Podcast launched for lonely dogs – thanks to York expert

If your dog has tired of the increasingly forced banter of That Peter Crouch Podcast, or has bored of all the true crime series, we have some good news.

Because a dogcast – sorry podcast – has been created just for them. And a York animal behaviour expert has been key in its development.

Research by University of York psychologist Alex Benjamin helped shape the new series called My Dog’s Favourite Podcast.

The Spotify series is aimed at helping lonely dogs while away the hours till their owner comes home.

Narrated by former York teacher Ralph Ineson, known for his role as Finchy in The Office, and Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine, the series includes messages of reassurance and specially commissioned music by composer Daniel Knight.

Gentle praise

Alex’s study, called ‘Who’s A Good Boy’, explores the role of human voices in stimulating animal behaviour and was used to inform programme makers.

She consulted on the podcast, giving ideas and thoughts on the speech and sound production, with the wellbeing of the dogs as a priority.

She said:

• Dogs are extremely social animals but, in order to fit in with our busy lives, may spend some time by themselves during the day.

  My Dog’s Favourite Podcast is a bespoke podcast that is designed to encourage your dog to relax through calming gentle praise and story-like speech accompanied by original music and gentle ambient sounds designed to help mask startling sounds of the outside world such as traffic, car doors slamming or the bins being emptied, for example.

  I hope that the podcast becomes a fun and useful resource for owners to explore with their dogs while they are at home together as well as when their dog is alone for short periods.
  

With titles like Pup Fiction and The Tail Begins, the podcast episode are four episodes available on Spotify.