GRIZ BEAR COMMENTS

TV commercials going to the dogs

It's a good thing my dog doesn't understand German or I might have to change dog foods. And I may be in trouble if Purina puts an English version of the Austrian commercial on our local television channels. But then again, our dog doesn't always respond to English either, though she knows enough words to recognize any talk of food.

I suppose it would be safe to say that our dog hears what she wants to and when she wants to, which is different than listening when we want her to listen. She's an intelligent dog and often listens to conversations with interest, turning her head from side to side and perking up her ears as though she doesn't wish to miss a single word. At other times, she plays deaf, or hard of hearing at the least, and ignores my commands to come back into the house. Yet, if a certain word is said, or the refrigerator door is opened, she is there and at attention in a moment.

That's what concerned me with the Purina commercial I just watched on my computer screen. It is supposedly aimed at the dogs themselves and notjust the dog owners. In addition to the German script speaking of the benefits of the dog food and its ingredients, the commercial begins with the sound of a squeaky toy and includes a couple of ringing bells sure to rouse sleeping dogs and get them excited and in front of the television set as images of meat and vegetables fall across the screen in slow motion.

The idea, I suppose, is to get dogs to respond to the bells and squeaks on the commercial and make pet owners think their dogs desire the advertised product. Perhaps the commercial is based on Ivan Pavlov's experiments with dogs and a bell before feeding which caused the dogs to begin to salivate at the sound of the bell - a conditioned reflex, he called it.

Anyway, if the commercial would have worked, my dog would have been barking and salivating at the sound of the commercial because of the food images passing before her on the screen.

But, like I said, the commercial was in German rather than English and my dog is from Oklahoma and hasn't mastered theGerman language. I played the commercial numerous times and even turned up the volume on my laptop to see if she would respond to the dog food company's message.

At the first sound of the squeaky toy and bell, her sleepy eyes opened slightly to see what it was I was doing, but when she saw me at my computer she was off to sleep again, knowing I can spend hour upon boring hour occupied on that machine, meaning she may just as well sleep.

Had she heard the words cheese, beef, chicken or even corn, she would have been up looking for any crumbs fallen from her master's table, but the commercial was in German and my dog didn't recognize the dog food’s ingredients in a foreign tongue. She elicited no response, didn't get excited and didn't whine and cry to go to the grocery store to buy the Purina product.

So maybe I'm safe from the allurement of commercials aimed at my dog - at least for now - but what if they start speaking to my dog in English?

She'll be spinning in circles in front of the TV set, barking and carrying on to get me to go to the grocery store and buy her that new brand of dog food that’s so good it makes dogs happy.

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 6 on 10/12/2011