Music For Animals

Dog toys have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. In fact, they even became part of my business and music. You don�t realize it, but if you have a dog you�re going to end up spending a lot of money on dog toys.

Of all dog toys, squeaky toys in particular are my favorites. Despite the fact they drive me crazy every night about one o�clock in the morning when my Griffon, Afghan, Terrier, Border Collier mix, Eliza Doolittle decides to get frisky and wants to involve me a dog toy game, I still have a soft spot in my heart for toys that squeak.

In fact I like them so much, we sometimes use them as a basis for songs � or rather, we use them as instruments. Dog toys with squeakers inside make great lead instruments when we create our songs for dogs. You�d be surprised how difficult it is to make a dog toy sound good � whether it squeaks or barks � plus they�re really hard to tune.

That, however, did not stop us from creating Squeaky Deaky � an homage to dogs and dog toys. You�d be surprised to know how many dog toys I had to go through to find the squeaky toy with the exact sound, pitch and duration suitable for recording and performance art.

I spent about two weeks getting thrown out of dog toy departments because I�d been standing there for twenty minutes squeezing dog toys to find just that right balance between pitch and playability.

Once I found the right instrument, we went into the studio and immediately recorded Squeaky Deaky. Then, to check and see if we had used the proper dog toy sound brought in our resident dog testers and music critics � Budha and Eliza Doolittle. Both responded by howling and circling the speakers so we knew right there we had chosen the right dog toy for the song. I still have to be careful playing that song around the house � Eliza still goes goofy � and I know why.

After all that careful searching in the pet stores for the right dog toy, it turned out that Eliza�s old indestructible squeaky foot was the dog toy that ended up in the recording. She knows it�s her toy and wants it back. The dog has a memory like an elephant. I got her a replacement � in fact, many replacements but no dice. That was her dog toy and no other dog toy would do.