Melvin Durai
Before you turn up the volume of your music, you need to be aware that it might disturb your neighbours. And it might terrify your neighbours’ pets.
Pets have sensitive ears. If you have a dog, you probably already know this. Any type of shouting can send the dog scurrying away. Just try screaming, “Tasty bones! Come and get your tasty bones!” Your dog will run away like you’re screaming, “Vaccinations! Come and get your vaccinations!”
Loud noises such as thunder and fireworks can also terrify dogs. You may love Lata Mangeshkar’s songs, but if you play her loud enough, your dog might post its photo on Adopt-a-Pet.com.
A recent study at University of California, Davis, finds that even common noises, such as a pressure cooker or microwave, can trigger a dog’s anxiety. According to the study, which was published in the journal “Frontiers in Veterinary Science,” high-frequency, intermittent noises are more likely to bother dogs than low-frequency, continuous noise. In other words, don’t wait until your dog chews your cellphone to turn down those notification sounds. Do you really need a loud ping every time you receive a text message? Trust me, your dog doesn’t think so.
While owners can recognise some signs of dog anxiety, including cringing and trembling, other signs are harder to identify. For example, stressed dogs may lick their lips, turn their heads away, stiffen their bodies, turn their ears back, or keep staring into space, thinking to themselves, “If only Jeff Bezos would offer me a free ride.”
“There is a mismatch between owners’ perceptions of the fearfulness and the amount of fearful behaviour actually present. Some react with amusement rather than concern,” said Emma Grigg, lead author of the study and a research associate and lecturer at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “We hope this study gets people to think about the sources of sound that might be causing their dog stress, so they can take steps to minimise their dog’s exposure to it.”
Of course, if dogs get stressed by noises, so do other animals, including cats, rats and chickens. You probably don’t care if the rats in your neighbourhood get stressed. “Let them drop dead,” you might say, and few people would blame you. But what about the chickens in your neighborhood? What if they drop dead?
If you’ve been following the news closely, you know what I’m alluding to: the recent case in Balasore, Odisha. A 22-year-old poultry farmer named Ranjit Parida, who lives in Kandagaradi village, filed a complaint at Nilagiri police station against his neighbour Ramachandra Parida for the loud music that a DJ had played during a wedding procession.
According to an India Today report, Ranjit alleges that his chickens started behaving strangely, jumping and hissing, as the procession approached the farm. Ranjit tried to get the DJ to turn down the music, but to no avail, he claims. As a result, 63 of his chickens died, despite his attempts to revive them. A local veterinarian told him that the loud music had caused the birds to go into shock. If you’re the parent of teenagers, you can probably understand this. You’ve probably heard some shocking lyrics.
Ranjit tried to get Ramachandra to compensate him for the fowl loss, without using foul words. But Ramachandra apparently declined, causing Ranjit to file the police complaint.
According to Balasore Superintendent of Police Sudhanshu Mishra, the two parties resolved the case amicably at the police station. If so, they deserve credit for not being too chicken to face each other.
Ramachandra nevertheless ridiculed the allegations, saying, “When lakhs of chickens are transported on the road on daily basis amid blaring horns, how is it possible that the birds in his farm died due to DJ music?”
That’s a good question. Perhaps the chickens didn’t like the DJ’s taste in music.