If your dog is afraid of noise, take it seriously. Healthy reactivity can be debilitating, and healthy phobia clinical conditions are devastating. Neither is generally “solved” by purchasing a product. Evidence supports counter conditioning, relaxation training, and the use of behavioral medications (Riemer, 2020).
Pet Shell Pet House
I don’t own a pet shell. We review the claims of their marketing material compared to the acoustic reports they published.
Pet Shells, a new product for dogs and cats, have now appeared on the market. This is a Kickstarter project and is advertised as a pet house that reduces noise “reduces sound by more than 50%.” This is a problematic statement. Marketing materials further mean that the inside of the pet shell is “silent.” darkness and silence (Their emphasis) creates a calm space for pets that resemble burrows. “The silence claim is problematic, and it’s not just that. Unique test results.
Characteristic noise with a Promotional Video Thunderclaps, sirens, jacka hammers, vacuums, traffic, beep alarm clocks, fireworks. Similarly, the sounds listed in the “Understanding Dog Sensitivity” section of the Kickstarter site are thunderstorms, fireworks and gunshots, loud vehicles, sirens and alarms, construction and industrial noise, and home noise. Note that the number of these is included.
This product is actively sold as a solution for dogs who fear lightning and fireworks. but, Pet Shell’s own published sound test reportperfect performance at the National Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering, reveals that the low frequencies of lightning and fireworks have pet shells Even a little It is effective in preventing sound transmission.
This is consistent with the discoveries of basic physics and acoustics.
Sound tests and reports
Pet shell acoustic testing was performed by a physicist with excellent credentials. The report is exemplary, the methods are well explained, with sufficient detail and transparency to allow those with the right equipment to replicate the test. We are pleased to see that Pet Shell has worked with experts who know the testing procedures and applicable criteria to do this.
The results are well supported by the report itself and are in line with general knowledge of enclosure input. Through this blog post, we will assume the accuracy of the findings of the report.
Problem marketing claims
The marketing material contains many statements and claims that are countered by PetShell’s own test results. This is the highlight.
- Problem claim: Pet shells reduce sound by more than 50%. The average sound reduction over the entire frequency band over the 1-20,000 Hz range was found to be 13 decibels. A 10 decibel reduction correlates with a halved reduction in perceived sound (in humans), which can protect against this “more than 50%” reduction. However, that average provides an incomplete picture of what is happening within the pet shell. The effectiveness of sound reduction through passive means (barriers, absorption) depends on frequency. It is much easier to prevent high-frequency sound transmission. Checking the failures for each frequency of sound test reports shows that low frequencies between 100 and 250 Hz result in much less reduction in the pet shell. The attenuation is 2.6 dB at 100 Hz, 4.2 dB at 125 Hz, 6.6 dB at 160 Hz, 5.3 dB at 200 Hz, and 3.4 dB at 250 Hz. These frequencies are correlated with lightning and large firework frequencies, and are much less than average reductions.
Please take a look Report To confirm this dramatic reduction in effectiveness at low frequencies, graphically depicted on page 4.
This performance drop is not surprising at all. It is common to all barrier-based solutions. The same effectiveness can be reduced Sound Spectrum Report for Rex Specs Ear Proprotecting dog ears. Passive sound barriers are not effective in preventing low-frequency transmission. The waves are too big.
Sound attenuation is much more effective at higher frequencies, so the pet shell can claim a reduction of 13 decibels overall. But think about what that means. The animals inside the pet shell are located in a dominant soundscape at low frequencies.
- A highly problematic claim: “silence.” Repeated mention of silence cannot be defensive. Page 4 of the report lists the actual sound reduction of the pet shell in the presence of a noise source. Test noise clocks at 94.2 dB(a) outside the pet shell and 81.0 dB(a) inside the pet shell. (For a note on DB(a), see the technical supplement.) An example of noise in that decibel range is: Gas-powered lawn mower, A busy 50-foot highway, Large overhead pocket (intercom)an Electric Lawn Edgar,and Noise in the plane. 85 db is the boundary of the US workplace where exposure over time must be monitored and controlled. It’s ridiculous to refer to achieving “silence” noise reduction within the pet shell.
- Problem claim: “…Minimize intense sounds – especially high-pitched sounds that cause stress…” This statement correctly identifies that pet shells are effective in reducing sounds at higher frequencies than low frequencies. Any Passive sound barrier. But why are they focusing on “high-pitched sounds that cause stress” when most of the sounds they list on the site and include in promotional videos are low frequency? Fireworks and lightning have been featured many times. Of the sounds listed from the materials above, only the sirens, alarm clocks and some household noise stand out. And although there are many dogs who fear high-frequency sounds (I had them), recent research has shown that Thunder is the most common fear (Grigg et al., 2021, p. 4).
