the time on demand?  I’m speaking in general terms, of course; there are always individuals who do prefer to live in seclusion.  But as our society pushes all of us in that direction – slowly, steadily, byte by byte – I believe that many of us are reaching out to dogs to reconnect with someone who needs us.  We are social creatures.  We need a group.  We need to connect.  We crave for someone to love us , to protect us, someone to take care of us, someone who will be there for us no matter what.  We have a need for family and safety in numbers.  And while we may not be aware of it as we busy ourselves with conspicuous consumption and career maneuvering, it’s there.

Enter the dog.

Recent studies have found that having a dog reduces blood pressure and other effects of stress.  That’s probably not why you and I got a dog, but we’re probably connecting with the things that make our blood pressure go down and warms our heart.  Things like that wagging tail that greets us at the door, every single day.  How many people in our homes get up and come to the door when we come home?   The dog always does, and that feels good to us.  The dog needs us.  He depends utterly on us.

He’s not going to become independent and leave (well, not most dogs).  So having a dog placates our abandonment fears.  He’s not going to judge us, no matter what we wear, buy, eat , drive or look like.  Now we’ve got an antidote to constant criticism from ourselves and others that plagues us day after day.  He’s another heartbeat in what for some is an otherwise empty home.  Now we’ve got companionship in an isolated world.   No manipulation, tardiness, meanness, cheating or misunderstandings.    I think most compassionate, responsible people’s lives would be enhanced by having a dog.   But we need to also remember to reconnect with each other too and stay in tune with the earth.  Let’s remind ourselves to be more patient , take more interest in each other, enjoy one another a little more, and help our children and the next generation to come stay connected to our planet and love it for all it’s beauty and to respect all living life with true compassion and understanding.

Let’s learn from our canine companions and honor them and the animal kingdom with compassion and gratitude for what they teach us every day and the true beauty in love that they share with us.

Buddha Bark is proud to partner and support Best Friends in their noble crusade to create a better world through kindness to animals.

Best Friends Animal Society is guided by a simple philosophy: kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us.

In the late 1980s, when Best Friends was in its early days, roughly 17 million dogs and cats
were being killed in shelters every year. Despite the commitment of shelter workers to the animals
in their care, the conventional belief was that little could be done to lower that terrible number.

Get Involved with Best Friends

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Best Friends’ No More Homeless Pets campaign created a new vision: A grassroots effort to place dogs and cats who were considered “unadoptable” into good homes, and to reduce the number of unwanted pets through effective spay and neuter programs. Since then, the number of dogs and cats being destroyed in shelters has fallen to approximately 5 million a year. There has been much progress,but there is still much more to do.

The next phase of this work – bringing the number down to essentially zero – will take more work and some bold new initiatives. Shelters are crowded with pit bulls, dogs abandoned after being bought from pet stores, stray cats rounded up on the streets and not looking their very best when they’re brought in, and other pets abandoned or neglected.

As the flagship of a grassroots network of people and organizations that care about animals, Best Friends continues to lead the way towards this future. And that’s why our purpose remains: A better world through kindness to animals.

At the sanctuary
The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary at Angel Canyon, at the heart of the Golden Circle of national parks in southern Utah, is home on any given day to about 2,000 dogs, cats, and other animals, who come from shelters and rescue groups around the country for special care they can only receive at Best Friends.

Most of the animals who find their way to Best Friends have special physical or behavioral needs, and our expert staff of veterinarians, trainers and caregivers offer them all the help they require. Most of them are ready to go to good new homes after just a few weeks of special care. A few, who are too old or too sick, or who have suffered extra trauma, find a home and haven at the sanctuary, and are given loving care for the rest of their lives.

Around the country
Best Friends works with our members — and with humane groups, individuals and entire communities — to set up spay/neuter, shelter, foster and adoption programs in neighborhoods, cities, and states throughout the country. Through this work, Best Friends is helping to save and rehabilitate tens of thousands of animals each year.

Through the online Best Friends Network, the society reaches across the nation and around the world, helping local communities to rescue animals in distress and to create their own No More Homeless Pets communities.

Animal rescue and disaster response
At home and abroad, Best Friends has led some of the largest animal rescue efforts in recent history. These rescues include natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, wartime situations, and animal hoarding or failed shelter situations where hundreds of dogs and cats need urgent and continuing care for many months before they can be placed in good new homes. With its sanctuary and rescue experience, Best Friends is the only organization in the country capable of mounting such major rescue efforts.

Public education
Best Friends offers workshops, internships, training programs and conferences to help individuals, groups and communities to set up and manage their own shelter, rescue, adoption and spay/neuter programs. Best Friends magazine also has the largest readership of any general-interest animal publication in the U.S.

Support
The work of Best Friends is supported entirely by the donations of our members. Through the generous hearts and hands of people like you, we can ensure that animals who come into the care of Best Friends will never again be alone, hungry, sick, afraid or in pain. We invite you to join us in helping to bring about the time when there will be No More Homeless Pets.