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TV Programmers Seek the Elusive Dog Market
HonorPoncaCityDotCom writes "Stanley Coren reports that a number of new television stations are providing programming specifically designed for dogs and while many people report that their dogs completely ignore what is visible on television, with modern resolution and quicker imaging, more dogs have become potential television viewers. The increase in dog viewership is primarily attributed to the way the dog's eye works. The image on a standard television screen is updated 60 times per second and since a human's flicker fusion frequency is only 55 Hz, the image appears continuous and the gradually changing images give us the illusion of movement. However dogs can discern flickers at up to 80 Hz so with the increased availability of high-resolution digital screens that are refreshed at a much higher rate, the images are less likely to appear to be flickering to the canine eye. Presentation factors are also an issue. Dogs are most likely to respond to images that have been captured at the eye level of a dog with a low camera angle where there are moving things like animals or birds. But even if that requirement is fulfilled, most dogs do not watch television because the TV is normally placed at a comfortable eye level for human beings and dogs do tend not to scan upward, and therefore do not notice the TV images. All of which brings us to DogTV, the first cable network to deliver 24-hour programming for dogs that lets you flip on the channel while you go out for the day as your pet is stimulated, entertained and relaxed. 'If the dog wasn't enjoying it, he would find something else to do, like nibble on the end of a sofa,' says veterinarian Ann E. Hohenhaus."
I hope there are a lot of bitches on TV.
well.. maybe the dog is compelled to keep an eye on the evil trans dimensional window so that no baddies come in through it.
otoh, maybe that's good times for a dog..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
My dog always liked the Aquarium Chanel on satellite. It would keep him occupied for hours if I was going out - he'd still be sitting there watching the fish going back and forth, occasionally looking around behind the TV to try and find them.
Okay, I'm curious as to how the business model for this works. Aren't most TV networks ad-supported? If the human isn't really paying attention to the TV then the human isn't going to really pay attention to the ads, and obviously the pet doesn't have the ability to make financial transactions on their own, and unlike kids' TV programming, can't nag the human into buying things for them...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
monthly cost varies by cable provider and is between $5.99/month - $9.99/month (or $9.99 for the online streaming service and Roku)
Directv will have it for $5.99
"The image on a standard television screen is updated 60 times per second"
I'm fairly certain that all US broadcast TV is around 27 FPS and non-HD cable is the same and there's no way satellite wastes bandwidth on high FPS. I think only HD is 60FPS. Just because an LCD is refreshing at 60 or 120Hz doesn't mean that's what the tower or cable company is sending.
Also, dog TV is a stupid idea. The last thing I want is my dog ramming and clawing to death my expensive television.
Fill disclosure: I don't actually have a dog or a TV. I'm allergic and live in an apartment and I use a tuner card on my PC.
Presumably advertisements on the show would be seen by the pet-owners who would then be more likely to purchase the advertised product. I assume that the type of people who would buy this for their pets - the "hard-core" dog-owners, as it were - are also the sort to buy "premium" dog food for $15.00 per can, or diamond-studded dog collars or whatever, so there is probably money to be made in that market.
It's unfortunate, however, that nowadays everything has to be justified by an explanation on how it can be monetized. Admittedly, it costs money to run a cable station but it would be nice to sometimes see somebody go "Fuck it, I just love dogs so what the hell; let's give them cable!"
a word from our sponser.
Woof woof woof bark bark howl bark bark bark growl woof woof woof wimper pant pant pant woof bark bark bark hooooooooowwwwwwwwwllllllll Purina!!
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
Good evening. Here is the news for dogs. No dogs were involved in an accident on the M1 today when a lorry carrying high-octane fuel was in collision with a bollard. That's a bollard and not a dog. A spokesman for dogs said he was glad no dogs were involved. The Minister of Technology today met the three Russian leaders to discuss a £4 million airliner deal. None of them lay in their crates, chased their own tails, or ate any of the nice raw beef yum, yum. That's the end of the news, now our program for dogs continues with part three of 'A Tale of Two Cities', specially adapted for dogs by Joey.
I am officially gone from
If it were pitched as a premium channel or similar add-on to basic cable, you could also go the 'buy this unless you hate your dog and want it to suffer while you neglect it home, alone and afraid, and probably peeing on your sofa!' angle.
Heck, just look at the success of that 'Baby Einstein' dreck: somewhere between fuck-all and overtly negative effects(once somebody actually bothered to do some research, well after the selling had started) and they still moved a zillion units by telling parents that plunking their little spawn in front of the TV could be done without guilt.
it becomes DogTV - "After Dark"... featuring the Humping Things Show and Hot Bitches in Heat.
