There’s no one better to share a Netflix & Chill night with than your furry friend. But can dogs watch TV? What do they see? What kind of programmes do they enjoy?
The lowdown
In short, yes – dogs can watch TV. Many studies have been conducted into what pooches see when they look at the big screen and it turns out not only do they see the images, they also much prefer images in HD! Their view is slightly different to humans as they have dichromatic vision which means they see a more limited colour spectrum than humans but your doggo really is watching TV when he stares at the screen! Dogs are very sensitive to movement and researchers suspect that the improved flicker rate of HD televisions compared to old school standard screens mean that our woofers are enjoying TV more than ever!
Doggos prefer HD
Humans need around 6 to 20 images a second to perceive what we see as continuous film, whereas dogs need about 70 images per second! Older TVs have a much slower rate of images than newer, HD TVs. In other words, programmes on older TVs would have looked like flickers of movement or light to your pooch but HD TVs make images appear more realistic to Fido, and therefore more interesting. There are even Dog TV channels available now made especially to appeal to dogs!
Recommended viewing
There is still a lot of research to be done into which programmes doggos enjoy but owners report that nature programmes or shows with dogs in are the most popular picks! This makes sense as noise can also play a part in initially getting your pooch’s attention – nothing’s more interesting to a dog than a squeaking animal or barking doggo!
If you have a TV loving pooch at home, give them a TV buddy whilst you’re away and book a Mad Paws sitter now.
