corvus Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 I switched over to Deadly 60 on ABC3 and it seems they are having a bit of a dog special. Erik has been watching intently. His favourite bits were when the police dog took the presenter down and when the team met a wolf pack. He was so interested in that police dog on the sleeve he was standing up with his front paws on the tv stand staring right into the screen. How funny. I'd love to know what was going through his head. The wolves were gorgeous and very interesting. Presenter got warned. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirty Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Hope he isn't taking notes! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply Grand Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 (edited) Hahaha! I love watching Saxon watch tv, I usually point out when there's an animal on tv just to watch his reaction. When he spots them he lifts is ears and looks then usually does a few "ruff...ruff"s then depending on what's happening runs to the tv and stands up and barks He knows certain words now because I keep doing it to him - "look, a puppy" "look, a horsie" and "look a puddin' (cat)" all make him look at the tv to see what's on there Edited June 8, 2011 by Saxonpup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 Has he ever looked behind the tv for the animal? I love those stories! Erik sometimes pays a great deal of attention to what's on. Sometimes it's just people talking. He likes close-ups of faces. He's had a fascination for human faces since he was about 6 weeks old, I'm told. Funny that he really paid attention to the wolves when they came and got cuddles off the people in the shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply Grand Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 When the RSPCA ad that has all the different animals going across the screen from one side to the other came he used to start at one side, follow then along the screen then watch the edge for them to come out I thought it was so funny that every time the ad came in I put him in front of the tv to watch him do it... he got bored of that game though so we had to stop Saxon doesn't seem to react to people talking but he does to babies crying. He's never heard a baby cry in real life but if he hears it on tv he starts whining... weird. My cats don't pay any attention to the tv (sound or pictures) and I wonder whether the cats are smart enough to know it's not real so they ignore it and the dog doesn't understand, or whether the cats can't see the screen but he can... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inevitablue Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 I met a Maltese who had a thing for elephants. Went nuts at the TV every time a head shot, or full body shot of an elephant was on TV. Was very entertaining. Would have loved to know what it was about elephants. Any other animal elicited zero response. The owners had a good conversation starter at their place, just switch over to NatGeo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dju Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Hugo doesn't even know that televisions exist as far as he's concerned. Even if there's dogs on the screen and they're barking etc, absolutely no response, doesn't notice the moving pictures in the box. Is there something in the genetics that determines whether a dog is able to "watch" tv or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 It's an interesting question, Dju. Kivi was about 9 months old before he realised there even was a tv and only because it had a dog whining on it. He doesn't really watch it much. Erik has always been a tv watcher. But Erik watches everything. He's always been incredibly switched on to his surroundings. One day when I have research money I'm going to do a study on visual representations in dogs. Some scientists once taught pigeons to indicate anything that was human on a monitor. They obviously had a different way of categorising things in their world, because they identified anything man-made as human along with the humans themselves. I would love to know how dogs categorise the things they see and what they use to make those categorisations. Does Erik pay more attention to pictures of dogs with pointy ears than dogs with droopy ears? Is he more interested in people interacting with dogs than dogs interacting with dogs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatsofatsoman Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Boonie ignores all TV except for Tennis - he watches the rallies so intensely - but turns away as soon as the point is lost. Bang serve goes down and he's watching again. Lost point, back to chewing toy, oops serve again. It's amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronsonb Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 My rottie's are both avid tv watchers, but only for 4 legged creatures, humans don't interest them at all!! Tyson ( smaller boy) will see things first and run to the tv screen and as soon as Hamish (the bigger one) runs over, Tyson will jump on Hamish's back, bite him, growl and try to push him away, as if he is saying "no you are my friend, you can't play with them, you must play with me!!" Makes it very difficult to watch any nature programmes or nice warm and fuzzy animal shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Our old girl was a fanatic tv watcher. She loved AFL, and anything with animals on it. When the theme music for "Totally Wild" would come on, she would come zooming from wherever she was to sit right in front of the tv to watch. Annie only occasionally watches- but that Deadly 60 show was watched intently. Hope she wasn't taking notes about the police dog! