Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Verdict? Paw
Trying to hold their attention is like asking a wriggly toddler to sit through some Shakespeare
IT was Mission Impawsible getting the pets to sit and watch the launch of a brand-new TV channel for dogs yesterday.
The idea behind the channel is great as 80% of dogs suffer separation anxiety
As TV channel launches for dogs, these three aren’t impressed ....
DOGTV claims to be “scientifically developed to enrich the lives of stayat-home dogs with relaxing, stimulating and behaviour-improving programmes”.
Except the boffins clearly hadn’t put it through the most rigorous of tests – trying to hold the attention of a couple of whippets and a pug who are several kibbles short of a full packet of dog treats.
My six-year-old pug dog Boris often has play dates with my best friend Ali’s whippets, Jazz and puppy Sanna, also known as Idiot 1 and Idiot 2.
Put it this way, when Boris joins them for a sleepover, he increases the IQ level by several hundred points.
After a run round the park yesterday morning (mainly me trying to get all three idiots to come back), I put them in front of the calming influence of the Zen programme, which starred a well-behaved golden retriever and the sounds of twittering birds and insects.
All was going well until Idiot 2 practically jumped through the screen to chase the butterflies on it, and Idiot 1 dived underneath the telly to find the source of the noise.
You’d think DOGTV would be in black and white as dogs can’t see colour. But in fact they can see muted tones, so we fast-forwarded through the Zen show to get to the moving kaleidoscope of grey images specially designed to calm doggies.
Almost lulled to sleep by the visual effects, Boris’s eyelids started getting heavy – until the sound of tubular bells started playing.
For some reason Boris hates the sound of bells, which pretty much means all religious shows are banned, and now it seems is DOGTV.
The whippets didn’t seem to mind them but they soon found a pile of kindling to shred to bits and set about costing their owner thousands in emergency vet bills.
Even though the plots to the DOGTV dramas are pretty formulaic – dog goes to park, dog meets dog, dogs get treats, dogs snooze happily ever after – holding their audience’s attention was like asking a wriggly toddler to sit still through a whole Shakespeare play.
However, the idea behind the channel is great, especially now people are trotting back to the office after lockdown, and according to the RSPCA, up to 80% of dogs suffer separation anxiety at being left home alone.
And DOGTV doesn’t just cater for pooches. There’s a range of shows for barking owners too, starring The Dog Chef, Kevyn Matthews, and celebrity trainer, Laura Nativo.
Influencers on the channel will even include dogs with their own on-trend social media accounts. Although I don’t let Boris see this as I don’t want him get any ideas about launching his own Instagram account – he’s high maintenance enough. TV dog behaviour expert and author, Victoria Stilwell, is an ambassador for the channel.
She says: “People think that DOGTV is a bit of a weird concept at first, but a huge amount of research has gone into the channel to improve the lives of dogs left home alone.” Or as the channel’s CEO, Gilad Neumann, puts it: “DOGTV is a lifesaver. Satisfied customers report less drama, less barking, and chewed-up furniture.”
And that’s just by the owners. Subscribe to DOGTV from £6.99 a month on Roku, Android TV, Apple TV, Fire TV, Google Play Store, and Apple’s App Store and online at DOGTV.COM.