T.V. Addicts!

 

I wasn’t an overly big fan of watching wildlife or nature programmes even though I love wildlife and nature, but I cannot stand to watch animals murder each other and rip each other apart. Mind you I can’t stand people doing it either, I don’t do violence!
I know and understand all about the food chain but I would spend nearly the whole time hidden behind a cushion with my fingers in my ears or would leave the room when my hubby was watching such programmes.

But when Minnie was about 6 months old she put a stop to watching all wildlife and nature programmes and many others too!

        

It all began one night when we were watching the news. Having just eaten my evening meal I was stretched out with feet up on the sofa and both girls were sleeping curled up on my lap while I was having a cuppa.
Then a policeman and his dog came on the screen and all hell broke loose!
All of a sudden Minnie shot up out of my lap, barking hysterically, my drink was catapulted out of my hand and nearly ended up in my hubbys lap! Luckily for him the contents had already left the cup in mid air before it approached him!

I didn’t have a clue at what happened and for a second or two I just squealed along as an accompaniment to the noise they were making!

It was like a mad house, me squealing, Minnie standing upright on two legs barking at the T.V and Maisie had dashed to the sofa by the window and was barking frantically but didn’t know why and poor hubby was still in the exact same spot, face frozen in fear or actually more likely bewilderment (but fear sounds better) with his mouth open!
My heart pounding I grabbed the T.V controls and switched it off and then everything went quiet. Minnie jumped on the sofa and curled up in a ball (a bit like Hector the hedgehog when he spots them coming in the garden) Maisie joined Minnie and curled into a ball next to her and I went to retrieve my cup that hubby had now got gripped in his hand. I gently peeled his fingers off my cup, pushed his chin up a little to close the gap in his mouth and then went to get cleaning stuff to wipe up the spillage!

I thought it was a one off and that she must have opened her eyes at that moment that there was a full screen shot of the German Shepherd. I figured that she would probably never second glance the T.V again but I was wrong, as I usually am when dealing with these little dogs!
If the T.V is switched on Minnie will be watching it, the problem is now, that Maisie watches it too!
They don’t only object to dogs on the screen, it’s any animal that moves! How on earth can they tell it’s an animal is beyond me, I thought dogs could only see in black and white?
I go to switch on at lunchtime, I like to watch the tail end of Bargain hunt to see how much the contestants have lost, you would think they would learn not to listen to their ‘expert’ with the exception of Anita, she’s brilliant, oops I’m side tracking again! Followed by the news while we are having lunch. M&M know this routine and get prime viewing position on the sofa.
These days I always have the T.V controls close at hand, just in case I have to press the off button in a hurry.

The only time I get to watch anything with animals in, is if I record it first and play it back in my craft room. And that’s only because they can’t see the screen from floor level. Now that I have evicted them from my desk there is no chance they can watch, I still have to have the sound fairly low though, otherwise I get them coming in and looking at me as if to say ‘your not watching anything your not supposed to are you?)
The downside is that I have a backlog of programmes to view that may contain animals that I just don’t have time to watch!
I used to love horse racing, I didn’t necessarily need to gamble on any races but I love to guess the winner……..no more though
I love to watch country file………no more though
I liked crufts the agility bit………no more though
The list of no go T.V is endless
Even when Lola my granddaughter comes to stay she can’t even watch her Disney films because most have animals In,  and they know, even if they are in cartoon form. They can still differentiate animals from humans!!!
When I get on the bed in the evening and switch on, they settle down in front of me to get a better view! I end up trying to look at the T.V over their heads!

What is really confusing for them is if I have a video chat with Lola on my iPad and they hear her voice, they go crazy! and if they actually see her on my screen , they run behind it and start scraping the back with their paws ( luckily it’s in a protective case) trying to dig her out! It really makes me laugh but it’s not very good for my iPad!

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