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Emmy loves watching Flyball on Youtube. As soon as I watch a flyball clip, Emmy jumps on my lap and watches it (she does really really cute head tilts too) and sometimes join in the barking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Ava watches all kinds of things on TV, and will also look at pictures on my laptop. Once I had a picture of a dog taking up almost my whole laptop screen. Ava walked past, did a double take... stared at the picture for a few seconds... walked behind the laptop... came back and looked at it for another few seconds... then acted like she was frightened and left the room promptly Her favourite show to watch is Big Cat Diaries. She seems entranced by the big cats! She enjoys some sports, vet shows, and even tracks cartoon characters across the screen. I find it fascinating! Satchmo has no recognition of the TV at all. He will react to the sound of dogs or cats on the television, but will walk around the house trying to find where those pesky noisy animals are hiding No acknowledgement of pictures on the TV at all. I wonder if it has something to do with how 'switched on' dogs are to their surroundings. The dogs people have mentioned all sound like they are very alert in day to day life. Ava has to know exactly what is happening around her and as a result is always very alert and almost on edge. Satch is laidback and lives a slower paced life in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedazzledx2 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I took videos of the pups and Mum and Dad before I chose Zac. When he was about 12 weeks old we looked at the videos again and he immediately went over to the TV to check it out. He is a kelpie so hard wired to notice movement. I had another dog years ago (BC) that got quite obsessed with the TV so I have not encouraged any interaction with subsequent dogs. It's an interesting question, Dju. Kivi was about 9 months old before he realised there even was a tv and only because it had a dog whining on it. He doesn't really watch it much. Erik has always been a tv watcher. But Erik watches everything. He's always been incredibly switched on to his surroundings. One day when I have research money I'm going to do a study on visual representations in dogs. Some scientists once taught pigeons to indicate anything that was human on a monitor. They obviously had a different way of categorising things in their world, because they identified anything man-made as human along with the humans themselves. I would love to know how dogs categorise the things they see and what they use to make those categorisations. Does Erik pay more attention to pictures of dogs with pointy ears than dogs with droopy ears? Is he more interested in people interacting with dogs than dogs interacting with dogs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 I say Erik notices everything, which can be a double-edged sword. It makes him dead easy to train, but also means he picks up associations I never wanted him to! Kivi notices hardly anything, which is why he's so easy to live with. He doesn't react to much because he just doesn't notice much. We do have to be more creative with his training, though. He needs things to be very obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I say Erik notices everything, which can be a double-edged sword. It makes him dead easy to train, but also means he picks up associations I never wanted him to! Kivi notices hardly anything, which is why he's so easy to live with. He doesn't react to much because he just doesn't notice much. We do have to be more creative with his training, though. He needs things to be very obvious. Same as my two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KumaAkita Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Kuma is an avid TV watcher. We have our TV hung on the wall and when animals come on the screen Kuma is up, alert and watching. Horses and cows particularly garner his focus - I think he wants to round 'em up! But dogs, especially other Akitas, also fascinate him. He does do the run around the house trying to find these errant animals! Oh, and he will watch NRL - but only if the Bulldogs are playing. We can watch at other times and he shows no interest, but when the Doggies run out in their blue and white uniforms, he's sitting front and centre watching the game. Weird. The one thing he has an absolute dislike for is the Sunrise Cash Cow. Goes off his trolley when that thing is dancing on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 The one thing he has an absolute dislike for is the Sunrise Cash Cow. Goes off his trolley when that thing is dancing on TV. Kuma, naturally you are so sophisticated that the Sunrise Cash Cow feels you with rage. I understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 My Evil Hound is a big fan of the Turid Rugaas Calming signals video. And I swear she learned a lot watching some of the agility training videos. Ie she was better after that than I was. From time to time, she checks behind the telly, but mostly she snots it. Ie she uses her nose to check the reality of what she's looking at. Same with the full length mirrors I have in the house. Though she has started using mirrors, especially in the car, to check out what I'm doing / looking at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SezzNJunebug Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Has he ever looked behind the tv for the animal? I love those stories! Erik sometimes pays a great deal of attention to what's on. Sometimes it's just people talking. He likes close-ups of faces. He's had a fascination for human faces since he was about 6 weeks old, I'm told. Funny that he really paid attention to the wolves when they came and got cuddles off the people in the shot. When Juno was probably about 4-5 months old we were watching an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is having problems with a neighbours dog barking all the time. Our Tv had multiple speakers set up at that point and Juno was checking them all out trying to find the dog! She went behind the tv trying to figure it out if it was there and circled every speaker then rechecked everything to see where it had moved too! She was convinced it was somewhere in our lounge room! I haven't had the same reaction with any other dog just that particular episode.(Happened again the next time we watched it just not to the same extent!) Earlier this year I had some time off with Juno while she healed from surgery for HD. We got up every morning around 9-9.30 (Yes it was the life!) and watched the Zoo. She would wake me up at pretty much the same time every morning so we could watch it Apart from that she reacts to puppy noises and one night was quite fascinated by Charlie Sheen! My sisters cat LOVES the news. He is a serious little mister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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