Nah, the commercials will be 60 second clips of whatever is located at nose height at PetsMart. Woofer goes with owner to store, recalls the images flickering within its canine brain. This triggers a Pavlovian reflex, Woofer grabs the chewy thing and promptly drools on it (You drool on it, you buy it)
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
My pooch will stare at our 42" LED screen. He goes crazy when a talking head appears and stares back at him. The dog doesn't like strangers staring at him. He also reacts to other animals on the screen and cartoon characters. Sometimes he'll run around to the other side of the wall on which the TV is mounted as if he is looking for something behind the TV/wall as if the TV were a window to the other side of the wall. And no, the dog is not on drugs (neither am I).
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!" -- Dr. Strangelove
Because, of course, helicopters are cat-allergic, right? The rotor sneezes and disintegrates as soon as a cat comes anywhere near.
In other words, get a grip. Not all emergencies are alike. If you have a small pet in your arms, there's no reason at all for the rescuers to tell you to forgo it. Heck, what you're arguing is pretty much life over quality of life. Yeah, we'll rescue you at any cost, but $DEITY forbid the rescuee has a living thing with them to comfort them. Being displaced in an emergency is obviously no biggie for you and you will stomach it like a big boy, right? You should have rotten for a couple of weeks at the superdome with all the other "ingrates" to get a humanistic perspective.
If it was an emergency where the rest of my immediate family would be already dead, and I had a choice of being rescued with our cat or perishing with him, I'd probably choose the latter. Say what you will, but our cat always knows when there's something wrong with one of us, and he sometimes works quite hard at comforting us. When my wife got back from a C-section, the cat would walk directly across her scar, massaging it. He kept at it for weeks. Nobody prompted it, it didn't see the scar directly, and so on. He just knew what to do. I have plenty of other examples like that. Just because it's not human doesn't mean it's life is worthless. Just to preempt what might be coming: no, I'm not freeing any lab monkeys, thank you very much, it'd be a retarded thing to do. Neither is our cat a "member" of our family. He's our cat. He gets his food and water, his vet check-ups, has a few small toys, and is kept indoors. He treats us with care, and we do the same, but we don't go overboard. He scratches a couple of designated dining room chairs, we don't have any pet furniture.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
I checked, it's not April 1st.
I don't know what to say about dog TV.
I guess the dogs are too smart to watch the crapfest channels like TLC, so we need better channels to cater to them.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Like I said, give it up. Helicopter pilots have winched off many a 'wild, stressed animal'. You put it in a cage, you put a muzzle on it, you strap it down somewhere.
Exactly what you would do with the stressed, out of control human that you've just winched off the tree.
And no, if you want to take your snakes, you're on your own. We're in it for the cutes.
Humans can be rational at times, but it certainly isn't their default condition.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I admit, I LOLed.
(You drool on it, you buy it)
Sadly, not the policy at the local Walmart...
If I'd just smelled the latest rumor that there are birds in my neighborhood which are NOT animals, I'd be on the lookout for them, too!
Talk about life imitating art.
"If only I could fire that poor son of a bitch" -- Frank Cross (Bill Murray), in response to exec Robert Mitchum's "suggestion" to create programs appealing to dogs and cats.
Quick, hold up your hand if you laughed when your puppy first encountered a mirror! It's hilarious: "OMG there's another dog in the room". Depending on the dog, they will be fooled once, twice, maybe three times - that's it. Afterwards they realize that there's nothing there, and ignore it. It's the same for television. We have a herding dog, and the first time he saw animals on television (I think it was sheep), "OMG, I gotta go herd". Second time, he looked and then yawned. He didn't look a third time. Anyone who pays attention to their animals will have seen this. They know what's real and what's not. Things that are not real are not interesting.
There are already far too many dog owners who think that dogs are like furniture: there when you want them, and otherwise they can be ignored. Dogs need activity, they need interaction with their owners, they need a job to do (especially the working breeds). This stupid idea is going to make bad dog owners even worse: They will think they've done something to keep their dog busy, and will feel even less obligated to actually take proper care of their animals.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
That and Dogs are not really visual animals like Humans are.
Sure the dog can see what is on TV but he really doesn't care that much, unless it makes a noise that he finds interesting. My Dog responds to the barking of Real Dogs (Not Synthesized ones) and to the sound of the Door Bell. However other than that he has no interests. If the TV gave off smells, the dog may be more interested. However I wouldn't like a TV that gives off smells my Dog likes.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Being able to discern flickers at 80hz probably makes fluorescent lighting annoying as fuck.
Is there a cheaper plan with just audio? My dog doesn't pay any attention to the images, but if he hears a dog bark on the show, he cocks his head to figure out where it is coming from. In reality I would never buy a channel specifically for him. I think it is far better to actually walk him once or twice a day getting both of us some exercise and let him wander the yard whenever he wants. For him and I imagine many other canines, its almost all about smell. He can smell a rat in a tree at night, smell. At first when he would be barking at 10 at night, I'd be thinking, what. Then I get a flashlight and sure enough a pair of beady eyes would look back at me 10 feet up in the tree. Its nothing short of amazing.
