Skip Haynes and Dana Walden are all about making the world a better place for dogs and their CD, Songs to Make Dogs Happy, is a hit with four-legged music fans.
"I wish my old band got the kind of response from humans that this disc gets from dogs," said Haynes, producer and lead vocalist.
The music, with titles like You're a Good Dog and Adventure Dog, is relentlessly happy and upbeat.
"It's actually a bit nauseating for humans, although people do get addicted to it," said Haynes. "Especially Squeaky Deakey."
Dogs do not like sad music or angry music, he explained. And they checked to make sure dogs liked what they were doing musically and lyrically.
"You can't use the word No, or they just shut down," he said. "And you need to avoid rimshots; they tend to upset the dogs that come from neighbourhoods where there is a lot of gun play."
Songs to Make Dogs Happy was tested on 250 dogs in focus groups at animal shelters and in other settings by Dr. Kim Ogden, a top animal communicator approached by Haynes to participate in the making of the album.
"I told her we wanted to do music for animals and involve them in the creative process," Haynes said. I asked if she could act as a translator for us and she said 'Sure.'"
"She is a doctor of public health and wanted to do things very scientifically, testing everything qualitatively and quantitatively," he explained. "She insisted that we test over 200 dogs."
Ogden tested different types of music on dogs over several months and helped define dog-friendly music and lyric content.
The result is striking, though a bit saccharine for human consumption.
"Nearly all dogs respond to it," Haynes said.
He recommends the CD to calm jangly nerves and ease separation anxiety.
The latest version of the CD is the most recent in a growing library of animal-related recordings.
Stoked by the early success of Ugly Dogs Need More Love and Cat-A-Tonic, which featured Nora the Piano Cat of YouTube fame, they decided to go into animal records whole hog.
Haynes and Walden have a number of other animal titles, including a CD by Koko the Gorilla and one that they cut with Carla the parrot titled I'm a Green Chicken.
Koko vetted all the lyrics and helped out with the mixing for her album. Carla was very nearly registered with the American Society of Composer, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) as the first non-human musical artist, but hit a wall when she couldn't get a social security number.
"We are the only company in the world that does music for, by and with animals and we are doing really well with it," he said from his Los Angeles offices. "We started it nine years ago as a goof, but it has really taken off."
Songs to Make Dogs Happy is constantly updated by Haynes and Walden, who also plays and sings back-up vocals.
It is selling so well in fact that they are already recording songs for Song to Make Dogs Happy II.
"We just started yesterday," said Haynes. "And we are working on one for horses, especially for horse rescue."
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