MADISON, Wis. — Knowing what TV shows a dog likes could help assess their vision, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s (UW-Madison) School of Veterinary Medicine. 

In the study, researchers sought to determine what factors influenced a dog’s interest in engaging with videos, said Freya Mowat, veterinary ophthalmologist and professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine’s department of surgical sciences. Those factors included age and vision.

“The method we currently use to assess vision in dogs is a very low bar," Mowat said. "In humans, it would be equivalent to saying 'yes' or 'no' if a person was blind. We need more sensitive ways to assess vision in dogs, using a dog eye chart equivalent. We speculate that videos have the potential for sustaining a dog’s attention long enough to assess visual function, but we didn’t know what type of content is most engaging and appealing to dogs.”

The study used a web-based questionnaire that asked dog owners around the world to report their dogs’ TV habits. A total of 1,246 people participated.

Researchers found dogs are most engaged with videos that feature other animals.

The most popular videos among canines? Dog videos.

On the other hand, dogs were not interested in watching TV about people. Humans ranked ninth out of 17 predetermined categories of interest.

More than 10% of dogs engaged with cartoons, according to the study. The study also found movement on screens “was a strong motivator” for getting dogs to focus on a screen.

Researchers reported sporting and herding dog breeds watched all screen-content more than other breeds did.

Researchers evaluated the age, sex and breed of the dogs. They also considered where the dog lived. Both “age and vision were related to how much a dog interacted with a screen.”

This is just the first step in finding new ways to assess dogs’ vision. Mowat said this information will be used to develop and optimize “video-based methods to assess changes in visual attention as dogs age.”

“We know that poor vision negatively impacts quality of life in older people, but the effect of aging and vision changes in dogs is largely unknown because we can’t accurately assess it,” Mowat said. “Like people, dogs are living longer, and we want to make sure we support a healthier life for them as well.”

Mowat said she also wants to compare how dogs’ vision develops as they age compared to the people in their households.

“Dogs have a much shorter lifespan than their owner, of course, and if there are emerging environmental or lifestyle factors that influence visual aging, it might well show up in our dogs decades before it shows up in us,” she said. “Our dogs could be our sentinels — the canine in the proverbial coal mine.”

Read the full study below: