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My dog watches television. However, he is kinda weird, he doesn’t just watch television he watches me watching television in order to obtain his social cues. Every once in a while he’ll find something interesting on the TV screen; however, he’ll quickly lose interest in it as that bit that attracted his attention initially has gone out of shot or off screen. My dog might see a fish on the screen, but as the fish moves out of frame so does my dog’s attention.
I have a 10 year old golden retriever who I affectionately call my “velcro dog” because anywhere that I go, he’s right there stuck besides me! If I just pop outside to grab a tool, for instance, he’s barreling out the door with me; If I move from the couch to my den to do some work, he follows me there repositioning himself to be comfortable next to me. All of his movements are ultimately in anticipation of our daily walks, hikes, swims, etc., which we both look forward to. He doesn’t want to miss out on anything so he’s always there.
I have a No Dog Left Behind Act in my house 🙂
When it comes to watching television, which I don’t do a lot of, my dog has a slightly different approach than being stuck to me as in other activities. When I watch TV he’s actually much more independent and either plays with his toys or just takes a nap away from me, often times with his butt facing me.
The only time he gets riled up at all is when I get riled up, and the only time that happens is when I’m watching college football. I do have a tendency to start yelling at the screen and during some games my poor dog probably thinks the world is coming to an end.
All that being said, I do believe I know my dog’s Pavlovian Response, and that is the CLICK of the TV turning off! Because when I turn off my big 65″ TV it makes an audible CLICK that my loving puppy knows means it’s time to switch to another activity, and as soon as that happens he’s up, ready, and staring at me in anticipation. He’s saying: “ok, television time is done, what are we doing next??? I’m right here, let’s go!”
I believe what my awesome dog is doing during TV time can be called an ‘economic conservation of energy.’ Sustaining cognitive attention and focus on a single task requires a tremendous amount of resources for any living organism and the caloric demands of trying to anticipate or interpret my (“our,” in his world) movements over, say an hour, would naturally deplete my dog’s energy faster than a cat or an uncaring child, for example.
My dog intuitively shuts down and uses this interval as rest time. Smart doggy!
In essence my dog understands the beginning and end points of this singular activity called ‘watching television.’ He knows that it begins with me sitting, turning the TV on with the resultant audio cues emanating out of the TV; he also knows that it ends with a specific CLICK with those same sounds no longer there.
My dog watches me watching television in that, like everything else in his life, he is drawing on my movements and commands to define his. We are a pack, and the pack sticks together. The funny part is like all other dog owners/parents that love to spoil their pets, some days I think I look to him to figure out what I’m doing just as much as he looks to me! That’s how my dog watches television!
Read my full article: Man Is A Dog’s Best Friend
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