• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Dogs can watch TV!!!

aggle-rithm

Ardent Formulist
aggle-rithm
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
15,334
Location
Austin, TX
My dog Shiner Bark (see my avatar) is often intrigued by what's on television. Interestingly, he seems especially focused when animals appear on the screen, and shows a marked preference for mammals over reptiles or birds. I wasn't sure if he actually knew what he was looking at, or was just attracted by the movement. The preference for mammals might be explained by some evolutionary pattern-recognition gene that helps canines in the hunt, so this wasn't necessarily evidence that he could recognize the images.

If you think about it, looking at a two-dimensional screen and extrapolating three-dimensional events from it isn't necessarily as easy as we think it is. It's easy for US, but does it require more brain power than a dog can handle? I have never had a dog, other than Shiner, that showed any interest whatsoever in the television, except on a few occasions when they heard sound bytes of dogs barking.

Yesterday I made a startling discovery. I was watching the canine frisbee championships on television with Shiner laying on the couch next to me. Suddenly, he took notice of what was on television. He sat up and began in whine, a behavior he exhibits when he sees other dogs having fun and he's not included. Clearly, he didn't just see movement, or recognize some sort of primordial pattern. He recognized a specific activity that he loved to take part in. I suspect that the images were firing mirror neurons in his brain, and he was mentally putting himself into the action on the screen.

I found this fascinating (and very funny), so I decided to show my wife when she returned from shopping. I put Shiner in front of the TV and ran a recording of the frisbee program. This time, Shiner became so excited that he rushed up and knocked our brand-new TV off its stand.

So, obviously, future experiments will have to be performed more carefully, but I was wondering: Has anyone else seen this behavior in their dogs? Have any studies been done to determine how dogs process symbolic information?
 
Interestingly, he seems especially focused when animals appear on the screen, and shows a marked preference for mammals over reptiles or birds.
Click to expand...

Was this with or without the volume at an audible level? I've seen my dog intently watching television, but it's generally only when animals are making some type of animal noises. She'll watch it other times when there is a lot of movement, but her interest doesn't seem as piqued as when there are animals making their noises.

My mini aussie's favorite pastime is frisbee, so I'll have to try the frisbee on t.v. experiment myself.
 
aggle-rithm said:
So, obviously, future experiments will have to be performed more carefully, but I was wondering: Has anyone else seen this behavior in their dogs? Have any studies been done to determine how dogs process symbolic information?
Click to expand...


Something very similar happens with my dog, Domino. She's a Rat Terrier and Chihuahu mix and probably the smartest dog I've ever owned. We got her when she was only about 3 months old and took to training very easily and quickly (except potty training, which took about 6 months).

When I'm not actually in front of the TV watching it, I tend to switch it over to Animal PLanet becuase she reacts to any dogs that are on. When they whine, she tends to whine. When they bark, she tends to bark. We won't even go into what she does when she hears some kind of squeak toy, but she's almost toppled the TV cabinet twice.

I, too, would be interested in anything you come up with.
 
Can't speak for dogs but many years ago had two cats - Germaine Growl and Madame Mew (Ger Bear and Maddy). Ger Bear was a very smart cat and Maddy was ,well, not (though both went crazy for Little Friskies). Anyway, only one occasion with television comes to mind - my wife had turned on a science show (pre-cable) and a segment started on an experimental surgical procedure for increasing intelligence. Ger Bear popped up on the bed and stared at the screen through the whole segment - when it was over she jumped down off the bed and went on about her business. For several weeks after, we kept a close eye on the knives.
 
cloudshipsrule said:
Was this with or without the volume at an audible level? I've seen my dog intently watching television, but it's generally only when animals are making some type of animal noises. She'll watch it other times when there is a lot of movement, but her interest doesn't seem as piqued as when there are animals making their noises.

My mini aussie's favorite pastime is frisbee, so I'll have to try the frisbee on t.v. experiment myself.
Click to expand...

The volume was audible, but it was like any sports coverage; all you could really hear were the announcers.

Animal sounds will capture my dog's attention, but it's apparently the images that keep his attention once he looks at the screen.
 
My dog brings me the remote and drops it in my lap when the TV is off. I am not sure if he wants the TV on or he wants me to throw the remote to play fetch with it.
 
I've had two dogs: one was a beagle/corgie mix, the other was a sheltie.

The former was never terribly bright, and the only interest he ever demonstrated in the TV was if he heard dogs barking...but he never even managed to make the association that it was on TV, he'd just stand there looking around wildly trying to figure out where the other dogs were.

My sheltie was the exact opposite. As an example -- and one which I believe demonstrates that he definitely recognized what was on the TV -- every time I would come home, he would greet me excitedly, jumping up and down. One day, my girlfriend was watching some videos we had made, and when I appeared on the screen, she said his reaction was exactly the same as the reaction when I walked through the door. I was not speaking in that portion of the video, so he was not responding to sound. Similarly, if I was watching TV and he demonstrated interest in it (usually, this was when recognizable animals such as dogs, cats, etc. were being shown), he would continue to watch and show interest even when I muted the sound.

