Television has gone to the dogs

US-based channel aims to provide 24/7 entertainment to furry friends.

NEW YORK: Lonely, bored dogs left at home all day while their owners are at work could soon be getting some digital company – a TV channel with programming just for pooches. DOGTV, a 24/7 channel designed specifically for man’s best friend, will air nationally next month on the US satellite operator DirecTV, with hopes of attracting dogs in some of the 46 million US households that have at least one.

“It is the first and only television channel that is dedicated to our four-legged friends and not to their parents,” Gilad Neumann, the chief executive of the Tel Aviv-based company, said in an interview.



The channel won’t be showing the canine equivalent of Modern Family, Mad Men or Downton Abbey but will feature programs with music, visuals, animation and the occasional human that are designed to relax, stimulate and ease the loneliness of home-alone pets. “It’s more than just entertainment for dogs. We are creating more of an environment,” Neumann said of the channel that costs $4.99 a month. “They are bored and many suffer from separation anxiety. What we are trying to do is to give dogs something to focus on in the background.”

Unlike children and adults who can watch TV for hours at a time, Neumann said dogs view the medium differently and will be attracted to it once in a while when they see something that interests them. “We have no intention of generating a new generation of couch potatoes out of our dogs,” he added.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) said any relaxation and stimulation for pets is good. But it doubted that all dogs will take to it. “It could work for some dogs and it might not interest others,” a spokesman for the AVMA said.

Neumann said the programmes were developed with input from Professor Nicholas Dodman, a veterinary behaviourist and director of clinical sciences at Tufts University in Massachusetts, British dog trainer Victoria Stilwell and animal rights activist and trainer Warren Eckstein, and tested on focus groups.

The images are meant to be compatible with a dog’s vision, and sounds include a range of frequencies tailored to their sense of hearing. “We’ve seen that dogs are interested in certain colors, certain animations,” he explained, adding that DOGTV is not meant to replace quality time with owners.

The company, which is in talks and planning to launch the channel in other countries, is also contemplating a TV channel for cats. “They are not as social as dogs so suffer less from being alone,” Neumann said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2013.

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