Sunday, November 11, 2007

Do You Know What Your Pug Is Watching?


David Eng, aka Uncle Dave, is a very important person in our lives.

When Tom and I are on the road, Dave moves into our house and becomes the resident Pug Whisperer. We knew we had our man after his first sleep over – after all, how many people can handle being spooned by two snoring pugs?. Not only do Tex and Maggie adore Dave - but Tom and I have complete faith in his ability to take care of our little darlings.

Last week Dave took Tex and Maggie for afternoon walks while Tom was out of town. When I came home from work, I found he had left an interesting note. It went something like this:

“I noticed that Tex and Maggie aren’t watching CNN - their usual TV Channel - and now seem to be tuned to the Home Decorating network. Are the pugs planning on doing more renovations?”

Dave is on to something. Choosing the right television show for your dog is far more complicated than it seems. For example:

Animal shows are very bad. Tex and Maggie seem to think that the animals are actually in our living room. Who can blame them if they bark and bluff charge the television, you’d do the same thing if a rhino was in your house.

Sitcoms are risky. Until you watch TV with a dog, you don’t realize how many of them use the
‘barking dog” sound in the background. Comedy’s, dramas, crime, sci fi – at some point in every show – the neighbor’s dog will start barking. This is guaranteed to cause extreme pug howling.

Apparently it’s not just Tex and Maggie who are affected by TV. I recently read an article about a man who’s built a business empire by producing videos for cats. He got this brilliant idea while working as a news producer for a local network affiliate. He noticed that after certain nature shows aired, hundreds of people would call the network to comment about the effect the programs had on their felines.

At first he thought this was funny, but it also made him think about the possibilities. He took a gamble and started making shows specifically for cats and marketing them over the internet. He now sells millions of videos - to all corners if the world – apparently cats speak a universal language. However, if you’re thinking of buying one for kitty’s Christmas stocking, you should know that cats have been known attack their TV when watching the shows.

So, to answer your question, Dave – we have decided to block the pugs from watching CNN – after all, watching Lou Dobbs can’t be good for their delicate psyches. We’re hoping they’ll pick up some handy decorating tips on the HGTV.

Most of all, thank you for taking such good care of Tex and Maggie.

3 comments:

Tyra said...

I LOVE HGTV and will be thinking of the pugs when I'm watching "Decorating Cents".

Marot said...

while i was there i showed them food network

Anonymous said...

You are getting weirder by the minute, you know this don't you?