So yeah, I do think that at least some dogs have the ability to perceive images on a TV screen, and interpret and respond to them correctly.
 
My Icelandic Sheepdog is very interested in animals on TV as well. In his case, it's obviously the sounds that captures his interest, but it would be interesting to know more!
 
My son-in-law took his dog out for some frisbee exercise one day, and made a short video while they were playing. Later, when he played the video on the tv, the dog (a lab) tried to catch the frisbee on the tv. This was repeated many times, and he made another video of that scene.

I've been told that most dogs can't see tv, because their eyes work differently than human eyes. Perhaps some of the scientists here can explain that. My only dog, a Cavalier, showed no interest unless he heard barking noises.
 
aggle-rithm said:
The volume was audible, but it was like any sports coverage; all you could really hear were the announcers.

Animal sounds will capture my dog's attention, but it's apparently the images that keep his attention once he looks at the screen.
Click to expand...

Well, all we can hear is the announcers. Cameras have been recording audio and video with more detail that we are capable of recognizing for a long time, so it's not unreasonable to think that a) the dogs in the background noise are easily audible to a dog's heightened hearing and b) a dog's attention is more likely to focus on the noises of another dog than on people he doesn't know (or people at all, for that matter).

I've had two dogs, both standard poodles (very smart and calm dogs, not like their miniature and toy namesakes). Neither of them has responded to noises or images from the tv, even if the sounds are recorded versions of things they would otherwise quickly respond to.
 
I've got some video of my Jack Russell dog, Angie, running around and eating treats from my hand.

I've played the clip back to her, but she seems to have an aversion to looking at the the screen at all. It's much the same reaction I get when I try and get her to look in a mirror - she'll look anywhere BUT at her reflection.

It's almost like she can't quite understand what she's seeing so just ignores it.
 
pmckean said:
I've got some video of my Jack Russell dog, Angie, running around and eating treats from my hand.

I've played the clip back to her, but she seems to have an aversion to looking at the the screen at all. It's much the same reaction I get when I try and get her to look in a mirror - she'll look anywhere BUT at her reflection.

It's almost like she can't quite understand what she's seeing so just ignores it.
Click to expand...

A Jack Russell, huh?

Probably just being ornery.

We have another border collie that does something similar. When she is in obedience training, we are supposed to wait for her to look at us, then we reward that behavior to reinforce it and encourage her to do it repeatedly. Only problem is, in a 30-minute span she'll look at everything around her BUT the handler.
 
My dog keeps thinking the the mouse-pointer on the computer monitor is a fly (or something) & he keeps trying to catch it - I have to keep a pack of screen-wipes with me for whenever he comes near the computer.
 
We don't let my dogs go into the living room with us to watch TV. So all I can vouch for are sounds.
One of my dogs will pick up on doggy sounds and frequently bark at them. This is a reaction that she would generally have if she saw another dog in person. The dogs also hear explosions, gunshots, etc. and come to the door to make sure everything is okay.
 
aggle-rithm said:
A Jack Russell, huh?

Probably just being ornery.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth! Mine used to respond to sound and pictures; if an animal or apparent animal (i.e. not vehicles) ran about on screen and disappeared out of shot, he would run around the back of the TV, apparently to find where it had gone.

I see no reason why predatory or scavenging animals wouldn't be able to react to moving objects, whether 3D or 2D. He didn't know he was trying to hunt a wildebeest filmed thousands of miles away that wasn't really there; he just saw movement

The little bugger used to go ape whenever he thought there was an animal on TV, even with it on mute. The picture would actually jump and crackle when he barked - powerful lungs for a 14lb dog!

I miss the little sod :(
 
You guys should try some 3-D goggles and the appropriate movies. But how is dogs color vision? Maybe won't work?
 
My dog (a lab mix) definitely responds to sounds she hears on the TV but it doesn't hold her attention for very long. The funniest thing is that she HATES my husband's guitar playing and actually acts afraid of the guitar (barks at it and won't go near it and then comes to "protect" me when he's playing), but she doesn't react at all to the guitar lesson DVD that he practices with.
 
Few of my dogs were interested in the TV, but when I was caring for my sister's dog while she served in the navy, her dog was very interested in other dogs on TV. We watched the Iditarod dog sled race, the Westminister kennel club dog show, and many episodes of Lassie together.
 
All my books are packed up at the moment (I HATE MOVING! HATE HATE HATE!) so I can't dig out specifics, but you might want to look into "The Dog's Mind" by Bruce Fogel, as well as "How to Speak Dog" and "How Dogs Think" by Stanley Coren. The "editor reviews" at Amazon sum them up fairly well.

All three provide science-backed explanations for several woo-ish myths about dogs (e.g. they can predict earthquakes, have some sort of ESP, etc.), and as is almost always the case, the science turns out to be far more fascinating than the woo. I enjoyed "How To Speak Dog" in particular for its lengthy examination of canine body language.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom