2024-01-19 13:48:57
Video content featuring animals is the most engaging for dogs, with other dogs being by far the most interesting to watch. – FLICKR
MADRID, 19 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A study initially aimed at developing more sensitive ways of evaluating canine vision has allowed us to demonstrate that dogs are attracted to watching programs related to their species on TV.
“The method we currently use to test vision in dogs has a very low bar. In humans, it would be equivalent to saying yes or no if a person were blind“says Freya Mowat, a veterinary ophthalmologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of the research.
“We need more sensitive ways to assess vision in dogs, using an eye chart equivalent for dogs. We speculate that videos have the potential to hold 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“, said.
Recently published in the magazine Applied Animal Behaviour Science, the study found that dogs become more interested when they watch videos featuring other animals. Content featuring other dogs was the most popular. But if a National Geographic documentary about canine evolution seems too intellectual for your four-legged friend, Scooby Doo might also be a perfectly acceptable option, says the University in a statement.
To better understand the type of content that might appeal to dogs most on screen, Mowat created a web-based questionnaire for dog owners around the world to report on the TV viewing habits of their canine companions.
Participants answered questions about the types of screens in their homes, how their dogs interacted with screens, the types of content their dogs interacted with most, as well as information about age, sex, breed, and place of residence. of their dogs. They also provided descriptions of their dogs’ behavior when watching videos.
Most commonly, dog owners described their pet’s behavior as active (including running, jumping, following the action on the screen, and vocalizing) compared to passive behaviors such as lying down or sitting. Dog owners also had the option of showing their dogs four short videos with topics of potential interest, including a panther, a dog, a bird and traffic moving down a highway. They were then asked to rate their dog’s interest in each video and how closely the dog followed moving objects on the screen.
Mowat received 1,600 responses from dog owners around the world, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australasia. Of those respondents, 1,246 ultimately completed the study. Below are some of the most interesting aspects:
– Age and vision were related to how much a dog interacted with a screen.
– Sporting and herding dog breeds seem to watch all content more than other breeds.
– Video content featuring animals was the most popular, with other dogs being by far the most interesting topics to watch.
– Humans do not seem to be very attractive to dogs, ranking ninth out of 17 predetermined categories. Cartoons were attractive to more than 10% of the dogs.
– Movement on the screens was a strong motivator for attention on the screen.
Mowat says he plans to build on the results of this study. Future research will focus on developing and optimizing video-based methods that can assess changes in visual attention as dogs age, as well as answer questions that could help our four-legged friends age more gracefully. possible.
“We know that poor vision negatively affects the quality of life of older people, but the effect of aging and changes in vision in dogs is largely unknown because we cannot accurately assess it,” he says. “Just like people, dogs live longer and we want to make sure we support healthier lives for them too.”
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