Written by Thomas Peterter
DENVER (AP) Music is frequently referred to as the universal language of people. For the sake of an unexpected audience, a 12-year-old boy from Houston is now testing it for a man’s closest friend.
Yuvi Agarwal began playing the keyboard at the age of four, and his family observed a few years ago that his playing calmed their restless golden doodle, Bozo. He began to wonder if it may also benefit agitated stray animals.
In 2023, he established the charity organization Wild Tunes to find musicians to perform in animal shelters, with assistance from his parents, both of whom had marketing expertise. In order to play at nine shelters in Houston, New Jersey, and Denver, he has recruited over 100 volunteer singers and musicians of various ages and skill levels.
To appreciate the music, you don’t need to know the lyrics. Simply savor the rhythms, melodies, and harmony. Agarwal recently stated, “So it transcends linguistic barriers and even just transcends species,” while performing songs like Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” on his portable keyboard at the Denver Animal Shelter.
Agarwal was entertaining Pituca, an elderly small dog. Many of his four-legged listeners, including cats, become delighted when he walks into their kennel, according to Spanish slang that is occasionally used to characterize a snob. However, they settle down after playing for a few minutes. Some even fall asleep.
He recalls Penelope, a rescue dog in Houston who would not leave her cage to be fed.
According to Agarwal, she went from not even leaving her kennel to licking my face and nipping my ears in a little amount of time as I was playing.
Max, a 1-year-old stray boxer at the Denver shelter, turned his head as volunteer Sarah McDonner performed Mozart and Bach on her flute a few stalls down from where he was grooving on his keyboard.
Professional musician McDonner, who met Argawal in Houston, stated, “I think the animals have something to look forward to, something different throughout their day, having that human interaction in a positive way.”
After relocating to Denver a few months ago, she assisted in bringing the program to Colorado. Giving them something different from what they’re accustomed to in their tiny cages is crucial, in my opinion, and it will increase their chances of being adopted in the future, McDonner stated.
Although the impact of music on humans has been well investigated, its function in animal behavior is still unclear.
According to a number of studies, classical music often calms dogs in stressful settings like kennels, shelters, and vet offices. However, several academics caution that the claim is not well-supported by the available data.
These extremely basic responses are what we always desire. For example, people want to claim that music soothes animals, but I believe it’s much more complex than that, said Lori Kogan, who chairs the American Psychological Association’s division on human-animal interaction and describes herself as a dog lover. Before I believe we can claim with certainty that music is a wonderful thing for animals, a lot more research needs to be done.
Kogan, a researcher and professor at Colorado State University, has spent more than 20 years researching the relationship between humans and animals. Because there are so many variables, including the setting, the music’s volume, style, and pace, the dog’s breed, and its prior exposure to music, research on the impact of music on dogs sometimes yields contradictory results, she noted.
She recommends introducing music to animals one instance at a time.
We may say that it’s a good thing if you play music for your pet and they seem to enjoy it and seem calmer. This means that you’re giving them some sort of enrichment. She remarked, “I would encourage people to try it and see how their pets respond.”
According to Agarwal, his own experience working in shelters is proof positive that music can soothe agitated animals, and he intends to expand Wild Tunes into a national initiative. He added that the volunteers also benefit from it.
He claimed that singing or practicing your instrument in front of an accepting audience is a fantastic method to increase your confidence.
