Our story
It started with one dogwho couldn't settle.
BeanFM uses sound to help dogs feel at ease in a noisy world. It began at 2am in a hotel room, with a rescue pup who barked at every footstep in the hall.
Huey
Huey Lewis found me before I found him. He was alone in a drain gutter, small and whimpering, and when I knelt down he climbed straight into my lap. That was that.
He's a caramelo, a street dog. Like a lot of rescues, he came with big feelings, sharp ears, and a deep dislike of being left alone.
The hotel
Then came a last-minute road trip. Every dog hotel was full, so Huey came along.
Hotels, it turns out, are full of small human sounds: a key card clicking next door, a suitcase rolling past, footsteps that slow down and then keep going. Huey barked at every one.
I moved his bed away from the door. I tried a quieter room on his own, but then he cried for me instead. So we fell into a rhythm neither of us wanted.
The hunch
By the third night I was out of ideas. Years earlier I'd helped Huey get used to vacuums and barking dogs with videos online, but nothing out there sounded like a hotel hallway.
I had a hunch, though. In real life each noise came alone, cutting through a silent room and setting him off every time. What if the room wasn't silent? If I filled it with a steady stream of similar sounds, the real ones might get lost in the mix and become just more background.
At 2am I pulled together a few sound clips and a tiny script to keep them playing. I set my laptop on the floor beside him and lay down, not expecting much.
The next thing I knew, the room was full of morning light.
Huey was still curled up next to the laptop, fast asleep. I don't think I've ever grinned so hard before coffee.
One dog, then two
That morning stayed with me. If it helped Huey, it might help someone else lying awake next to their restless dog.
Life kept adding chapters. Huey started startling at doors slamming in high winds. Then Gregory joined the family, a labrador who was truly afraid of thunderstorms. Drowning out a storm wasn't the answer for him. He needed to get comfortable with thunder slowly, starting very quietly.
I went back to storm videos and kept running into the same problems. Which one did we play last time? How loud was the TV? And on calm, sunny days, which are exactly when practice helps most, I simply forgot.
The tool I wished I'd had
BeanFM grew out of both dogs. It can fill a room with a soundscape that covers the noises that set your dog off, or help them get comfortable with one hard sound, a little at a time. It keeps a record of every session, so you always know what played and how loud. A one-minute speaker setup means quiet is the same quiet every time. And with thousands of real recordings, your dog hears many versions of a sound, never the same clip on repeat.
Hi, I'm Mike
Boston · Guadalajara
I'm a software engineer by trade, but a pet lover by calling. Most days, if I'm not staring at a screen trying to make this the best gotdang app possible, you'll find us walking around the city or the mountains, treat pouch on my hip and two leashes in hand.
How we think about it
Calm is the measure
Whether you're covering up noise or building comfort with a sound, watch your dog and adjust. Never push past calm.
Get ahead of it
Start a soundscape before the noise begins, and work on storms while the sky is clear.
Every dog is different
If your dog's reactions are severe, work with your vet or a certified behaviorist. BeanFM is meant to sit alongside that, not replace it.
