Acoustic panels help keep dogs calm

The Dogs Trust specify acoustic panels in kennels to help keep dogs calm and improve sound quality.

Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity and cares for around 11,000 dogs every year across its network of 21 rehoming centres in the UK and one in Dublin. Dogs Trust has a non-destruction policy and will never put a healthy dog to sleep. The charity also focuses its efforts on understanding dogs and sharing that knowledge with the wider public to prevent problem behaviours that can result in relinquishment or abandonment.  

As part of this mission and the facilities needed to care for animals, rehoming centres have many kennels. One of the obvious concerns with this is the associated noise from the kennels which can lead to the dogs to feeling worried and stressed. To solve this, the in-house surveyors turned to Troldtekt.

Acoustic panels have been installed in rehoming centres in Ballymena in Northern Ireland, Cardiff, Manchester, Evesham, Basildon, Salisbury, Canterbury and Harefield. 

These state-of-the-art facilities allow for the treatment of animals as well as serving as a base for visitors looking to rehome a dog. Using Troldtekt acoustic panels across the ceilings in the kennels means that noise is absorbed and kept to a minimum – making for a much more pleasurable environment for staff and visitors and helping to reduce anxiety for the dogs.

This isn’t the first time panels have been used for animals and harks back to Troldtekt’s history where they were frequently used in pig barns from the 1980s. Offering acoustic improvements coupled with durability, the panels were perfectly suited to the demanding environment of livestock buildings and helping provide a better indoor climate. Panels help control airflow and both absorb and emit moisture, making them adaptable for the changing humidity levels in this type of application. Their inherent robust nature also means they can be easily painted and maintained.

Troldtekt’s acoustic panels have come a long way since the 1980s and the panels of today are Cradle to Cradle Certified® at Gold level, only use wood from certified forests (PEFC/09-31-030 and FSC®C115450) and have a minimum lifespan of 60 years. Depending on the panel specified, reaction to fire is classed in accordance with EN 13501 as B-s1,d0 or A2-s1,d0 respectively.