Normal behaviour!?

[parsley]

The dog and I were watching Country File on TV this evening. Every time a close up of animals came on he started whining and eventually barking at them - the larger the animal in real life the more he reacted - sheep and chickens got a whine, cows and horses got a bark. Is this common doggy behaviour? At present he has the TV on all day for company when we are out (he's quite deaf so little point in having the radio on) - now I wonder if it is traumatising him on and off!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Totally normal! Wildlife programmes very popular, as are snooker and tennis!!!

 

[winslow]

my younger dog likes the old Dr doolittle (Rex Harrison) he loved the talking parrot, my old boy likes animal cops (usa) when they have tiny pups on he will whimper back to their crying and the kittens chatter at birds on the tv.
Ninja kitty also likes hearing kittens on the tv and will run up to the tv and try to find where them.

 

[Taffyhorse]

Mine is totally and utterly obsessed by the tv and properly watches it for hours - in fact he's watching a Nicholas Cage film with my OH right now! I get the whole wildlife programme thing but mine has taken it to the extreme! We went to our local pub for lunch a couple of weeks ago and they were showing the Grand Prix on their tv - there were a couple of people sitting around watching it and Freddie in the middle of them!

I'm not convinced its a healthy habit but short of us not watching the tv at all, I'm not sure what to do about it. I just make sure he doesn't get too close to the tv but I'd never dare leave it on for him all day (he gets the radio!) cos he'd end up square eyed!! When he thinks its time for the tv to go on (normally 6.30-7pm in the evening) he will stare at the tv, stare back at the tv and back at us again as if to say, 'come on, I'm waiting'... and when he comes back from a walk, the first thing he will do is check if the tv is on...

I think he's totally 'OCD' as he can obsess over things, but then he is a collie...

 

[MurphysMinder]

How does your collie cope with One man and his dog, Taffy horse?
I think a lot of dogs watch tv, Evie was watching Countryfile, and is a huge fan of Send in the Dogs. She also like the advert,I think it is for smoothies, with a rabbit on it, nearly gets in the tv.

 

[Arlani]

Sounds perfectly normal, my dog is fascinated by animal programmes as well, some more than the others He particularly seems to like Meerkat Manor

 

[Taffyhorse]

Hee Hee, he becomes even more obsessed than normal and will yip and yowl, wag his tail, jump at the tv and try and get around behind it!! The animal thing I totally get but he's equally obsessed by cookery programmes, the news, Holby City and he sat through Sex and The City, the movie last weekend - the list is endless...

But like I said he is a total obsessive - he's obsessed by his ball and retrieving, the neighbours cat - he doesn't chase her, just stalks her and sits with his nose about a centimetre away from her, she tolerates him very well but will occasionally give him a swipe He loves water and will jump into every puddle/lake/water trough/neighbours pond at every opportunity and is fascinated by a running bath or the shower!! He likes 'guarding' the horse too although his herding instinct doesn't appear to be very strong given his breed.

I worry that he's not being 'stimulated' enough but he gets at least 2hrs exercise every day broken up into 2-3 walks, lots of ball throwing - we give him 'blind' retrieves too so he has to search for it, keep up with his obedience training and we're about to enrol at our local agility class so he's pretty active - I think its just a collie thing!!