DogTV founder and chief content officer Ron Levi talks to Co.Create about the inspiration behind the network for dogs, which will be distributed across the U.S. by DirecTV, and a research scientist who studies dog cognition ponders whether dogs are really capable of watching TV.
Dogs have a cat to thank for DogTV, a network packed with programming for pooches that will be available on DirecTV as of August 1.
The cat’s name was Charlie, and he belonged to Ron Levi, the founder and chief content officer of DogTV. Charlie passed away not long ago, but Levi adored his kitty and always felt incredibly guilty about leaving him when he went to work. "He gave me the sad eyes saying, ‘It’s not cool leaving me alone all day,’ " Levi recalls.
So Levi filled up a DVD with video of birds and fish and set it up to play on his television. Charlie loved it. The cat ran to the TV the first time he saw the imagery, and he was transfixed.
After witnessing how much Charlie enjoyed that onscreen entertainment, Levi, whose career includes time spent teaching college-level media classesand working as a writer for The Amazing Race, realized dogs might also respond to and benefit from watching television and got to work creating what would become DogTV.
"Dogs are not very cool being home all day by themselves when their parents go to work. They’ve got nothing to do, and boredom causes the destruction of the house and irritation and barking. It’s a real problem, and I thought we could try to help by leaving the TV on—but not just leaving the dog to sit and watch like a couch potato. That’s seriously not the idea," Levi says. "We want to try to use the television to entertain them and also relax them and make them feel better."
But, first of all, do dogs really watch TV? Find the answer by clicking here.
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