What Do Dogs See When They Watch TV? - PetMD

Have you ever sat down to watch TV, only to have a little furry head pop up and completely block your vision? Is your dog actually watching TV when they sit in front of the screen and stare at it or bark? What exactly is it that attracts your dog to the TV? Can dogs really see TV the way we do? Are they interested in TV shows made for dogs? Let’s find out.

Can Dogs See TV?

Dogs absolutely can see TV, and many seem to enjoy it. There are a number of features about television shows that dogs find attractive. Some of these are visual, such as motion, while others relate to the sounds coming from the TV.

Dog eyes are very different from human eyes, so they see things on TV differently. Their vision isn’t as sharp, being closer to 20/75 than 20/20, which may explain why they prefer to sit closer to the TV than we do—it helps keep the images sharp.

They also have different color perception because they have only two types of color-processing cells in their retinas (we have three). They can only see blues, greens, and yellows, so a dog running on grass with a blue sky behind them, playing with a yellow frisbee, may be very interesting, while a dog sitting next to a red and white picnic table with a red toy would be very dull.

Dogs also have more rods in their eyes than people. Rods are the cells that increase night vision. This means that dogs see very well in the dark and are very sensitive to motion.

Dogs will also perceive the image itself differently, especially on older TVs. Humans don’t notice any flickering of images if the screen refresh rate is faster than 55 hertz. However, dogs have better motion perception—they will see flickers up to 75 hertz.

So, if we are watching an average TV show at 60 hertz, it will look smooth to us, but the image will appear to flicker for dogs. Fortunately, newer TVs are refreshed at a higher rate, and laptops and desktops have higher refresh rates, so not only do we enjoy a better picture, but so do our pups!