An animal shelter in Mildura is using narrated voices from audio books to calm dogs, boosting the animals' chances of finding forever homes.

Animal shelter workers are already noticing a difference in the behaviour of dogs, following the installation of a sound system.

Sunraysia Animal Rehousing Group initiated the idea, working with Mildura Rural City Council, which operates the animal shelter, to implement the program.

President Trudy Chant said research showed audio books had a calming effect on dogs in shelters.

"One of the vets at Mildura Animal Hospital showed me the research paper and I thought we just have to do this," she said.

Ms Chant said donations allowed the group to purchase sound equipment.

"Because council has the library, we are able to use the library's talking books," she said.

"It's been going about three weeks and shelter supervisor Dale has already noticed a real change in the animals' behaviour.

"He can see the dogs and their activities on a video system and he's absolutely shocked at how relaxed they are in their pen

Dogs' behaviour could turn people off

Dogs can get over-excited when people visit Mildura pound, the reason behind playing audio books to the animals. ( ABC Mildura - Swan Hill: Lauren Henry )

Ms Chant said prior to the audio book program, the dogs would display heightened behaviour when people visited the shelter.

"It's quite confronting when you walk into the shelter and you hear all these dogs barking at you," she said.

"Some of the dogs can even jump up the sides of the pens. It's very confronting if you are not a person who is used to working in rescue and seeing that kind of thing … it's pretty normal behaviour for the dog because they are in an incredibly stressful environment.

"Part of it is to make it a much more relaxed environment for the people coming into the shelter and for the dogs themselves. It's our aim that we see more adoptions from our shelter and we see more people come to our shelter."

A dog sits and waits patiently as audio books play through speakers at Mildura pound. ( ABC Mildura - Swan Hill: Lauren Henry )

Ms Chant said the audio books were constantly being played to the dogs in the shelter.

"It comes back to man being a dog's best friend," she said.

"The sound of the narrated voice has a calming effect on all of them."

Ms Chant said some of the books also played pockets of music.

"That's also had a calming influence on the dogs. When you look at the research studies, they show that classical music has the best outcome of all the genres of music," she said.

"The latest research shows that the narrated voice goes above that even more than the classical music, so hence why we have picked up the program and it's a relatively easy thing to do."

Ms Chant said the 31 pens at the Mildura shelter were regularly filled.

Animals could be rehomed through the many animal rehousing groups that the shelter worked with, and dogs are regularly transported out of Mildura to Melbourne homes.

Christmas concern

Ms Chant said Christmas was always a busy time for animal shelters.

"Some people don't have time for their dogs and some surrender them at this time of year," she said.

"The few days leading up to Christmas is panic stations for some people and certainly from a rescue perspective we experience an increase in people wanting to surrender to us.

"The other outcome is the puppy or kitten for Christmas syndrome, and it's that cute factor.

"People don't always think about what it takes to be a responsible pet owner, which is responsibility as well as cost.

"We always say to anyone who wants to give a pet as a gift, think about whether that person you are giving to can afford a pet for the life of that animal — be it vet care or obedience training."