Is Your Dog Really Watching TV? A vet discovers a theory

Dog owners are fond of their furry friends watching TV with them when they look at the screen.

In fact, the TV is even geared towards pooches with channels like DogTV, made for them and their owners. There are also many viral videos on TikTok of silly people reacting to shows and movies.

But are they actually watching TV – or just staring at a color screen?

Dr. Freya Mowat, a veterinary ophthalmologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, explained that while dogs can see what’s on a screen, they’re likely to glance at it instead of focusing on it. to – and it’s not something you can do. train your dog to do.

“There are dogs that will watch movies, but they are actually more extraordinary,” Mowat told The Guardian. “Dogs mostly watch television in very short, commercial-length segments.

“I think there are some dogs who know it’s not real and don’t mind, but there are a lot of dogs who think TV is just boring. I don’t know that you can teach a dog to be a continuous viewer of two-hour movies versus one to five minutes.”

Mowat and her team came to this conclusion during her research into dog vision, where they designed a modernized eye test for dogs that asked them to look at a screen.

“We needed to create content that was interesting to dogs because we can’t make them read a board with their eyes,” she explained to The Guardian.

“When we see a patient in the ophthalmology clinic, we wave our hands in the dog’s face,” she said. “If they react, that’s the test – which is kind of embarrassing. And on the research side, we have these very elaborate mazes that take a whole bunch of space and many hours to complete – very scientific, but completely impractical.

To do this, Mowat conducted a survey in 2022 of more than 1,200 dog owners to find out what their pets were watching on TV, so her team could figure out how to keep an eye on them. the dog on the screen – and the findings were not many. surprising.

“Most dogs like watchdogs better — just like people like watching people, I guess,” Mowat said.

While the dogs were no. 1 thing they liked to watch on TV, they also really liked to watch other animals – but the dogs mostly didn’t care to watch people.

Only about 10% of pet parents surveyed said their pets liked cartoons and animated movies – especially those with other wild animals in them, such as The Lion King, The Secret Life of Pets and “The Lady and the Tramp.”

“But that could be because of his viral TikTok,” Mowat added. “Everyone has seen a video of a dog watching The Lion King, so they show it to their dog.”

There is also no evidence to support that dogs can recognize that cartoon animals are really animals, so it is likely that they are invested in these cartoons for other reasons.

“Cartoon animals have nothing to them because they don’t exist in the real world,” Mowat said. “Dogs have some conceptualization, but I think we probably project more onto them than they’re actually doing.”

Researchers found that 78% of dogs would approach the TV if they were interested in what they were watching, and 76% would bark in response.

Some little ones even got up to check behind the screen or a nearby window to see if what they were looking at was actually there.

“We watch TV for pleasure, for emotional realism, for whatever personal preferences we have,” Mowat said. “I think dogs watch TV because they’re checking to see if it’s real.

“There’s a reason why dogs go over and sniff the butts of animals on screen – they’re looking for realism and wondering if it’s worth paying attention to.”

But if they can’t understand what’s going on, why do dogs watch TV with their owners?

It might just be because they want to spend time with you.

“I would say it’s extremely rare for dogs to engage with content in the same way as humans,” Mowat said. “There are some diamondback dogs that maybe love their people so much that they choose to watch an entire movie with them, or react and bark at certain points.

“But is it because they did it once and got a hug, and they realized that when they look or react, they get more hugs? It’s so hard to know.”

However, Mowat cautioned against leaving your four-legged friend alone to watch TV, as it could tease or scare them.

“If you’re watching your dog watching TV and he seems happy or excited, rather than overwhelmed, then sure,” Mowat said. “But if your dog has reactive tendencies and you leave him alone with dogs on TV, I would question whether that’s really a good thing for your dog.”

Some dog owners who took part in the survey admitted that their dogs had seen something on the screen that caused them to knock on the TV or attack it.

If you want to leave your pup alone with some sounds, Mowat suggests classical music, especially solo piano music, which has been found to have a calming effect on dogs.