Have you ever noticed your little chihuahua’s ears perked at attention when you are watching tv and they hear or see something interesting? I’m not joking when I say my mom has a chihuahua that has a favorite movie!
I bet you can’t guess what it is…………. Read to the end to see if you guessed right!
But really do chihuahuas watch tv? Can they even see the TV and recognize what they are watching?
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It may surprise you, but yes, Chihuahua’s can watch tv. They can recognize other people and animals on the screen and sometimes react in funny ways. They perceive colors very differently than we do and if they aren’t watching tv in HD the screen may be jumpy.
Not all dogs react to TV the same way though, so what’s typical of Chihuahuas? Of course, I wanted to find out so I asked other chihuahua owners to give me the dirty details. Here are some things I learned about Chihuahuas watching TV.
What do they see and hear
They see the world completely differently than we do, and Television is included.
I think it would be pretty cool to be able to jump in their bodies and see things from their perspective for 24 hours. Dogs have always been fascinating creatures to me.
Usually, it’s the sounds from the TV that will catch our pup’s attention first. They are very keen to hear any kind of animal sounds. Barking is the most reacted to but meowing or other sounds like cows, birds, reptiles, and even a favorite game show host can catch their attention.
I’ve also had owners tell me that their Chi’s can be easily startled by some kind of noise on the TV. The sound of a doorbell ringing or someone knocking is a common tv sound that will get a reaction.
Once their attention has been grabbed they will sometimes, but not always, zero in on the culprit by staring wide-eyed relentlessly into that black box and either sit contently gazing, or let you know how they really feel with a deep throaty growl or even a full-on bark fest at the offending character making all that ruckus.
If you really want your Chihuahua to have a smooth viewing experience though go for that nice High Depth quality! Dog’s are a bit more sensitive when it comes to their vision and can detect 70 flickers of light compared to our 60. Because of the higher resolution of our fancy HD TV’s these days, the screen will be less jumpy and more life-like for them to enjoy.
What about color? Dogs are technically color blind, but that doesn’t mean they see everything in black and white. They actually get to have some yellow and blues thrown in there, so even though it’s not quite as vivid to them, they can still perceive some color in their favorite program.
What do they want to watch
Other dogs of course! Well, not always, but there is this cool study that shows dogs can actually tell another dog apart from humans and other species just based on visual clues alone, so even when you have that muted dog show on TV your Chi is smart enough to tell he’s one of his kind, and that might be enough to grab his undivided attention.
Check out this YouTube Chanel solely dedicated to your Chi’s viewing pleasure! They’ve even adjusted the color to your dogs preference.
So what are a chihuahua’s favorite programs to watch? I asked other Chi owners and got a wide variety of answers, but almost all of them included some kind of program with another animal in them or a recognizable noise. Here are some of the things they said their Chihuahuas reacted to.
- Animal Planet (#1 Favorite)
- Beverly Hills Chihuahuas
- Anything with Cows, Horses, or Pigs
- Sword Fighting
- Knocking at the Door
- Phone Ringing
- Someone in Trouble or Getting Hurt
- Other dogs barking or whining
- Toys Squeeking
- Marley and Me
- Steve Harvey
- The Elf Movie
- Heartland
How do they react
Of course the most common and noticed reactions are when they start growling, barking, or whining. It’s quite comical to see your dog concerned about something you know very well to be made up.
Some dogs will go on and on barking until their owners either get after them to calm down and be quiet or turn the TV off all together.
Other Chihuahua owners say that they will just loose interest after a while and go to sleep.
The comical truth is that some of us get more entertainment watchin our Chihuahuas watching TV than actually watching the programs our selves!
And if you made it to the end wanting to know what my mom’s Chihuahua’s all-time favorite movie is you must know it’s hand down Beverly Hills Chihuahua’s because of course the only thing that a Chihuahua loves more than thinking they are the king of their castle it’s watching other chihuahuas behaving that way as well!