He scratches a couple of designated dining room chairs, we don't have any pet furniture.
I bet he's the one who designated those chairs though :)
When my wife got back from a C-section, the cat would walk directly across her scar, massaging it. He kept at it for weeks. Nobody prompted it, it didn't see the scar directly, and so on. He just knew what to do.
Your cat sensed that your wife was weakened and was going for the most vulnerable spot. It was trying to kill your wife but, like most cats, didn't do a very good job of it.
Don't get me wrong; I love cats, but I can't help but notice that many of them seem to be competing for the title of "World's Most Incompetent Villain."
What? If you really like your dog you won't be plopping them in front of the goddam TV like you do your kids! You will give them attention, take them for walks, and spend time with them. There is absolutely no "good" reason to do this, let alone trying to figure out how to monetize it. Worried about your dog being alone? Spend time with them! Worried about your dog's fashion sense? Dogs hate clothes you dumbass, so don't put them on the dog! Worried about their toy collection? Buy the dog a bone and they will be happy for days! Worried about their diet? Stop feeding them McDonald's!
The only reason something like this should happen is that people have become so lazy and socially retarded that they now feel the need to treat their dogs just like their children, or maybe they didn't have any kids to screw up so feel left out.
Steak is not complete nutrition for a dog. Muscle meat is important but lacks many of the vitamins and minerals found in organ meats and vegetable matter. Additionally, while dogs are taxonomically in Carnivora, they are functionally omnivores. Straight meat isn't ideal for them. (This is in contrast to cats and ferrets, which are obligate carnivores and have trouble digesting vegetable matter.)
As an aside, if you are feeding your pet meat, please cook the meat as thoroughly as you would for human food safety. Domestic animals are not immune to the food-borne pathogens that cause nasty illnesses, and no one wants their pet (or their carpet) to go through that drama.
I doubt dogs can tell gender. To thread hijack - my cat watches my LCD TV often. He gets confused by panning shots, loves birds and sort of recognizes cartoon animals if they have realistic animal noises. He is scared of any doorbell like noises as he is shy, but seems curious about dogs more than scared. Unless it is birds he doesn't really stand under the TV tranced. He loves watching duck or goose hunting and I think understands most of what is going on now, kind of freaky. He also has a word for birds sort of an 'ack ack' that he has taught our other cat and will run in to our room in the morning talking about them when he sees them.
Cooked and not all meat, for several reasons.
1) Dogs are not wolves. Dogs are domestic animals and have significantly smaller teeth than their forebears. Throughout their time in domesticity they have predominantly eaten what we have - cooked food, and a mix of meat and vegetable matter. We have bred them to be easy to keep on food that is similar to ours. You are encouraged to explore some of the peer-reviewed publications on the matter.
2) Many canids - such as coyotes, jackals, and foxes - are omnivores, and various populations of Canis lupus have current or historical evidence of dietary diversity. See previous link. The dentition of modern dogs is closer to that of omnivorous coyotes than modern wolves.
3) Yes, they have molars. And premolars. They are shown quite nicely in the link you gave. They don't have grinding molars (like most herbivores do), but most non-primate omnivores don't have those. Feel free to examine the dentition of raccoons and brown or black bears for molars of omnivores who don't grind.
4) Wild animals are rarely as healthy as you'd like your domestic dog to be. They die of starvation, illness, exposure, and parasites. So even though wolves ate raw meat, they also didn't live as long as the average dog. In other news, please deworm your dog and have it vaccinated, even though it's "natural" to let it be infested with parasites or die of distemper.
5) Raw meat from a grocery store has a high likelihood of having surface contamination with Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, and other fun pathogens responsible for food-borne illnesses. Dogs are not immune to these, and they can range from merely unpleasant to fatal. Freshly killed raw meat doesn't have the same level of surface contamination that grocery store meat does (industrial farming and meat packaging are different from fresh-killed whatever), but wild game is at higher risk for parasites. Feel free to disregard the cooked-meat warning if you hunt your own meat, feed it fresh, and have your dog on a monthly dewormer. They may still get Toxoplasmosis, flukes, tapeworms, or Salmon poisoning (if you are feeding raw salmon)... monthly dewormers rarely address flatworms, and they don't prevent protozoal infections.
6) Hyenas are not closely related to dogs, they are in Feliformia (the group is pretty much all carnivores or insectivores). Bears are closer to dogs (in Caniformia), however, and most are omnivores. Some of the Caniformes (like red pandas and giant pandas) are herbivorous.
My dog must have a cast iron stomach. He drags home week old road kill and savors it for another week.