- Problem claim: Normal buzzwords for such products “Calm, safe, quiet, safe.” The meaning of Relaxation and Reduced anxiety. I am sure that some animals enjoy privacy, the ability to hide in a comfortable place, and moderate sound reduction at higher frequencies. However, the dogs inside the pet shells still hear fireworks and thunderstorms perfectly well.
Images depicting fireworks and thunder sounds for each frequency
The following image shows that the weakest performance of the pet shell (per report) correlates with the largest frequencies of fireworks and lightning.
We analyzed the sound recordings of fireworks and thunder of the software’s boldness. The image below shows the sound spectrum. This means how big the sound is on different frequencies. In the image it is horizontal (x) axis is frequency and vertical (y) axis is decibels. There’s something higher y The shaft is big. I marked the frequency domain where the pet shell is the least effective in the report numbers with a black rectangle. It ranges from 100 to 250Hz. It correlates with the biggest frequencies of both fireworks and lightning.
The red lines in each image indicate the area (roughly volume) of the maximum amplitude. In both cases, the pet shell is in the area where it performs its worst.
Why do you have decibels? y The axis is negative.
I bought sample sounds from Fireworks and Thunderclaps from Pond5.com. You can hear a low-quality preview of the sound used here (lower the volume first!).firework) And here (thunder). I chose to record with my ears. Here is a source of information on typical low frequencies of fireworks (Tanaka et al., 2016) and Thunder (Holmes et al., 1971).
Can I help my dog with a slight decrease?
Do you think, “Well, even reducing the sound of thunder is probably worth it”? If so, ask yourself if your dog will only respond to the biggest thunder. Are they okay when they hear the lightning that doesn’t shake the house? In that case, maybe a little cut would help (though they still feel the house shaking in the pet shell). Or have they generalized to fear most or all of the noise of lightning? In that case, a slight reduction in decibels is not important. Dogs are often sensitive to sounds that scare them. When this happens, the sounds can scare them at a lower intensity than they were originally. In these cases, a slight reduction in sound intensity will not make a difference.
Conclusion
Pet shells are expensive and do not cure healthy fears. Does not block low-frequency sounds. The inside is not quiet. It’s kind to provide a hideout, but in order to deal with the fear itself, do we want more from our dogs?
The harm of pet shells comes from marketing claims, including the ability to significantly protect dogs from lightning and fireworks. Their own report says that it cannot be done. Instead of pursuing an evidence-based approach to help pets have a healthy sensitivity, people can purchase this product.
After giving a brief critique, I interacted with representatives of Pet Shell on social media. They were polite and accepted the suggestions. I asked them to notify their website about how serious the fear of sound is and encourage people to seek the help of dog professionals for this issue. Ta.
reference
- Grigg, Ek, Chou, J., Parker, E., Gatesy-Davis, A., Clarkson, St., & Hart, L. A. (2021). Stress-related behaviors of companion dogs exposed to common household noise and owner’s interpretations of dog behavior. Veterinary Science Frontier, 8760845.
- Holmes, Cr, Brook, M., Krehbiel, P. , & McCrory, R. (1971). About the power spectrum and mechanism of lightning. Journal of Go-Ophidical Research, 76 (9), 2106-2115.
- Reamer, S. (2020). Effectiveness of treatment for the fear of fireworks in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 3761-70.
- Tanaka, T., Inaba, R. , & Aoyama, A. (2016). Prediction of noise and low-frequency sound levels from aviation fireworks and occupational exposure to fireworks against noise. Journal of Acupational Health, 58(6), 593-601.
Copyright 2025 Irene Anderson
photograph
Photo of a dog with a chin on the floor Courtesy of Pixabay user Picsbyfran. I trimmed it. All other photo copyright Irene Anderson 2025.
Technical Addendum: These negative decibels and db(a)
Decibels are negative in my images because they are measured in a computer rather than in the real world. Decibels require a reference point, and there are many that are used. The maximum decibels that a computer can record (so-called “full scale”) is set to the zero reference point. So, the closer the negative number is to zero, and the higher the physically higher on the image, the greater the sound will be at that frequency.
The specification DB(a) in the PET shell report refers to a weighted decibel scale taking into account the characteristics of human hearing. This introduces errors, but at this point it is inevitable. There is no weighted scale for the dog (this is recognized in the report).
