There has been a lot of discussion over the past year concerning the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on our mental health, but one organisation for dogs believes the conversation should be extended to our canine companions as well.
Relax My Dog is on a mission to raise awareness for the mental health of our pets, hoping to reduce their anxiety, stress, and boredom by creating calming digital content.
Figures have skyrocketed for the company since the start of the pandemic, as in 2020, 42 million pets from around the world consumed content, in comparison with 20 million in 2019 and 10 million in 2018.
Founder Amman Ahmed said: “Dogs really respond to humans and if an owner is stressed, their dog will definitely feed off this.
“With everything people have been coping with over the past year, it’s no surprise that dogs are picking up on things.
“This is why we balance all the musical arrangements of our content so that they are relaxing for humans as well as dogs, as creating a comfortable environment is really important.”
Relax My Dog’s product suite includes calming videos, music in varying frequencies, and virtual dog walks which are colour-graded for canine vision.
The organisation regularly collects data from its users to find out which content is and isn’t working, and then adapts its products accordingly.
Charlotte Williams, 32, uses the content from Relax My Dog for her dog Lulu, a six-year-old Japanese Spitz.
She said: “Lulu’s always been a slightly anxious dog, and she struggled to cope when I needed to leave her for work.
“I met Amman one day, and he told me about his company so I looked it up when I got home and thought ‘this might be a nice way to calm Lulu’.”
Charlotte explained that Lulu used to stand on her hind legs for the entire time Charlotte was away, anxiously waiting for her to return, which wasn’t good for her physically or mentally.
Now that Lulu has learnt to enjoy a range of the videos and audios available in the product suite, she can spend some time relaxing.
Charlotte continued: “She’s still crazy excitable when you walk back through the door, but it’s nice to know she can chill out a bit.
“I love animals, so anything that makes their life easier, I’m all for.”
Relax My Dog has reached pets all over the world – content has been viewed in over one hundred countries, and the company calculated that 13,173 years of content has been consumed in 2020 alone.
Amman Ahmed commented: “It’s incredible to see the positive impact our content has had on so many people and pets.
“People use our content when they take their dog to the vet for example, and we get emails from people all the time thanking us.
“I even received an email from someone whose dog had passed away, asking if they could play one of our songs at the funeral – because it was their dog’s favourite.
“I couldn’t believe the emotional impact. It’s good to have provided a positive memory and a nice way of remembering them.”
Relax My Dog also has a partner organisation, Relax My Cat, and together they hope to continue having a positive impact on pets around the world.
You can find the organisation’s content here.
Featured Image: Lulu / Charlotte Williams
