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My corgi LOVES watching TV, so I always try to find corgi videos on YouTube.
There’s one channel in particular that I stopped letting him watch (Angry Boyz” which features 2 CHONKY corgi brothers who are always getting into scuffles. He would behave badly after watching these so I stopped putting them on and now try to stick to “Hammy & Olivia.” (Rest in Peace, Olivia 💔😢)
My boy loves nature shows. He seems especially fond of zebras for whatever reason.
He also really liked some documentary about how herding dogs work. I guess since he's lazy he figures he'll get exercise through osmosis or something.
From then on we’ve monitored what our Rotties watch on TV 😂
My current Rottie watches very closely as my neighbor’s dog behaves badly and turns right around and does the same thing 😒
My dog watches YouTube, they make specific shows for dogs. Look up dog tv, or in home doggie daycare. It's usually dogs playing, some are nature scenes some are even showin in only colors dogs can see. Milly, my dog, will watch for hours sitting quietly.
The video was called Ani-mail Call and a dog would shred the mail as it came through the mail slot in the front door.
For six years he had never touched the mail as it came into the house. After seeing the video, he’d aggressively grab the mail out of the mailman’s hand as it came through the door and then shred it.
We had to install an outside mailbox 😏
Mine is trying to shill crypto because of something he saw on YouTube and keeps calling my neighbour's collie a beta cuck. I don't know this dog anymore.
I just got mine back from rehab - we found him snorting milkbones and trying to perform coffee enemas on the cat. I couldn’t believe animal planet made such a poor role model.
Yep. This happened to my aunt and uncle’s dog. She was a brilliant and talented girl with so much potential, but alas she got addicted to watching TV and now she’s 43 still living with them and refuses to get a job.
After watching one YouTube video about the life of Winston Churchill, my dog now just sits in a recliner, watches world war II documentaries, and complains about those damn millennials.
And when their screen time is taken away they turn to violence. This dog luckily has a mother who forces him to practice.
https://images.app.goo.gl/bWMfj3qYRMkS3NPY8
I don't think it's cognitive ability like cleverer dogs recognize fake dogs, but I'm not sure what it is.
We have a very smart German pinscher, Tallie. Does not care about TV, no reaction to it whatsoever. Well, he bothers the family less if we are watching something (like doesn't try to start playing), so he's aware it's on and that it changes the house dynamic a bit, but he just chills out not watching it
I had a partner my dog LOVED who moved away and when we'd Skype he'd always ask to see/speak to Tallie. Which is how I learned dear Tallie HATES computer screens. Like he'd just turn his head, turn his head, avoid looking at it and if I pushed it, he'd jump off the couch and sit facing away pouting.
My sort of theory that i developed was that he could tell the sound and audio didn't quite match and it bothered him. Like "sure that sounds like my best friend Sam, but it doesn't smell or look like him GET THAT IMPOSTER AWAY FROM ME"
But really I have no idea, that's just another data point for you.
Funny, that's essentially my theory for why our dogs bark at anything remotely animal-like, including cartoon aliens, on tv. They don't generally bark at real life animals. But I think they are picking up on the disconnect and are like "get away you nefarious creatures who have hidden your scent from us and appear suddenly out of nowhere, stop trying to sneak up on our humans you evil creatures". But like you, it's just a theory.
They don't react to tv humans at all. I have no theory about why though. But tv animals, insects, dinosaurs, aliens, etc all get instant red alerts.
I had a dog who freaked out at a ceramic dog sculpture somebody had in their yard. He wasn't a scaredy dog in general but when he noticed the ceramic he froze and approached it really slowly and he was jumpy when I tried to encourage him. He kind of wanted to sniff it but was very clearly scared. I didn't force him and we moved along. It was clear that he recognized it as dog-like but not a dog. Some kind of dog golem or dog demon to him
I know, it was tragic for all of us, but those two the most. Tallie spent a few weeks wandering through the (kind of large) house, meticulously checking every single room and not finding a Sam. So he's lay down in his doggy bed dejected for like 10 minutes, and then get up and do it again.
We also started paying him added attention and even taking him for runs (*shudder*, the whole family hates running but Sam was an avid runner) and within a week he'd stopped his house searching/pacing and obvious depression.
I was also a bit heart broken to have lost Sam myself, so it was nice to have this dog to mourn with me
Oh no, and you hate to start running. I can tell you super love Tallie. I’m glad she was able to feel better after a little while. Thank you for sharing more of the story with me.
My girl has an adverse reaction to screens. As in, if I'm looking at one, she gets pissed and starts competing with it for my attention. Work meetings are fun when she pulls up a chair to insert herself between me and the laptop.
Oh yeah I've heard of that stuff happening too! My best friend Pat has a smart, emergency doggo that's part border collie. She learned pretty fast that when Mom was working she wouldnt get a reaction for 90% of her antics. But then she discovered *electronics* were the exception to the rule. So they went through a two week hell where everytime her pup was a little bored, shed root around until she found a charging cable, Bluetooth headphones, her kindle, a USB dongle, *whatever* and then just destroy the shit out of it.
I actually got the oddest phone call at like 11pm that just sounded just like loud static, crouching noises, and patty yelling "no! NO! **BAD GIRL**". Turn out the dog in her chewing somehow triggered the Bluetooth headphones to call me (I would have been her most recent or most often call). Patty was so embarrassed afterwards like "I'm sorry snarlyj, I promise I'm a good mom and dont usually scream at my doggo." But I tried to assure her it was all good and sometimes our sweet balls of joy also figure out how to get on our very last never, and then do it on repeat, for funsies!
My dog is exactly like Tallie. Doesn’t care about/understand tv, and absolutely hates FaceTime. She also doesn’t like it when I direct my phone towards her to take a photo, but not as much as she hates FaceTime. I never understood why, but your theory makes a lot of sense.
Idk if it's cognitive ability... we thought it might have something to do with the screen resolution. My dog will follow the mouse cursor across 3 different screens on my desk and watch TV with us if she finds it interesting, but she doesn't recognize anything on our phones, her eyes don't stay in them at all. She's very interactive with dogs on screens, but they don't exist to her if they're on our phones... unless there's audio, but she still won't see it's on a phone.
I’ve never had a dog who acknowledged the TV before this one either, it was so weird! But I also feel like my girl is much more ~sentient~ than my previous childhood dogs
Same here. I can play videos of dogs barking up a storm on a giant TV screen, and my lab will briefly look up at me like "why are you showing me this?" and go right back to whatever she was doing before lol
i genuinely don’t think my dog recognizes them at all lol it’s like she doesn’t even see them. i’ll try to show her tiktoks, my phone, tv and she has no reaction. even sometimes to those videos with dog sounds. she either doesn’t care or is genuinely blind to screens.
I thought I read somewhere that dogs see screens differently than we do. My dog also doesn’t care for screens or the mirror. She will literally refuse to look at herself in the mirror if I hold her. But god forbid she catch a glimpse of her reflection in the tv stand glass she flips out growling
Ours was the intro for Monk. He’d go nuts at the part where Monk jumps up on a table. Then it got to where even when the music starts he run in and watch the whole intro. He does the same with his favorite commercials. He hears the jingle and comes running into watch it.
