Dogs love reggae and soft rock, new study finds

A new study from the University of Glasgow and the Scottish animal welfare charity SPCA has found that dogs "prefer reggae and soft rock" to other music genres.

Cat people, you can start laughing hysterically now.

The study set out to explore the effect different genres of music had on a dog's behaviour (and not, surprisingly, whether dogs and second-year uni students should date), testing various playlists that also included Motown, pop and classical music.  

Researchers measured the dogs' heart rates and found that stress levels decreased when they were played any music, but particularly reggae and soft rock.

"Overall, the response to different genres was mixed highlighting the possibility that, like humans, our canine friends have their own individual music preferences," the study's professor Neil Evans said.

"But reggae music and soft rock showed the highest positive changes in behaviour."

It's perhaps bad news for owners, since dogs aren't really able to control their own Spotify accounts. Owners, time to make lil' Rover a smooth playlist heavy on the Bob Marley, REO Speedwagon and Ed Sheeran (Golden Retrievers, obviously) and blast it.

The SPCA said they planned on fitting all of their kennels with sound systems as a result of the findings, and "extending the research to other species".

While perhaps the oddest, it's not the first study to explore the relationship between pets and tunes.

A 2015 study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that cats similarly respond to music.

The study led to an album of "classical music for cats", composed by America's National Symphony Orchestra cellist David Teie, that climbed to number one on the iTunes Classical Music Chart last October.