Television for dogs. Yes, it's a thing.

Can you hear the nibbling? The chirping? The scurrying?

Of course, you can’t. But I can. About half an hour ago, I found an 11-hour YouTube video of animals cavorting outdoors. I was told that my dog would love it.

“The video was made specifically for dogs,” my friend Jamie told me. “My Pepino loves it.”

Well, good for Pepino.

My Charly, however, wasn’t the least bit interested. As I told Jamie, “Charly doesn’t seem to like TV.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Jamie replied. “All dogs like TV.”

Can this be true?

Our conversation was inspired by a story Jamie read recently about something called DogTV — a subscription channel made just for dogs — although I suppose cats can watch it, too.

“Mittens, hurry! There’s another Fancy Feast commercial on!”

The DogTV story concerned an episode being filmed in Ramapo. I wasn’t really surprised that someone came up with a television channel for dogs. Lord knows, there’s a channel for everything else.

What did surprise me was that I had never heard of it before. So I did some investigating…

The channel made its debut in Israel in 2010. An American subscription runs just under $10 a month. And its mission is to keep canines relaxed and/or stimulated when their humans aren’t around.

In other words, it’s an electronic dog sitter. You turn it on when you go out, and your pet doesn’t feel alone.

My previous dog, Jasper, watched TV once in a while. Some things held her attention. (She was pretty good at “Jeopardy!”) For the most part, though, she didn’t get too involved.

One night, while watching my DVD of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca,” I kept replaying a scene in which Laurence Olivier yells, “Jasper! Jasper!” (His character’s dog was named Jasper, too.)

Olivier’s Jasper didn’t seem to pay any attention to him, and neither did mine. She never even looked up.

Charly, Jasper’s successor, is even less interested in the small screen. She doesn’t look at the TV at all.

I’ll point to the screen. I’ll tilt her head. I’ll yell, “Charly! Look at that!”

But Charly never looks at that.

Since there is now an entire channel for her, I had to wonder if, perhaps, she has some sort of defect.

People are forever telling me about all the wonderful things their pets do. My cat dances on her hind legs! My dog opens doors! My goldfish plays the banjo!

After hearing these stories, I invariably look at Charly lazing on the sofa doing…

Nothing!

She doesn’t watch TV. She doesn’t open doors. She doesn’t dust, vacuum or play musical instruments.

I’ve told her several times that she has to go to obedience school, but she never listens to me.

Over at PetMD.com, Sandra C. Mitchell recently answered a few questions on this topic. Mitchell’s bio says she is a DVM and DABVP. I’m assuming that means she’s a doctor of veterinary medicine and… whatever the other thing is.

A doctor of something else.

Anyway, there’s a photo of her at the top of the page, and in it she’s holding a duck. So I guess that means she knows a thing or two about the animal kingdom.

Among the questions posed to her were “Can dogs see TV?” And “Do dogs know that TV isn’t real?”

Her answers: Yes, dogs can see TV, although they have vision closer to 20/75 — rather than the human ideal of 20/20.

Their color recognition is limited. And, no, they don’t think what they see on TV is real, because their most important sense — their sense of smell — lets them know that these things are not what they seem.

(Smell-O-Vision, wherefore art thou?)

As for the question of the hour — “Why do some dogs watch and others don’t? — Mitchell answered thus: “Just like people, dogs will get varying enjoyment out of the TV. Different breeds (and different individual dogs) have differing sight capacity, so some dogs may be able to see what is happening on TV better than others.”

I asked some readers on Facebook about their canines’ viewing habits. Some responses: “Champ barks at other dogs and horses.” “If Tania sees other animals on the screen, she will try to chase them.”

My favorite: “Dude loves WNBC’s meteorologist Janice Huff. He runs into the room when he hears her voice.”

So do I — especially when it’s snowing.

When I went to the DogTV app on my TV to check it out, I was able to see some sample videos. I summoned Charly up on the sofa with me, but she lay down with her head facing away from the TV.

One sample video was designed to relax dogs. It totally relaxed me. She completely ignored it.

I then switched over to a video designed to stimulate dogs.

I looked down and she was sleeping.

In other words: Not interested.

She doesn’t like radio, either. And I probably don’t have to tell you what she does with newspapers.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: What do dogs see when they watch tv?