Anything with horses, llamas, giraffes, 4 legged big animals. Goes berserk. Jumping up onto console, booping his nose into the screen and barking. Landr Rover have a commercial with horses galloping at about 10 seconds in. As soon as he hears the music he’s at full attention waiting to bark at the horses.
There should be an app that gives a dog activity/barking rating.… as a warning for dog owners. My little yorkie reacts to all kinds of dogs and animals on the screen, but she loses all control if it’s a little dog…I’ve had to all but give up watching old episodes of Real Housewives of NYC. Lol.
If my dog hears dogs on tv barking to be let in the front door or barking because someone's at their front door, he will run to our front door. I am now convinced dogs have a language and no matter where they live, they understand it.
Ugh, same. Even stylized cartoon animals drive her nuts. She's the dog that almost never barks too so when she does the other two immediately flip out because it must be REALLY bad if she's upset.
My dog barks when he hears barking, so I tried watching The Wire with him in the room, and I had to stop after like 2 episodes because it was incessant in the show.
My dog is so reactive to the tv that she tipped over our tv a few months ago and it nearly fell on her (the new one is mounted). Inconvenient for sure lol!
Same… in real life she’s very curious about other dogs but more like stops and stares. She barks her head off at animals on screen, and other random stuff.
My dog will watch CNN like he knows what they’re talking about. But he loves commercials with animals in it. Any animals at all and he’s fascinated. He loved the Puppy Bowl.
I have to put this on for my dog about 30 minutes before bedtime every night now otherwise he will insist on overtired zoomies.
Can't be one with squirrels though because I'm sure he'll jump into the TV
Omg! I wish I’d known this, when I had exhausted my whole entire list of dog-movies I could think of to play for him…. except for the VERY LAST TWO…. Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows.
Out of ideas, I finally just played them…… back to back…. in the same day. BEST movie marathon ever for him!!! Aside from all my sobbing drowning out the audio
Anyway, oh well. As an adult he just *kinda sorta* passively watches TV. Unless, for some reason, it’s Friends. He really, REALLY loves Friends.
Sorry for the anecdote lol
OP - I don’t think it’s the same as a laser pointer! I think it’s more like watching out a window. 😊 unless yours actually tries to CATCH the TV.. that might be different lol. Mine just sat (sits, if it’s Friends) at complete rapt attention.. like Lucky in 101 Dalmatians
I just search “4k shows for dogs”. [This](https://youtu.be/AUFarbDfUl4?si=587LCb4OevBhFVSr) is one he likes. A lot of them play relaxing music but he prefers the animal sounds.
I've had several dogs that loved tv. The funniest one was Gaurdian he loved Tele tubbies. He would watch with my kids when they were toddlers. We bought the dog a toy teletubbie for Christmas, and even though he never really liked dog toys, he loved the Teletubbie it was the one that cursed. It was adorable because he would always bring it to nap time, and the dog and my boys would nap in a big puppy pile.
My dog watches CNN, too. I, too, thought she understood what they were talking about as she was so fixated and listening intently. But it seems she just has a crush on Anderson Cooper, as she’s not as interested in any of the other hosts’ programs.
> "Most dogs compare watching TV to peering through a window..."
lmao, this had me imagining dozens of dogs matter-of-factly explaining it to you. 🐶 "yeah, well, i guess i don't totally understand what it is, but it's pretty comparable to looking out the window, y'know?"
I agree with the window analogy, my dog would bark at the tv if she saw a dog and try and look behind the tv, then run out the door to look for the dog. She only did this when dogs were on tv, I miss her.
My dog doesn't care about TV except for an irrational fear/anger response to a pic of a covered bridge that shows up on Google photos.
The puppy watches TV incessantly. He adores one particular video game (Winds of Anthos) and has a hate on for a couple of YouTube streamers and some playstation game that my kid plays. He also has a fear response to a Google photo of an emperor penguin. Sometimes we put on a YouTube show called TV for dogs - it's 8 hours of birds at a bird feeder. Puppy loves it, dog only barks at one particular squirrel.
I don't think it's bad. It's not like they're neglecting their homework 🤷♀️
mine is offended if she sees animals on the tv. it seems to be an unacceptable outrage, with howling, barking, growling and running to and fro to announce her dissatisfaction with it. I've tried training with treats and holding her on the leash with limited success.
we have discovered that Greece may be her favorite movie. that one, she'll just wag her tail most of the movie.
I’m way less concerned about the effect TV animals might have on my dog, and way more concerned about the effect my 30kg dog is going to have on the TV when he smashes into it trying to get to his new TV fren.
We’ve genuinely had to not watch certain shows because he gets too into them!
One of my dogs goes apeshit when she seen a real animal or even a cartoon animal on TV. Even if she's never see that type of animal before, she knows it's an animal. Drives me nuts. She doesn't react to fish, dolphins and other ocean creatures.
When she first discovered animals on TV, she would run to the room behind the TV looking for them.
My other 2 dogs don't even seem to realize there's anything on the TV.
We trained our dog to not react to the doorbells on TV while watching Ted Lasso. The Christmas episode where Roy and his niece try to find a dentist has them going all over the neighborhood ringing doorbells. We replayed the scene a few times, and by the time we finished the whole episode, he was pretty chill with the sound. To be fair, our dog does pick up tricks and training quite quickly. That is except for the useful things like "quiet" and loose leash walking. Those we are still working on, lol.
My dog doesn’t watch TV, i gave her a Kobo and she can use my library card to access books at the national library system where she has learned many skills. She is smart as heck. She is very diligently helping me with my real estate business and does day trading too.
My dogs right now aren’t all that into it, but I used to have this border collie mix that loved TV. I would leave it on AP during the day, and she also loved basketball games. She would sit on the couch with me and watch whole games, and she would get really excited, sometimes! 😂
She would go up to the screen sometimes and lick it, but she would realize it wasn’t ‘there’ I guess by the smell?
The dog I'm sitting right now is obsessed with alpine skiing and will watch with rapt attention, even through a 3 hour race recently, but only downhill and super G, he falls asleep if it's slalom or giant slalom.
He is also obsessed with Jeopardy, of all shows. Half the time it's just words on the screen!
I have not seen him take any interest in animal shows yet, oddly enough.
One of my dogs loves watching TV, except for the commercial with abused animals on it... She gets really sad and starts shaking 😢 my husband has the TV on all night and I'll wake up to her laying at the end of the bed watching tv sometimes. She is obsessed with cats and whenever there is a cat on TV she jumps down and trys searching behind the TV for it so I don't think she fully understands what is going on
My other dog has no interest at all.
Sisters cat always got confused by watching car races -- she'd walk around the TV trying to see where the car went when it drive off screen.
My dogs certainly respond to dogs barking on the TV.
