Dog and Zoom

[Rhyd6]

Just had a zoom call from one of our grandchildren and his family. This is the first time we've experimented with zoom and although it's great for keeping in touch etc. the dog had a dicky fit. We had the sound on speaker so the dog could hear everyone, she just couldn't find them. She shot all around the house checking everywhere she could then galloped back to the kitchen - she could still hear them but where were they. By this time we were all laughing our heads off as she rooted under cushions, under the table, into the conservatory to peer through the windows, she came back into the kitchen and just sat down and made the most appalling noice between a long drawn out moan and a cry for help. Don't think we'll bother with zoom again unless she's outside, her nerves won't stand it.

R6

[stewamax]

What happens when you have the TV on ?

[AleisterCrowley]

Presumably OK unless they appear on Family Fortunes

[scotia]

Ok - the same thing happens when we have a video call with our grandchildren (plus their dog). The dog looks everywhere for us - starting out with the front door. We were puzzled as to why the dog couldn't apparently see us on-screen. There are some articles which suggest it has something to do with the dog flicker fusion frequency. Others suggest that the lack of our scent has the dog completely confused.

[sunnyjoe]

We were puzzled as to why the dog couldn't apparently see us on-screen. There are some articles which suggest it has something to do with the dog flicker fusion frequency. Others suggest that the lack of our scent has the dog completely confused.

I don't think dogs (your dog and my dog at least) comprehend or perceive TV images as representations of physical things. My dog has no reaction to TV cats and squirrels, but in real life they drive him into a frenzy

[scotia]

We were puzzled as to why the dog couldn't apparently see us on-screen. There are some articles which suggest it has something to do with the dog flicker fusion frequency. Others suggest that the lack of our scent has the dog completely confused.

I don't think dogs (your dog and my dog at least) comprehend or perceive TV images as representations of physical things. My dog has no reaction to TV cats and squirrels, but in real life they drive him into a frenzy

Yes - that's also our experience - so the TV remains unscarred - as also did the cats and squirrels, since it was only the chase that was fun .

[tikunetih]

Our dog has little interest in what's on TV or video calls - with the latter he'll initially recognise his other (remote) owner's voice then just switch off since he presumably cannot see or smell them...

But play Soft Cell's Tainted Love cover, on anything from phone to hifi to car, and he always begins growling and barking within the first 10 seconds - must be summat about the Synclavier synth percussion. Just tried it now with Youtube and he didn't let me down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZVpR3Pk-r8
Good boy!

Does anyone else's dog react reliably like this to just one specific song in the universe and no other?

[AleisterCrowley]

Our neighbour's dog used to howl with anguish whenever the Crossroads theme came on. Nothing else, just Crossroads.
I am not making this up. We could hear her through the wall. 'Ah, must be Crossroads time'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2zSWQfEsjY

It is pretty ****** awful...

[tikunetih]

Our neighbour's dog used to howl with anguish whenever the Crossroads theme came on. Nothing else, just Crossroads.

Smart dog. Even smarter if it'd howled with anguish at Corrie and DeadEnders too.

[Rhyd6]

Any female opera singer and our dog joins in, I think she must be the reincarnation of Maria Callas.

R6

[servodude]

Any female opera singer and our dog joins in, I think she must be the reincarnation of Maria Callas.

R6

..is she one of the Maria Collies?

[sunnyjoe]

It must be a sound thing. If a doorbell sounds on the TV, our dog immediately runs to our front door.

Thank heavens no one has invented smellyvision

[bungeejumper]

This is the first time we've experimented with zoom and although it's great for keeping in touch etc. the dog had a dicky fit. We had the sound on speaker so the dog could hear everyone, she just couldn't find them. She shot all around the house checking everywhere she could then galloped back to the kitchen - she could still hear them but where were they.

We didn't have that problem when our two cats saw/heard a TV programme that featured a man trying to shoot a fox that had been raiding his chickens. They knew exactly where to look.

This guy's hunting technique was to play a recording of a rabbit's distress cry, in the hope that it would bring foxy into his gun sights. The rabbit call that they broadcast on the telly was rather faint and very brief, but both our cats instantly morphed from lap-cats to wild feral creatures. They hurled themselves off our laps (ouch, their claws were out!) and they flew toward the TV, knocking over plants and anything that got in their way - and within seconds they were both up behind the speakers, hunting around for the easy kill. It was quite sobering, really. Talk about a double life

The point about dogs and opera singers is quite well known, I believe. In my youth I used to have rather high-pitched hearing (for a human ), and there were some sopranos who quite literally made my ears hurt. (Others didn't.) That problem has mercifully eased with the passing of the years, but I can empathise with any long-suffering mutt that gets forced to listen to stuff that isn't in our hearing range. There must be a lot of that in any household?

Our cats did show some more general musical dislikes, though. They would both howl at the sound of Prokoviev - well, anything more complex than Peter and the Wolf, anyway. CD recordings of Lt Kije, Three Oranges, or even the discordant bits of Romeo and Juliet would send them out of the room in very short order. They didn't mind Stravinsky or Scriabin, though. Weird.

BJ

[oldapple]

We have a 3 month old labradoodle, full of energy all the time. No such thing as peace at the table, she can't resist biting shoes or my son's ankles. No carrot or stick seemed to work - till I played a YouTube 'barking dogs' on my phone. Almost feel guilty at the fun we've had with this.

[88V8]

No dog, but our cat hates unseen voices.
Wife on a Zoom conference last night, the cat hid under the bed.

And if one is on the phone, she hates that, does everything she can to attrract one's attention, even jumping on the kitchen worktops which she never ever does otherwise.

V8

[AleisterCrowley]

One of our cats was 'watching' a wildlife programme and a bird flew across the screen - she definitely 'saw' it as she jumped off the sofa and looked behind the TV