Is Singing to Pooch Okay?

We’ve all seen the videos, commercials and TV shows featuring dogs singing solo or with their humans. As charming as the act may be, did you ever find yourself wondering if you should sing to your pooch and if he or she might actually enjoy being sung to?

There are websites devoted to teaching you how to sing your dog to sleep. This technique reportedly works on any dog breed. Check one site out athttp://www.instructables.com/id/Sing-Your-Dog-To-Sleep/.

Dogs have been joining humans in song and song performances for decades, according to a Psychology Today article titled Do Dogs Have a Musical Sense by Stanley Coren for that magazine’s Canine Corner published April 2, 2012.

“In 1980 Carnegie Hall hosted the debut performance of Howl, a musical work for twenty voices and three canines,” writes Coren. “The piece was composed and conducted by Kirk Nurock, who is also a pianist and arranger that has worked with the likes of  Dizzy Gillespie, Judy Collins, Bette Midler, and Leonard Bernstein. Trained at Julliard School of Music, Nurock would go on to compose and perform the Sonata for Piano and Dog (1983) andExpedition (1984), an arrangement for Jazz Trio and Siberian Husky. In each of these dogs howled to accompany music, with occasional barks and yips as punctuation.”

There are certainly enough cultural and musical venues in Metro NY, Manhattan, LI, Westchester, Brooklyn and the Bronx from which to gain inspiration for putting your thoughts about your pooch to song. But perhaps the best guidelines can be found at TheBark.com <http://thebark.com/> athttp://thebark.com/content/how-sing-your-dog. Author Cathy Crimmins, in her article titledHow to Sing to Your Dog; hummed or howled, tunes find a receptive audience, admits that many people prefer singing to their dog over ‘crooning to a baby or a toddler.’ And for good reason.

“For one thing, your dog will never develop the capacity for irony or satirical thinking so annoying in humans, so any stupid or caustic lyrics you make up won’t be understood,” Crimmins writes. “And your doggie will never fling these songs back to you in a family counseling session, or years later as you lie on your death bed.”

So whether you choose a narrative or classic folk song for your pooch, chances are your efforts will be met with wagging tail and lots of kisses. Go ahead and give it a try!!