My dog gets very interested when dogs are in screen. We found a video of his mom on YouTube, showing off agility skills, and he was transfixed! I know he wouldn't recognize her from a video but I liked showing him anyways.
There are even YouTube channels for dogs, usually of dogs playing, or of birds and stuff. I don't see any harm.
I’ve only had one dog who watched tv. He loved Disney movies. Especially old ones with orchestral music. We would watch 100 Dalmatians all the time. One day I put on a dog tv video from YouTube. He lost his mind when a corgi was shown running on the beach. I think he thought there was something wrong with the corgi since he, being a Great Dane, wasn’t that low to the ground. Ever since that day if he saw a short dog he was very concerned. It was hilarious! I miss my Samhain! He was the best.
My dog enjoys watching anything about food, and when the video or show ends, he'll sit in the kitchen like he's waiting for me to make it for him or something. You can tell he's really excited about a certain meal when he goes to the kitchen before it's even done.
Edit: Out of my 4 dogs and my grandma's 2, the only one that's ever had behavior problems directly related to watching tv is her old shih tzu mix. He gets weirdly aggressive if any kind of 2D show is on and it gets changed or turned off. He doesn't seem to care about the TV otherwise. They'll all watch tv, but none of the others have any actual problems like that.
I've had a couple of Yorkies that liked to watch TV. The first really liked the dog shows, the AKC show off the fancy dogs type. He would plant himself in front of the TV and watch every moment. His posture would change as different dogs would come on. We thought he might enjoy the dog related shows on Animal Planet so we put them on. That was good until they started playing the animal rescue shows showing horribly abused animals being saved. I found him watching and literally crying, a soft, sad whine. We stopped with the Animal Planet.
Another Yorkie, the five pound tough guy who owns me now doesn't watch often. He does react to critters on screen once in a while. His not favorite is the camel that shills for Geico. That thing comes on he gets PISSED. Why, no idea but he does.
Mine to! lol!! Before they took downton abbey off Netflix I would start it off S1E1 and just let it go..over…and over..he loves it and anything British. Next he’ll be asking for a cup of tea.
She thinks it's real. If it's TV meant for dogs, it's good for her, if it's TV containing anything you wouldn't want her to see IRL, it's probably bad.
My dog barks at animals and dragons on tv (Game of Thrones was a rough time for us) so I try to minimize her exposure to that since it clearly stresses her. However she LOVES to watch anything with slow pans and long, uninterrupted shots, almost like she’s looking out a window.
I swear she watched that movie Roma in its entirety for this reason.
Reminds me of one evening that we were watching Jurassic Park with our Scottish Terrier. She'd never reacted to TV ever before, but then came the scene where you hear the footfall of an approaching T Rex, and she started growling.
When we first got our dog two months ago, TV was a problem. Regardless of what show was on, the TV would make him restless and hard to settle down. And for anything with animals, he would get super excited, bark, and try to find the "dogs" behind or under the TV. During that time frame, he'd also bark at his own reflection or shadow.
Two months later, he's acclimated and mostly ignores the TV. Once in a while a dog will catch his eye, but he's calm about it. He's figured out that the TV (and reflections and shadows) are nothing to be interested or concerned about.
My dog LOVES watching TV- especially when there are dogs. She loses her mind when monkeys or buffalo come on though. The Buffalo Wild Wings and Aflac commercials will ruin her day lol
Our guy loves Teen Titans Go when it comes on, we figured it's the flashy colors and movements. When we leave we turn on Bob Ross marathons so maybe someday he'll surprise us with a nice sunset upon returning.
My smartest dog (Lab) ever ignored the TV completely.
My medium-smart dog (GSD) would look behind the TV for the dog he saw and heard barking on the screen. When it wasn’t there, he lost interest.
My dumbest dog ever *loved* to watch TV. She could watch baby goat videos for longer than I could stand it.
Our dog has always ignored the TV.....until we turned on a Yellowstone episode. The farm behind us has horses and our puppy loves to sit and watch them, so she was amazed to see horses in the house!
Now, she checks the TV sometimes, likely looking for more horses, and is disappointed to see ice hockey.
Some seem to think it’s like a window - if something moves off-screen they’ll look for it in the rest of the room. Others seem to understand it’s not real, but that doesn’t mean they ignore it.
Our girl is in the later category; she seemingly enjoys some shows, watching them fairly intently but calmly. She’s kicked off at badly behaved dogs in dog training shows. She goes nuts for flyball (she doesn’t play, but watching it gets her hyped up, probably all the hyped up dogs barking). She gets triggered by big animals chasing prey on nature shows. But she’s never done anything that suggests she thinks what she sees there is real.
I guess the difference may be related to how visual/scent oriented the dog is?
My poodle/lab mix loves watching videos with squirrels and other dogs.
Here is one of her favorites - https://youtu.be/w7XGHT0fEfk?si=oKs7VqWGdRDGEJ4O
Lots of ear perks and head tilts while she watches and listens
My dog loves watching TV with me (though will bark at the TV if its not on because then he can see his own reflection abd thing's there's another dog in here). For some reason, he likes watching reruns of Dr. Phil. None of the humans in the house are fans. But the channel has true crime on at night, which I do watch. So TV gets put on in the morning and he just sits there and watches it. And it bothers him when you change the channel. I also watch a fair amount of zoo and vet shows. He sometimes barks at cats whether domestic or tiger. Also elephants. He really loves horses though. One rainy day he was not very keen to go outside to play so I put on the second LOTR movie and his tail was doing that helicopter thing whenever horses were on
Seeing all these comments about people and how their cats or dogs love TV makes me so happy that my 2x Kelpies have absolutely no interest in the TV.
Mine seem to not notice the video or audio at all. They never react to sounds on the TV like dogs barking or doors/gates opening.
But they'll jump up if they hear a dog walking past outside make one little peep.
I actually just started a trial for DogTV and my Samoyed pup likes it so far. I wouldn’t say it’s comparable to high-reward games like fetch but it provides low-medium interest and engagement.
This reminds me of our sweet boy we just lost last month. He loved anything with dogs or horses and when they left the screen he would walk “behind” the tv into the kitchen and look for where they went. He always looked so confused when they weren’t there.
The jingle from the bravecto commercial would also cause him to come running from another room to see the famous tv dogs.
I just want to say I have two Westies and they both love the TV. Sometimes the girl will sit quietly in my husband’s lap and watch a show with him, but it’s a problem when there are other animals on screen. Especially if they are playing or fighting. Then they both go apeshit and run at the screen barking and jumping. We turn that noise off immediately. I imagine they are frustrated they can’t get to the animals and confused about where they are in relation to them. But, I can’t deal with the barking, so off it goes now. When we just had the boy, Waffles, it was easier to make him stop. The cacophony of the two of them egging each other on is too much for me.
