A violinist is using his talent for classical music to help calm shelter dogs in New York City.
Martin Agee has been playing classical music as a professional violinist for over 30 years, but he’s found a way to use his talents as a way to help others – by practicing and volunteering at the ASPCA’s Animal Adoption Center.
The Animal Adoption Center houses shelter dogs who have been abused or neglected, awaiting a good furever home to call their own.
Agee started volunteering with the ASPCA about two years ago after his Greyhound (named Melody, of course) crossed over the Rainbow Bridge several years before.
“I almost jokingly said to some people, ‘Well, maybe I’ll play my violin for the dogs when I’m there,’” he told The Today Show. “Little did I realize that that would become a reality.”
Since the ASPCA has a storytelling program, where volunteers read picture books or magazines to dogs, providing socialization experience, Agee wondered if a little bit of violin-delivered classical music would work as well, and the shelter officials agreed to try as an experiment.
“It’s really incredible to watch the impact his music has on the dogs and how quickly they respond,” Kris Lindsay, ASPCA senior director, told The Today Show.
Music doesn’t work for all animals, of course – Agee’s cat Jack abhors even the sight of the violin, and Wesley’s childhood Beagle mix Sunny hated his guitar.
Still, there are others who seem to like it.
Arkansas cello teacher Kathy Bebout once had a Dachshund who would howl along softly while she played.
“He didn’t seem stressed; he actually acted like he was singing along!” Bebout told Dog O’Day.
Her current trio of Border Collies will sit on the patio and listen attentively and respectfully, as an audience ought.
Bebout’s former student Caroline Pokorny hasn’t noticed how the household pets act in the other room while she practices, but she’s open to the idea of playing specifically for them to see if they would enjoy a private concert.
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