Research shows that music can influence a dog's behavior.

San Mateo, Calif. ? With dog treats spilling out of her black canvas bag, Maria Skorobogatov proceeded through the Peninsula Humane Society’s kennels as classical music played from overhead speakers.

The occupants barked their hellos and stood on their hind legs to be noticed. But the animal behaviorist walked past the chatty ones on a recent Tuesday and awarded those who remained quiet and still.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Skorobogatov said softly to one well-behaved dog.

Throughout her brief visit, music played.

“We want to see if it’s having any type of effect,” Skorobogatov said of the music. “We use sounds and visual aids to keep them mentally and physically stimulated. It also helps them relax and that gets them adopted.”

The music played that morning originated on the other side of San Mateo County, Calif., with Half Moon Bay resident Lisa Spector. The Juilliard School graduate and concert pianist collaborated with Joshua Leeds, a sound researcher in Marin, Calif., to study the impact classical music has on dogs.

Two years of research and clinical demonstrations produced a book, “Through a Dog’s Ear: Using Sound to Improve the Health & Behavior of your Canine Companion,” written by Leeds and Susan Wagner, a board-certified veterinary neurologist.

Spector is the pianist on a 45-minute CD that Leeds produced to go with the book.

It’s been Spector’s experience that when she tickled the ivories, dogs she took care of would move closer to her and fall asleep. No more doggy angst – just peace and quiet.

“What calms people calms dogs,” Spector said on a recent Monday as her dog Sanchez slept at her feet.

On the CD, she plays music by Bach, Chopin and Rachmaninoff, among other composers. But she simplified the composition and slowed the tempo to between 40 and 60 beats per minute to create simpler sounds.

“A dog’s hearing is so much more sensitive than ours,” Spector said. “We have tools to deal with sound, but dogs don’t always have that.”

One out of seven dogs has behavioral issues that stem from an overwhelmed nervous system, said Leeds.

“There’s too much noise and too much input,” he said. “Our dogs are indicators of the stressed environment we live in.”

For more than 20 years, Leeds has specialized in psychoacoustics, the study of music and sound on the human nervous system.

Four-and-a-half-years ago, Spector approached Leeds after one of his seminars and told him about her dogs falling asleep when she played the piano. She hoped that he would want to work with her on a CD for dogs.

Leeds was apprehensive.

“I spent all these years establishing a certain level of authority and credibility,” he said, laughing. “For me to produce music for dogs, I thought I would become the laughingstock of my profession.”

But after speaking with Spector, he did some research and found there was nothing documented about the effects of music on dogs, except for one study conducted by Deborah Wells, a psychologist and animal behaviorist.

She played various kinds of music in dog shelters in San Francisco and learned that classical music – not rock music or jazz – had a calming effect on dogs, Leeds said.

His only caveat before teaming up with Spector was to make sure the music went through clinical research before it was released.

Four different CDs were cut and tested on 150 dogs in homes and shelters. The one that had an overwhelming response from dogs was the simplified classical music performed on piano.

Seventy percent of dogs in kennels showed a reduction in stress, while 85 percent in households were calmed.

Leeds’ book looks at the effect of the human soundscape on canine companions and offers ways to make life easier for them. Leeds said dogs are often inundated with sounds of helicopters flying overhead, police sirens, car alarms, loud music from cars driving by – and then there’s the answering machine.

“All of a sudden there’s a voice in an empty home,” Leeds said.

Spector said the CD is not a cure-all and suggested that it be combined with training.

Sounds True, the publisher, is donating a thousand CDs to shelters across the country. Spector dropped one off at the Peninsula Humane Society on Airport Boulevard.

For close to two years, the humane society has played classical music and tapes that consist of breathing and heart beats. Since dogs don’t typically stay very long at the shelter, however, there is no control group to determine how effective the music is, Skorobogatov said.

“I do notice when I’m walking through the kennels these guys seem to be more sedate and certainly not as loud,” she said. “Music is beneficial in terms of helping animals become less anxious.”

The book and CD are available on www.throughadogsear.com.