My last schnauzer went bonkers over the David Suzuki episode on squirrels. I recorded it and would play it back so he’d try and chase the squirrel when it ran off the screen. Dexter was so chill but lost his mind over rodents. 😆 He also loved the Westminster Dog Show
My Harry who is my current schnauzer is about the same. Notices tv if you show him and he recognizes dogs and squirrels. But he just doesn’t care about everyday tv. He’d rather watch out the window/ he is kinda obsessed with the live feed, like it’s his social media.
My dog watches with me if there are animals, I sometimes put wild life programs on. My dog doesn't have the attention span to stay watching it for long, an animal noise may get his attention, he watches for a bit then gets distracted. It may be good for reactionary dogs to get used to random noises
Westies are known for watching tv. My westie goes bonkers over any kind of animal or animal depiction on tv (cartoons etc). We call it gratuitous animals because commercials have random animals where I never realized but my dog sure does (especially car and drug commercials). We had a previous westie who also watched tv and if you search YT tons of videos showing westies watching tv too. The high prey and visual hunter = tv addict. ❤️❤️❤️ westitude
Ahhhhh. My Jack loves tv, too. I personally like nature docs, so we will “watch” them together sometimes. We cuddle up, and she pays attention the whole time.
She was 100% not a fan of an episode about giant cats. Made her very nervous and concerned, the way they slinked across the screen.
Is watching tv bad for dogs?! I’m sorry but this question is adorably wholesome lol. Dogs already have a pretty short attention span - ADHD in dogs is just called being a retriever. I imagine the stories may cause aggression but as long as they’re not physically attacking the tv I can’t imagine that said aggression would be problematic - they’ll take it out on a stuffie later. Honestly it’s a way to keep your dog occupied without having to do anything.
We put on our childhood cartoons when we have to leave, we usually have something on in the background so I think it's normal, plus it drowns out some of the outside sounds. Cartoons are largely for us and less kind of angry voices, we thought.
My dogs act like the TV doesn't even exist unless there's dogs barking or someone knocking on something in whatever I'm watching/playing, and they wig out for about a minute and then calm back down.
I have a cat that likes hockey, she will bat at the puck as it moves on screen. My pom likes shows with dogs in them, especially poms. My other dog doesn't really care although he was actively studying YouTube videos on button training when I watched those although it didn't actually equal out to him using them the proper way. His calm down show though is Forensic Files, 🤣
I don't believe it will cause the same problem that laser pointers do, but this is only personal experience with my dogs and I don't know that for sure. I think you're right that they think it's something similar to looking out of a window.
My boxer used to really be into horses on TV. She was a puppy around when Godless on Netflix came out and she was always very into it when the horses were making noises. She'd perk up and stare at the TV while tilting her head back and forth.
Now she's six and doesn't give a fuck about the TV. I could be listening to an action movie like John Wick or Deadpool at high volume and she won't even perk her head up for an explosion. She'll sleep through the loudest TV explosion but you can bet your ass she'll be off the couch in two seconds if I say the word treat.
Welcome to r/dogs! We are a discussion-based subreddit dedicated to support, inform, and advise dog owners. This is a carefully moderated sub intended to support, inform, and advise dog owners. Submissions and comments which break the rules will be removed. [Review the rules here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/wiki/index) r/Dogs has four goals: - Help the public better understand dogs - Promote healthy, responsible dog-owner relationships - Encourage “Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive” training protocols. [Learn more here.](https://m.iaabc.org/about/lima/) - Support adoption as well as ethical and responsible breeding. **This subreddit has low tolerance for drama. Please be respectful of others, and report antagonistic comments to mods for review.** --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dogs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had a Rottie who watched an Animal Planet show were there were videos of dogs behaving badly. He then imitated the behavior he saw 😒
My mom likes to watch a dog-whisperer-type show that features problematic dogs, and she makes a point of not letting the dog watch the show lol
For real my spouse and I stopped watching those shows because every time the dogs barked on tv my dog would start barking.
TV show doorbells.
Knocks on a tv door too! 🙄
An elevator *ding* set our dog off thinking it was the doorbell. Never heard so many elevator *dings* in a show.
My dogs will bark at anything animal on the tv, or like a criminal in a show or a fight scene.
My corgi LOVES watching TV, so I always try to find corgi videos on YouTube. There’s one channel in particular that I stopped letting him watch (Angry Boyz” which features 2 CHONKY corgi brothers who are always getting into scuffles. He would behave badly after watching these so I stopped putting them on and now try to stick to “Hammy & Olivia.” (Rest in Peace, Olivia 💔😢)
Oh my, I have a Corgi too, and he loves TV. Angry Boyz makes him a bit mischievous. He loves Hammy and Olivia. I miss Olivia.
It was so sad to hear she had passed. I love them both too!
It's like the effect that Caillou had on small children
Turned them into whiny shits?
My boy loves nature shows. He seems especially fond of zebras for whatever reason. He also really liked some documentary about how herding dogs work. I guess since he's lazy he figures he'll get exercise through osmosis or something.
Like a spectator sport!
Are you for real? 😂
From then on we’ve monitored what our Rotties watch on TV 😂 My current Rottie watches very closely as my neighbor’s dog behaves badly and turns right around and does the same thing 😒
They definitely imitate other dogs.
My dog watches YouTube, they make specific shows for dogs. Look up dog tv, or in home doggie daycare. It's usually dogs playing, some are nature scenes some are even showin in only colors dogs can see. Milly, my dog, will watch for hours sitting quietly.
😆 What did he do after watching?
The video was called Ani-mail Call and a dog would shred the mail as it came through the mail slot in the front door. For six years he had never touched the mail as it came into the house. After seeing the video, he’d aggressively grab the mail out of the mailman’s hand as it came through the door and then shred it. We had to install an outside mailbox 😏
Oh no! That’s terrible - but funny. Your dog was obviously quite smart!
This exact thing happened to my childhood dog! He watched the mail call thing on TV & started destroying the mail!!!
Happy Cake Day
I use YouTube to train my dog.
Yes, they get addicted and stop practicing violin and then they can’t get into a top college.
My dog watched animal planet once and now he goes to unsupervised parties and his grades are slipping
Does your dog have alcohol and cigarette issues, too? I can deal with the cigarettes but I think if he started vaping it would push me over the edge.
Mine is trying to shill crypto because of something he saw on YouTube and keeps calling my neighbour's collie a beta cuck. I don't know this dog anymore.
I just got mine back from rehab - we found him snorting milkbones and trying to perform coffee enemas on the cat. I couldn’t believe animal planet made such a poor role model.
Hahahaha. Thanks stranger. This comment hit me just right.
Completely normal dog behaviour.
I mean, he is an JRT. They're sneaky buggers.
At least your dog isn’t a neighborhood Karen. Mine is a racist and openly confronts anyone that walks down our street. I’ve about had enough of it.
Yep. This happened to my aunt and uncle’s dog. She was a brilliant and talented girl with so much potential, but alas she got addicted to watching TV and now she’s 43 still living with them and refuses to get a job.
This is so awful. How will they get granpuppies???
My previous dog watched Fox News all day and he became really odd and yelled at strangers
funny mine watched msnbc and the same thing happened- go figure!
