This Week’s Top Four

Hi Humans,

Once again, here are this week’s top four list:

1. Movies. Last week, a new movie was released titled “Darling Companion.” In short, it’s about Diane Keaton who loves her dog more than her husband Kevin Kline. And then Kline looses Keaton’s dog.

I have yet to see the movie, but I read a lot of bad reviews about it (“The dog ran away from his family. We can’t blame him.”) Why is this? We love movies, and we love dogs. How come dogs in the movies often don’t work?

Still, we all remember some great dog movies, like Turner and Hooch with Tom Hanks, and the 2009 Richard Gere movie, “Hachiko” (in which, by the way, Hachi the Akita watches TV. And here is a different Akita who watches Hachi in the movie. What a loop!).

Do you like other dog movies? Check out this top 10 dog movies list!

”Does TH stand for Turner&Hooch or Tom Hanks?”

2. Balls. So today I’m writing about my favorite things in the world. After dogs and movies, it has to be soccer. As a fan of the English team “Chelsea,” I was delighted that they won the European championship last week. In two weeks, Euro 2012 begins (watch it in the US on ESPN), which is a great opportunity to meet Jack, The world’s greatest football playing dog (watch).

In fact, do you know a dog who isn’t obsessed with balls? Dogs need stimulation, and playing ball is a great way for them to get energy out. We include many animations of balls on DOGTV because we learned that dogs are fascinated by them, even when they are on the TV.

You can read some interesting stories of dogs who are obsessed with balls here. Also, check out this cool dog who was on the field for eight minutes during an international rugby match.

“They should make these in chicken flavor”

3. Babies. Did you know that many dogs have problems with children and babies? Dogs can get anxious around children and can even become quite dangerous. Some pregnant women worry that their dog won’t react well to their newborn. This is a real problem because most people have a dog before they have a child, and when the newborn arrives, the dog can be confused: what is this thing crying on the floor? Barbara wrote a question to us about this issue. Because this is such a big problem, which we are also trying to address within our “Exposure” programs on DOGTV, we’ve asked our chief scientist, Professor Nicholas Dodman, to answer her question. Here you go, Barbara!

“Hey, poodle, didn’t I see you surf on DOGTV”?

4. Stars. In the beginning of August, we’ll be filming some new content in San Diego. We are hoping to find the new DOGTV stars to be featured in the shows. Many of you came to our special day of auditions, and the competition officially begins next week. Are you ready for it? Here’s a tiny taste!

DOGTV, the first television channel for dogs, is available for you 24/7 on dogtv.com/online. I hope you and your dog are enjoying it. I know we are!

Ron