Can Dogs Understand What is Happening in Movies?

Watching Movies With Your Dog Can Be A Wonderful Way To Spend Time With Your Four-Legged Buddy.

However, have you ever wondered if dogs could understand movies?

After all, some dogs take an interest in what humans watch. If they can watch what we are watching, then certainly, they can understand what we understand as well, right? Well, before we jump into any conclusion, let’s discuss this interesting topic.

Can Dogs Understand Movies?

To give you a straightforward answer, it would be a no. They don’t understand movies in the same way as we do.

Dogs don’t have the complex and intricate ability of humans to connect scenes they see on movies. They don’t see the relation between and among scenes. As a result, they may only see movies as individual, separate, disconnected scenes, without making sense of them as part of the whole movie story.

What Dogs can Understand in Movies?

While dogs can’t understand the story behind every movie, they can potentially understand what is going on in a particular scene. Technically speaking, dogs can detect movements on TV. Thus, like in real life, they can understand or comprehend if a person is standing, walking, running, speaking, and other actions. Moreover, they can detect faces and objects. They even recognize animals and other creatures found in the real world.

So, in a way, they can understand movies, but not in the same manner as we deeply see movies. Their understanding is superficial and is limited to only a small portion of what they see.

How Do Dogs See Movies?

There’s no doubt that your dog can see something on screen. However, what do they see? That’s an interesting question and its answer could help you better understand your dog.

For one, with modern technology, TVs today produce more beautiful and crisp moving images. They can create higher resolutions of movie scenes. This means that your dog can now watch movies with greater clarity and details.

The main difference between what humans and dogs see is how they view images. For humans, we can readily detect shapes, colors, and objects. However, for dogs, they are more in tune in locating objects through movement. So, while we can easily see any objects even if they are stationary, dogs are more likely to see and detect them when they move.

Additionally, it is worth noting that dogs have narrower field of view. That’s why, you would notice that dogs can easily detect movement. Moving objects can immediately grab their attention. However, they also quickly lose attention when they determine there’s nothing to be interested in.

This explains that sometimes, your dog may have glanced at your TV screen and would simply look away after a few seconds. If their interest is sustained, they would look at your TV screen longer.

What Does This Mean to You?

Obviously, you can’t force your dog to watch movies with you. However, if you want to have your dog more engaged to the movie you’re watching, choose something that features dogs as major or minor characters.

Dogs are social creatures and the good news is that they recognize dogs on TV screens. So, if you’re going to have movies with dogs in them, they can become more interested in what you watch.

Of course, you can give any movie a try. If your dog gets interested, then that’s good. You got yourself a movie buddy. If not, your dog will still keep you company. The bottom line is that you’re spending time together, which is something more important than not spending time at all.