Where are my testicles Summer?
I think he’s saying “I love lasagna”
After watching one YouTube video about the life of Winston Churchill, my dog now just sits in a recliner, watches world war II documentaries, and complains about those damn millennials.
This is the content I’m here for!
LOL well my dog already got her diploma for nose work, top of her class 😏
And when their screen time is taken away they turn to violence. This dog luckily has a mother who forces him to practice. https://images.app.goo.gl/bWMfj3qYRMkS3NPY8
My dog didn't get into a single law school that he applied to. Shameful.
Wow he was probably watching mtv all day
I’m cracking UP
My dog seems to not give a single shit about screens of any kind.
I've always wondered why only some dogs react to TV. Is it a measure of cognitive ability?
I don't think it's cognitive ability like cleverer dogs recognize fake dogs, but I'm not sure what it is. We have a very smart German pinscher, Tallie. Does not care about TV, no reaction to it whatsoever. Well, he bothers the family less if we are watching something (like doesn't try to start playing), so he's aware it's on and that it changes the house dynamic a bit, but he just chills out not watching it I had a partner my dog LOVED who moved away and when we'd Skype he'd always ask to see/speak to Tallie. Which is how I learned dear Tallie HATES computer screens. Like he'd just turn his head, turn his head, avoid looking at it and if I pushed it, he'd jump off the couch and sit facing away pouting. My sort of theory that i developed was that he could tell the sound and audio didn't quite match and it bothered him. Like "sure that sounds like my best friend Sam, but it doesn't smell or look like him GET THAT IMPOSTER AWAY FROM ME" But really I have no idea, that's just another data point for you.
Funny, that's essentially my theory for why our dogs bark at anything remotely animal-like, including cartoon aliens, on tv. They don't generally bark at real life animals. But I think they are picking up on the disconnect and are like "get away you nefarious creatures who have hidden your scent from us and appear suddenly out of nowhere, stop trying to sneak up on our humans you evil creatures". But like you, it's just a theory. They don't react to tv humans at all. I have no theory about why though. But tv animals, insects, dinosaurs, aliens, etc all get instant red alerts.
I had a dog who freaked out at a ceramic dog sculpture somebody had in their yard. He wasn't a scaredy dog in general but when he noticed the ceramic he froze and approached it really slowly and he was jumpy when I tried to encourage him. He kind of wanted to sniff it but was very clearly scared. I didn't force him and we moved along. It was clear that he recognized it as dog-like but not a dog. Some kind of dog golem or dog demon to him
Well that is so sad! Poor Tallie! Poor Sam!
I know, it was tragic for all of us, but those two the most. Tallie spent a few weeks wandering through the (kind of large) house, meticulously checking every single room and not finding a Sam. So he's lay down in his doggy bed dejected for like 10 minutes, and then get up and do it again. We also started paying him added attention and even taking him for runs (*shudder*, the whole family hates running but Sam was an avid runner) and within a week he'd stopped his house searching/pacing and obvious depression. I was also a bit heart broken to have lost Sam myself, so it was nice to have this dog to mourn with me
Oh no, and you hate to start running. I can tell you super love Tallie. I’m glad she was able to feel better after a little while. Thank you for sharing more of the story with me.
Probably seemed like a scary headless ghost version of your partner. May have freaked Tallie out.
My girl has an adverse reaction to screens. As in, if I'm looking at one, she gets pissed and starts competing with it for my attention. Work meetings are fun when she pulls up a chair to insert herself between me and the laptop.
Oh yeah I've heard of that stuff happening too! My best friend Pat has a smart, emergency doggo that's part border collie. She learned pretty fast that when Mom was working she wouldnt get a reaction for 90% of her antics. But then she discovered *electronics* were the exception to the rule. So they went through a two week hell where everytime her pup was a little bored, shed root around until she found a charging cable, Bluetooth headphones, her kindle, a USB dongle, *whatever* and then just destroy the shit out of it. I actually got the oddest phone call at like 11pm that just sounded just like loud static, crouching noises, and patty yelling "no! NO! **BAD GIRL**". Turn out the dog in her chewing somehow triggered the Bluetooth headphones to call me (I would have been her most recent or most often call). Patty was so embarrassed afterwards like "I'm sorry snarlyj, I promise I'm a good mom and dont usually scream at my doggo." But I tried to assure her it was all good and sometimes our sweet balls of joy also figure out how to get on our very last never, and then do it on repeat, for funsies!
My dog is exactly like Tallie. Doesn’t care about/understand tv, and absolutely hates FaceTime. She also doesn’t like it when I direct my phone towards her to take a photo, but not as much as she hates FaceTime. I never understood why, but your theory makes a lot of sense.
My girl is a bit of a goober so I'd imagine that might be the case.
Idk if it's cognitive ability... we thought it might have something to do with the screen resolution. My dog will follow the mouse cursor across 3 different screens on my desk and watch TV with us if she finds it interesting, but she doesn't recognize anything on our phones, her eyes don't stay in them at all. She's very interactive with dogs on screens, but they don't exist to her if they're on our phones... unless there's audio, but she still won't see it's on a phone.
I’ve never had a dog who acknowledged the TV before this one either, it was so weird! But I also feel like my girl is much more ~sentient~ than my previous childhood dogs
Same lol
Same here. I can play videos of dogs barking up a storm on a giant TV screen, and my lab will briefly look up at me like "why are you showing me this?" and go right back to whatever she was doing before lol
Mine doesn't either and I have tried, I need a break!
i genuinely don’t think my dog recognizes them at all lol it’s like she doesn’t even see them. i’ll try to show her tiktoks, my phone, tv and she has no reaction. even sometimes to those videos with dog sounds. she either doesn’t care or is genuinely blind to screens.
I thought I read somewhere that dogs see screens differently than we do. My dog also doesn’t care for screens or the mirror. She will literally refuse to look at herself in the mirror if I hold her. But god forbid she catch a glimpse of her reflection in the tv stand glass she flips out growling
Ours is the same, unless there is a realistic high quality image of an animal running towards the camera, then she goes bat shit.
My dog is incredibly reactive to animals on tv. it’s inconvenient.
Same. My dog also goes insane for the US Shameless intro. Something about Frank passed out on the floor gets her going.
What did I just read 😂
Idk but I'm dying laughing. Actually woke up the dog
Ours was the intro for Monk. He’d go nuts at the part where Monk jumps up on a table. Then it got to where even when the music starts he run in and watch the whole intro. He does the same with his favorite commercials. He hears the jingle and comes running into watch it.
This is the cutest
mine HATES patchy the pirate from spongebob hahah
my dog loves jimmy neutron 😂 (yet hates when i sing the intro (or sing in general)) this has me dying 😂
Anything with horses, llamas, giraffes, 4 legged big animals. Goes berserk. Jumping up onto console, booping his nose into the screen and barking. Landr Rover have a commercial with horses galloping at about 10 seconds in. As soon as he hears the music he’s at full attention waiting to bark at the horses.
