Radio for Dogs: What the Research Says About Music When You Are Out

Published 13 September 2026

Leaving the radio on for the dog is one of the most common habits of dog owners — a voice in the house, a bit of company, something to cover the noises outside. It is also a habit that researchers have actually tested, mostly in rescue kennels, and the results are more interesting than "dogs like music".

What the studies found

Classical music calmed shelter dogs. A 2012 study led by Lori Kogan at Colorado State University played different kinds of music to dogs in an animal shelter and recorded their behaviour. The dogs barked less and slept more with classical music than with heavy metal, with music specially designed for dogs, or with no music at all. Heavy metal was linked to more body shaking, a sign of stress.

But the effect wore off. In a 2015 study, researchers from the University of Glasgow and the Scottish SPCA found that classical music reduced signs of stress in kennelled dogs, but that the benefit was short-lived: the dogs became used to the music after as little as one day.

Variety — and reggae and soft rock — helped most. In a follow-up study published in 2017, the same team played soft rock, Motown, pop, reggae and classical music to kennelled dogs, measuring heart rate, stress hormones and behaviour. Reggae and soft rock produced the clearest reductions in stress, dogs spent more time lying down, and changing the genre from day to day helped keep the effect going. The researchers also reported that older dogs benefited little and seemed to prefer quiet.

What that means at home

Rescue kennels are noisy, unfamiliar places, and a pet dog at home is in a very different situation, so the research is a guide rather than a guarantee. The findings that translate best:

• Choose calm over loud. Soft rock, reggae and quiet classical are better bets than anything with heavy drums or sudden changes.
• Keep the volume low. Dogs hear far better than we do. Background level for you is plenty for them.
• Vary it. Rotating between two or three stations or genres, rather than the same one every day, follows the most consistent finding in the research.
• Voices can help too. Many owners find that a steady talk station — the sound of people in the house — settles their dog. Avoid stations with shouting phone-ins or sudden jingles.
• Watch your own dog. If they settle, lie down and stop pacing, it is working. If they seem more unsettled, or they are an older dog who prefers silence, turn it off.

Radio is not a treatment for separation anxiety. If your dog is distressed when left alone — barking for long periods, destructive, soiling or trying to escape — speak to your vet or a qualified behaviourist.

Fireworks and thunderstorms

The RSPCA recommends putting on music or the TV to help mask the bangs of fireworks, and the same idea helps with thunderstorms. It works best alongside the other basics: close the curtains, give your dog a safe den to retreat to, and put the radio on before the noise starts rather than after. A station with a steady, full sound masks bangs better than quiet, sparse music.

Setting it up

• A radio or a speaker in the dog's usual room is the simplest set-up. A Wi-Fi internet radio with presets lets you choose calm stations from anywhere in the world.
• An old phone or tablet playing 72FM, connected to a speaker, works too. Keep it plugged in with the screen allowed to stay on, because a browser tab can pause when the screen turns off. The free player allows an hour of listening a day, so for a whole afternoon out a dedicated radio — or Premium, which lifts the daily limit — is the better fit.
• Test it while you are home. Put it on for an hour and watch how your dog reacts before relying on it.

Stations to try

• Soft rock and classic hits stations, for the genre that did best in the Glasgow study.
• Reggae, for the other — reggae radio online lists where to start.
• Quiet classical, rotated with the others — classical radio online has stations for every hour.
• Calm, ambient stations for evenings — see calming radio.