By Linda Conlin, Pro to Pro Managing Editor
Do dogs actually watch TV? They do, according to research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine, and their preferences may provide a way to evaluate their vision. Of course, dogs can’t read eye charts, or at least indicate what they can see. Freya Mowat, an assistant professor at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Surgical Sciences and the School of Medicine and Public Health’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, says previous efforts to develop an eye test for dogs have resulted in more than a few “epic fails.” Trying to adapt human vision tests for dogs has proved challenging or required too much training to be viable. The results of the recent citizen-science study could lay the groundwork for developing better ways of assessing vision in dogs. (https://news.wisc.edu/knowing-what-dogs-like-to-watch-could-help-veterinarians-assess-their-vision/)
Mowat and her team “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.” To better understand the type of content dogs might be most attracted to on screen, Mowat created a web-based questionnaire for dog owners around the world to report the TV-watching habits of their canine pets. More than 1,200 partcipants completed the study. Participants responded to questions about the types of screens in their homes, how their dogs interacted with screens, the kinds of content their dogs interacted with the most, as well as information about their dog’s age, sex, breed and where they live. They also provided descriptions of their dog’s behavior when watching videos. Most commonly, dog owners described their pet’s behavior as active — including running, jumping, tracking action on screen and vocalizing — compared with passive behaviors like lying down or sitting. Dog owners also had the option to show their dog(s) four short videos featuring subjects of possible interest, including a panther, a dog, a bird, and traffic moving along a road. They were then asked to rate their dog’s interest in each video and how closely the dog tracked the moving objects on the screen.
Highlights of the results include: Age and vision were related to how much a dog interacted with a screen; sporting and herding dog breeds appear to watch all content more than other breeds; video content featuring animals was the most popular, with other dogs being by far the most engaging subjects to watch; humans do not appear to be very appealing for dogs to watch, ranking ninth out of 17 predetermined categories; cartoons were engaging for more than 10% of dogs; and movement on screens was a strong motivator for screen attention.
Mowat says she plans to build on the results of this study. Future research will focus on the development and optimization of video-based methods that can assess changes in visual attention as dogs age as well as answer questions that could help them as they age. Another goal for Mowat is to compare how a dog’s vision ages compared with the humans they share a home with. If there are emerging environmental or lifestyle factors that influence visual aging, they could show up in dogs before they show up in their owners.