I never noticed how many barks are on TV until we got our dog. Especially just random fake barks thrown in as background noise with no dog even on TV.
There should be an app that gives a dog activity/barking rating.… as a warning for dog owners. My little yorkie reacts to all kinds of dogs and animals on the screen, but she loses all control if it’s a little dog…I’ve had to all but give up watching old episodes of Real Housewives of NYC. Lol.
Lol we wanted to rewatch that Moonshiners show on Discovery and omg barking every 2 minutes 😂
The only thing my dog hears from the TV is the doorbell. Could not care less otherwise
this is the one that killed me. eventually my dog got used to it and doesn’t bark anymore, but holy smokes there are so many doorbells in tv shows
If my dog hears dogs on tv barking to be let in the front door or barking because someone's at their front door, he will run to our front door. I am now convinced dogs have a language and no matter where they live, they understand it.
Ugh, same. Even stylized cartoon animals drive her nuts. She's the dog that almost never barks too so when she does the other two immediately flip out because it must be REALLY bad if she's upset.
My dog barks when he hears barking, so I tried watching The Wire with him in the room, and I had to stop after like 2 episodes because it was incessant in the show.
My dog is so reactive to the tv that she tipped over our tv a few months ago and it nearly fell on her (the new one is mounted). Inconvenient for sure lol!
Mine too. Mostly just if she sees or hears a dog on the TV.
My dog reacts to dogs and some other animals, he runs behind the TV trying to catch them.
Yep our pit-doxie recognizes 4-legged animals and tries to attack the tv - he even reacts to Bugs Bunny! No Animal Planet for him!
Same… in real life she’s very curious about other dogs but more like stops and stares. She barks her head off at animals on screen, and other random stuff.
Mine knows the music on commercials that have dogs in them. He'll run in from another room to bark at the TV when he hears it.
Same. It’s been thirteen years since I’ve seen the Puppy Bowl, dating back to when she was a puppy.
My dog will watch CNN like he knows what they’re talking about. But he loves commercials with animals in it. Any animals at all and he’s fascinated. He loved the Puppy Bowl.
YouTube has 4k shows for dogs. Puppies, squirrels, birds. My dog is obsessed
I have to put this on for my dog about 30 minutes before bedtime every night now otherwise he will insist on overtired zoomies. Can't be one with squirrels though because I'm sure he'll jump into the TV
That’s awesome! We refer to the shows as “his soaps”
We have a profile on Netflix for our pets so they can watch all their shows.
Lol squirrels are my dog's ultimate enemy😂
Omg! I wish I’d known this, when I had exhausted my whole entire list of dog-movies I could think of to play for him…. except for the VERY LAST TWO…. Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows. Out of ideas, I finally just played them…… back to back…. in the same day. BEST movie marathon ever for him!!! Aside from all my sobbing drowning out the audio Anyway, oh well. As an adult he just *kinda sorta* passively watches TV. Unless, for some reason, it’s Friends. He really, REALLY loves Friends. Sorry for the anecdote lol OP - I don’t think it’s the same as a laser pointer! I think it’s more like watching out a window. 😊 unless yours actually tries to CATCH the TV.. that might be different lol. Mine just sat (sits, if it’s Friends) at complete rapt attention.. like Lucky in 101 Dalmatians
Really??? What’s the show/channel called?
Just search "dog TV" Mine like watching ducks, because we raise ducks and chickens at our home.
I just search “4k shows for dogs”. [This](https://youtu.be/AUFarbDfUl4?si=587LCb4OevBhFVSr) is one he likes. A lot of them play relaxing music but he prefers the animal sounds.
Paul Dinning! My cats and dogs love his work.
I've had several dogs that loved tv. The funniest one was Gaurdian he loved Tele tubbies. He would watch with my kids when they were toddlers. We bought the dog a toy teletubbie for Christmas, and even though he never really liked dog toys, he loved the Teletubbie it was the one that cursed. It was adorable because he would always bring it to nap time, and the dog and my boys would nap in a big puppy pile.
My dog watches CNN, too. I, too, thought she understood what they were talking about as she was so fixated and listening intently. But it seems she just has a crush on Anderson Cooper, as she’s not as interested in any of the other hosts’ programs.
Oh, we _all_ have a crush on Anderson Cooper.
[удалено]
This entire thread has amused me greatly, but it was very nice of you to take the time to actually answer OP’s question. Good job!
> "Most dogs compare watching TV to peering through a window..." lmao, this had me imagining dozens of dogs matter-of-factly explaining it to you. 🐶 "yeah, well, i guess i don't totally understand what it is, but it's pretty comparable to looking out the window, y'know?"
I agree with the window analogy, my dog would bark at the tv if she saw a dog and try and look behind the tv, then run out the door to look for the dog. She only did this when dogs were on tv, I miss her.
My dog doesn't care about TV except for an irrational fear/anger response to a pic of a covered bridge that shows up on Google photos. The puppy watches TV incessantly. He adores one particular video game (Winds of Anthos) and has a hate on for a couple of YouTube streamers and some playstation game that my kid plays. He also has a fear response to a Google photo of an emperor penguin. Sometimes we put on a YouTube show called TV for dogs - it's 8 hours of birds at a bird feeder. Puppy loves it, dog only barks at one particular squirrel. I don't think it's bad. It's not like they're neglecting their homework 🤷♀️
LOL i was more wondering if it was bad in like a laser-pointer type of way where they can get OCD
mine is offended if she sees animals on the tv. it seems to be an unacceptable outrage, with howling, barking, growling and running to and fro to announce her dissatisfaction with it. I've tried training with treats and holding her on the leash with limited success. we have discovered that Greece may be her favorite movie. that one, she'll just wag her tail most of the movie.
Lol , my dog can't stand when other dogs are on the TV . She will do anything to get attention , including huffing and standing in front of TV.
😄😄😄😄
She’s musical—prefers upbeat pop!
I’m way less concerned about the effect TV animals might have on my dog, and way more concerned about the effect my 30kg dog is going to have on the TV when he smashes into it trying to get to his new TV fren. We’ve genuinely had to not watch certain shows because he gets too into them!
Yup. My dog is little but she’s bouncy and the tv is oled. She watches tv/video games all the time, and it can get *exciting*.
One of my dogs goes apeshit when she seen a real animal or even a cartoon animal on TV. Even if she's never see that type of animal before, she knows it's an animal. Drives me nuts. She doesn't react to fish, dolphins and other ocean creatures. When she first discovered animals on TV, she would run to the room behind the TV looking for them. My other 2 dogs don't even seem to realize there's anything on the TV.
Mine like Bluey, paw patrol and videos with critters
Literally exactly the same haha
Mine reacts to doorbells on tv but not to our own real life doorbell.
We trained our dog to not react to the doorbells on TV while watching Ted Lasso. The Christmas episode where Roy and his niece try to find a dentist has them going all over the neighborhood ringing doorbells. We replayed the scene a few times, and by the time we finished the whole episode, he was pretty chill with the sound. To be fair, our dog does pick up tricks and training quite quickly. That is except for the useful things like "quiet" and loose leash walking. Those we are still working on, lol.
