Researchers reveal what dogs enjoy watching on TV

Scooby Doo, Crufts, and The Dog House are the TV programmes that dogs enjoy watching the most, new research reveals. 

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison surveyed 1,246 dog owners across the world and found that dogs like to watch: dogs (93%), car shows (82%), cartoons (76%), nature documentaries (65%), dog sports (63%), horse events (53%), football (50%), tennis (32%), and video games (18%). 

The results revealed that dogs were most engaged when watching videos that featured other animals, with dogs their preferred choice of TV star, followed by wild animals, cats, livestock, and horses. 

In addition, the study shows 76% of the dogs enjoyed watching cartoons, while 18% were captivated by video games. 

Football and basketball are dogs favourite sports to watch, followed by American Football, tennis, and baseball. 

The researchers hope the findings could pave the way for vision tests in dogs. 

Freya Mowat, lead author of the study, said: “The method we currently use to assess vision in dogs is a very low bar. In humans, it would be equivalent to saying yes or no if a person was blind. We need more sensitive ways to assess vision in dogs, using a dog eye chart equivalent. 

“We speculate that videos have the potential for sustaining a dog’s attention long enough to assess visual function, but we didn’t know what type of content is most engaging and appealing to dogs.”