We watched a movie a few nights ago, a fairly poor excuse for a movie; in fact we didn’t finish watching it. However there were a number of dogs in this movie, and besides the dogs,owners called to their dogs in a variety of ways. Whistles and calls mostly. Can you guess what the reaction of my dogs was? It was hilarious! I tried to get a picture of them but they were so riveted,and we(Brad and I) were laughing so much that we didn’t get a good picture of Max and Beeker leaping into the air trying to get to the dogs in the TV.(click on the picture of Max looking up at the TV, you can see him better) Luckily our TV is mounted high up on a wall and so the dogs couldn’t get to it. At first we were intrigued at them hopping up and trying to get to it but then we were surprised at their need to bark at the whistling of the owner to the dog. Of course Beeker started the barking, backed up, when I called him, but Max was beside himself trying to get to the TV dogs. Finally we did get both dogs to quiet down. We called them up on the bed and petted them to calm them. Both dogs could not keep their eyes off the TV. It was a hoot.
I’ve heard that dogs looking at the TV are not really “watching” it, but watching the movement and flashes of the screen. I’m pretty certain these dogs were watching these dogs and listening to the whistles and barks coming from it. They were looking up until we couldn’t take how horrible this movie was any longer and turned it off.
Dogs view the world with an amazing quick eye. Previously to the Digital TV age, we viewed TV by watching streams of film as a scene. Dogs are able to view individual frames so they lose the “flow of a TV show. However with the new digital presentations on TV, dogs are much more adapted to its presentation. The sounds from the TV may be what enticed them in the beginning.
So, first we have the sounds they reacted to, then the movement on the TV, which is at first exciting then the flashes of film, dogs can perceive but humans can’t. But… there is no smell, a key component to the dog world. It may be that dogs are at first excited by movement and sound but lose interest because it does not hold their attention,since it has no relevance to their world.
Still it was pretty darn funny to watch the dogs react so strongly to an inanimate object. I read in an online article that 60 percent of dog owners believe their dogs watch TV. Interesting statistic. I wonder if my dogs are the only ones that bark back at the TV? I’m sure not, I wonder if it has to do with frequency of the whistle that got their attention or TV dogs barking? Usually when we watch TV they just lie on the floor or bed and sleep or chew their toys. Not this time. I Googled “Do dogs watch TV” and on one entry it is suggested that the best movie to keep a dogs attention was Finding Nemo. Okay, great movie but it doesn’t even have a dog in it. I bet it's the movement of the fish, and all of the vibrant color. I’m going to have to try it out to see if it works for Beeker and Max. It’s a great animation film so it will be fun to see what happens.
silly, silly, silly, dogs!
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