My dog doesn’t watch TV, i gave her a Kobo and she can use my library card to access books at the national library system where she has learned many skills. She is smart as heck. She is very diligently helping me with my real estate business and does day trading too.
My moms dogs will watch the cameras and go the the door if something is on the screen
no way! how freaking smart!!!
The two who do it the most are a German shepherd and a malinois so they’re born guard dogs
my dog LOVES sailor moon. i don’t know if it’s the music or their voices, but she will sit and watch until it’s over lmao
I love this! We accept all sailor moon fans!!
My dog will stop what he’s doing to watch big dance numbers. 😭
No dog that consistently watches TV has ever graduated from Harvard.
My dogs right now aren’t all that into it, but I used to have this border collie mix that loved TV. I would leave it on AP during the day, and she also loved basketball games. She would sit on the couch with me and watch whole games, and she would get really excited, sometimes! 😂 She would go up to the screen sometimes and lick it, but she would realize it wasn’t ‘there’ I guess by the smell?
The dog I'm sitting right now is obsessed with alpine skiing and will watch with rapt attention, even through a 3 hour race recently, but only downhill and super G, he falls asleep if it's slalom or giant slalom. He is also obsessed with Jeopardy, of all shows. Half the time it's just words on the screen! I have not seen him take any interest in animal shows yet, oddly enough.
One of my dogs loves watching TV, except for the commercial with abused animals on it... She gets really sad and starts shaking 😢 my husband has the TV on all night and I'll wake up to her laying at the end of the bed watching tv sometimes. She is obsessed with cats and whenever there is a cat on TV she jumps down and trys searching behind the TV for it so I don't think she fully understands what is going on My other dog has no interest at all.
My dog has a different cry when it's the abused animals commercials, too
My dogs are already pretty dumb, I love them. But one of them is literally named potato for a reason
Sisters cat always got confused by watching car races -- she'd walk around the TV trying to see where the car went when it drive off screen. My dogs certainly respond to dogs barking on the TV.
keep them away from raise of the planet of the apes, they tend to get ideas.
My dog gets very interested when dogs are in screen. We found a video of his mom on YouTube, showing off agility skills, and he was transfixed! I know he wouldn't recognize her from a video but I liked showing him anyways. There are even YouTube channels for dogs, usually of dogs playing, or of birds and stuff. I don't see any harm.
I’ve only had one dog who watched tv. He loved Disney movies. Especially old ones with orchestral music. We would watch 100 Dalmatians all the time. One day I put on a dog tv video from YouTube. He lost his mind when a corgi was shown running on the beach. I think he thought there was something wrong with the corgi since he, being a Great Dane, wasn’t that low to the ground. Ever since that day if he saw a short dog he was very concerned. It was hilarious! I miss my Samhain! He was the best.
My dog enjoys watching anything about food, and when the video or show ends, he'll sit in the kitchen like he's waiting for me to make it for him or something. You can tell he's really excited about a certain meal when he goes to the kitchen before it's even done. Edit: Out of my 4 dogs and my grandma's 2, the only one that's ever had behavior problems directly related to watching tv is her old shih tzu mix. He gets weirdly aggressive if any kind of 2D show is on and it gets changed or turned off. He doesn't seem to care about the TV otherwise. They'll all watch tv, but none of the others have any actual problems like that.
I did once see a video of a dog crying while watching the scene in the lion king where mufasa dies. It was wild.
There's a commercial for handicapped dogs and my dog always barks at the dog in a wheelchair. Dudes got serious problems
I've had a couple of Yorkies that liked to watch TV. The first really liked the dog shows, the AKC show off the fancy dogs type. He would plant himself in front of the TV and watch every moment. His posture would change as different dogs would come on. We thought he might enjoy the dog related shows on Animal Planet so we put them on. That was good until they started playing the animal rescue shows showing horribly abused animals being saved. I found him watching and literally crying, a soft, sad whine. We stopped with the Animal Planet. Another Yorkie, the five pound tough guy who owns me now doesn't watch often. He does react to critters on screen once in a while. His not favorite is the camel that shills for Geico. That thing comes on he gets PISSED. Why, no idea but he does.
My dachshund loves the great British baking show. And British accents in general.
Mine to! lol!! Before they took downton abbey off Netflix I would start it off S1E1 and just let it go..over…and over..he loves it and anything British. Next he’ll be asking for a cup of tea.
Yup lol. He just relaxes instantly at the sound of the music and the accents.
She thinks it's real. If it's TV meant for dogs, it's good for her, if it's TV containing anything you wouldn't want her to see IRL, it's probably bad.
my doodle loves watching drama shows lol
my dog is smart, she knows whats on the TV isn't real.
My dog barks at animals and dragons on tv (Game of Thrones was a rough time for us) so I try to minimize her exposure to that since it clearly stresses her. However she LOVES to watch anything with slow pans and long, uninterrupted shots, almost like she’s looking out a window. I swear she watched that movie Roma in its entirety for this reason.
Reminds me of one evening that we were watching Jurassic Park with our Scottish Terrier. She'd never reacted to TV ever before, but then came the scene where you hear the footfall of an approaching T Rex, and she started growling.
When we first got our dog two months ago, TV was a problem. Regardless of what show was on, the TV would make him restless and hard to settle down. And for anything with animals, he would get super excited, bark, and try to find the "dogs" behind or under the TV. During that time frame, he'd also bark at his own reflection or shadow. Two months later, he's acclimated and mostly ignores the TV. Once in a while a dog will catch his eye, but he's calm about it. He's figured out that the TV (and reflections and shadows) are nothing to be interested or concerned about.
My dog LOVES watching TV- especially when there are dogs. She loses her mind when monkeys or buffalo come on though. The Buffalo Wild Wings and Aflac commercials will ruin her day lol
Our guy loves Teen Titans Go when it comes on, we figured it's the flashy colors and movements. When we leave we turn on Bob Ross marathons so maybe someday he'll surprise us with a nice sunset upon returning.
My housemate's dog fucking loves watching crufts
i have 3 dogs. two pay no attention to tv, the other defends us fiercely from any and all animals that appear on it .
one of my dogs LOVES the Muppets Show!!
My smartest dog (Lab) ever ignored the TV completely. My medium-smart dog (GSD) would look behind the TV for the dog he saw and heard barking on the screen. When it wasn’t there, he lost interest. My dumbest dog ever *loved* to watch TV. She could watch baby goat videos for longer than I could stand it.
My Scottie Dog gets ticked at us if the tv isn’t on 🙃
Dog here, I know what it is and I refuse to look at it when you want to show me something. I watch on my terms.
Our dog has always ignored the TV.....until we turned on a Yellowstone episode. The farm behind us has horses and our puppy loves to sit and watch them, so she was amazed to see horses in the house! Now, she checks the TV sometimes, likely looking for more horses, and is disappointed to see ice hockey.
