Revealed: Dogs’ favourite TV programmes – and why Scooby Doo is a mutt-see for your pooch

They’re often referred to as ‘man’s best friend’, so it’s no surprise that many of us enjoy snuggling up on the sofa with our dog for a movie night.

But if your dog was in charge of the TV remote, what do you think it would choose to watch?

According to a new study, it would be Scooby Doo, Crufts, or The Dog House.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison set out to investigate the TV programmes dogs enjoy the most, and found that shows featuring dogs top the list.

However, before you start feeling guilty about the shows you’ve been putting your dog through, there’s good news – most pooches also enjoy football, cartoons, and car shows.

In the study, the researchers set out to determine the video content dogs are most interested in.

The team surveyed 1,246 dog owners across the world, including from the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.

The survey included questions about the types of screens in their homes, how their dogs interacted with screens, the kinds of content their dogs interacted with the most, as well as information about their dog’s age, sex, breed and where they lived.

The results revealed that dogs were most engaged when watching videos that featured other animals.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, dogs were their preferred choice of TV star, followed by wild animals, cats, livestock, and horses.

But if a David Attenborough documentary isn’t what you fancy tonight, the results suggest that Scooby Doo will be a perfectly acceptable option as well.

Seventy-six per cent of the dogs included in the study enjoyed watching cartoons, while 18 per cent were captivated by video games.

If a David Attenborough documentary isn’t what you fancy tonight, the results suggest that Scooby Doo will be a perfectly acceptable option as well. Seventy-six per cent of the dogs included in the study enjoyed watching cartoons

If you’re a sports fan, you’ll be happy to hear that your dog may well share your passion, with many of those surveyed found to enjoy ball sports.

Football and basketball were their top choices, followed by American Football, tennis, and baseball.

In terms of how the dogs interacted with the screen, age and vision were found to play a key role.

‘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,’ said Freya Mowat, lead author of the study.

‘Like people, dogs are living longer, and we want to make sure we support a healthier life for them as well.’

Aside from helping you choose what to watch with your dog this weekend, the researchers hope the findings could pave the way for vision tests in dogs.

‘The method we currently use to assess vision in dogs is a very low bar,’ Ms Mowat explained.

‘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.’