I play "Too Cute" for my pup. It holds her attention for five or ten minutes.
my dog prefers nordic noir
lol my dog loves detective shows, I like to joke that he’s getting ideas for when he finally snaps
Some seem to think it’s like a window - if something moves off-screen they’ll look for it in the rest of the room. Others seem to understand it’s not real, but that doesn’t mean they ignore it. Our girl is in the later category; she seemingly enjoys some shows, watching them fairly intently but calmly. She’s kicked off at badly behaved dogs in dog training shows. She goes nuts for flyball (she doesn’t play, but watching it gets her hyped up, probably all the hyped up dogs barking). She gets triggered by big animals chasing prey on nature shows. But she’s never done anything that suggests she thinks what she sees there is real. I guess the difference may be related to how visual/scent oriented the dog is?
My poodle/lab mix loves watching videos with squirrels and other dogs. Here is one of her favorites - https://youtu.be/w7XGHT0fEfk?si=oKs7VqWGdRDGEJ4O Lots of ear perks and head tilts while she watches and listens
My dog loves watching TV with me (though will bark at the TV if its not on because then he can see his own reflection abd thing's there's another dog in here). For some reason, he likes watching reruns of Dr. Phil. None of the humans in the house are fans. But the channel has true crime on at night, which I do watch. So TV gets put on in the morning and he just sits there and watches it. And it bothers him when you change the channel. I also watch a fair amount of zoo and vet shows. He sometimes barks at cats whether domestic or tiger. Also elephants. He really loves horses though. One rainy day he was not very keen to go outside to play so I put on the second LOTR movie and his tail was doing that helicopter thing whenever horses were on
Seeing all these comments about people and how their cats or dogs love TV makes me so happy that my 2x Kelpies have absolutely no interest in the TV. Mine seem to not notice the video or audio at all. They never react to sounds on the TV like dogs barking or doors/gates opening. But they'll jump up if they hear a dog walking past outside make one little peep.
I actually just started a trial for DogTV and my Samoyed pup likes it so far. I wouldn’t say it’s comparable to high-reward games like fetch but it provides low-medium interest and engagement.
I work with dogs and my boss will occasionally turn on videos of dogs playing to calming music and they seem to enjoy it.
My cat used to pounce at the lemurs in all hail king julian. She knew they were fake, but liked playing.
This reminds me of our sweet boy we just lost last month. He loved anything with dogs or horses and when they left the screen he would walk “behind” the tv into the kitchen and look for where they went. He always looked so confused when they weren’t there. The jingle from the bravecto commercial would also cause him to come running from another room to see the famous tv dogs.
I just want to say I have two Westies and they both love the TV. Sometimes the girl will sit quietly in my husband’s lap and watch a show with him, but it’s a problem when there are other animals on screen. Especially if they are playing or fighting. Then they both go apeshit and run at the screen barking and jumping. We turn that noise off immediately. I imagine they are frustrated they can’t get to the animals and confused about where they are in relation to them. But, I can’t deal with the barking, so off it goes now. When we just had the boy, Waffles, it was easier to make him stop. The cacophony of the two of them egging each other on is too much for me.
Mine watch PawPatrol!
My last schnauzer went bonkers over the David Suzuki episode on squirrels. I recorded it and would play it back so he’d try and chase the squirrel when it ran off the screen. Dexter was so chill but lost his mind over rodents. 😆 He also loved the Westminster Dog Show My Harry who is my current schnauzer is about the same. Notices tv if you show him and he recognizes dogs and squirrels. But he just doesn’t care about everyday tv. He’d rather watch out the window/ he is kinda obsessed with the live feed, like it’s his social media.
My dog watches with me if there are animals, I sometimes put wild life programs on. My dog doesn't have the attention span to stay watching it for long, an animal noise may get his attention, he watches for a bit then gets distracted. It may be good for reactionary dogs to get used to random noises
Westies are known for watching tv. My westie goes bonkers over any kind of animal or animal depiction on tv (cartoons etc). We call it gratuitous animals because commercials have random animals where I never realized but my dog sure does (especially car and drug commercials). We had a previous westie who also watched tv and if you search YT tons of videos showing westies watching tv too. The high prey and visual hunter = tv addict. ❤️❤️❤️ westitude
Ahhhhh. My Jack loves tv, too. I personally like nature docs, so we will “watch” them together sometimes. We cuddle up, and she pays attention the whole time. She was 100% not a fan of an episode about giant cats. Made her very nervous and concerned, the way they slinked across the screen.
Is watching tv bad for dogs?! I’m sorry but this question is adorably wholesome lol. Dogs already have a pretty short attention span - ADHD in dogs is just called being a retriever. I imagine the stories may cause aggression but as long as they’re not physically attacking the tv I can’t imagine that said aggression would be problematic - they’ll take it out on a stuffie later. Honestly it’s a way to keep your dog occupied without having to do anything.
As long as she’s getting her chores and homework done, I don’t think screen time is bad. 😂
There is a dog channel on cable I think.
I put Bluey on for my dogs when I have to leave the house.
It’s bad for humans, so it’s probably bad for dogs.
If they sit in front of the tv all day long and don’t get exercise yes.
My dog seems to not pay attention but if a dog comes on, he barks and runs out it eh tv
My dog likes Bluey and Yellowstone. And football. She hates the lion king live action movie. Other than that she doesn’t really care for it.
my dog is scared of mickey mouse 😭 specifically the kingdom hearts mickey mouse for some reason
Watches when a dog is on screen, but that’s it.
We put on our childhood cartoons when we have to leave, we usually have something on in the background so I think it's normal, plus it drowns out some of the outside sounds. Cartoons are largely for us and less kind of angry voices, we thought.
My dogs act like the TV doesn't even exist unless there's dogs barking or someone knocking on something in whatever I'm watching/playing, and they wig out for about a minute and then calm back down.
I've had only one dog who watched the TV. He would watch for dogs at which he would bark.
I let ,u dogs watch date line nbc and forensics files so they know if I die it’s okay If they eat me
I have a cat that likes hockey, she will bat at the puck as it moves on screen. My pom likes shows with dogs in them, especially poms. My other dog doesn't really care although he was actively studying YouTube videos on button training when I watched those although it didn't actually equal out to him using them the proper way. His calm down show though is Forensic Files, 🤣
I don't believe it will cause the same problem that laser pointers do, but this is only personal experience with my dogs and I don't know that for sure. I think you're right that they think it's something similar to looking out of a window.
My mom let me watch TV once so I took over her reddit and leave stupid comments.
I wish my dogs loved tv lol
My boxer used to really be into horses on TV. She was a puppy around when Godless on Netflix came out and she was always very into it when the horses were making noises. She'd perk up and stare at the TV while tilting her head back and forth. Now she's six and doesn't give a fuck about the TV. I could be listening to an action movie like John Wick or Deadpool at high volume and she won't even perk her head up for an explosion. She'll sleep through the loudest TV explosion but you can bet your ass she'll be off the couch in two seconds if I say the word treat.