Videos could hold dogs’ attention long enough to assess critical information about visual function. Danielle Lamberson Philipp

Television and YouTube programming to keep dogs entertained is becoming more common. But it’s not clear how the canines engage with the shows and what kind most appeal to them.

Now, a new survey is asking dog owners to help shed some light on these questions. The results could lay the groundwork for developing better ways to assess vision in dogs.

According to Freya Mowat, an assistant professor at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Medicine and Public Health’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, previous efforts to develop an eye test for dogs have failed.

But Mowat believes videos could hold a dog’s attention long enough to assess critical information about visual function. To better understand what dogs might be most attracted to on-screen, Mowat is conducting a “Dog TV” survey that asks people to provide information on their dogs’ screen-viewing habits.

Ultimately, the study could help pups to age more gracefully by providing understanding of declining vision. Because dogs are subjected to the same environmental and lifestyle factors as their owners, learning what influences their visual decline could help researchers to optimize human eye health as well.

Alumni contributed some $43,000 to the SVM Charter Class of 1987 Scholarship Fund for those who want to be veterinarians. Bryce Richter

The inaugural class at the UW’s School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) led the way as the first graduates in 1987, and now they’re leading the way again, in supporting others who want to become veterinarians.

Brad Poff DVM’87, one of the members of that first class, thought it would be a great idea for the class to create an endowed scholarship.

“We’re at an age when we’re retiring, we’re setting up estate plans— so it seemed like a great time to establish our charter class scholarship,” he says.

Poff rallied his peers to give some $43,000 to the SVM Charter Class of 1987 Scholarship Fund. “I hadn’t really been in contact with many of these folks for a long time,” he says. “I spent hours on the phone with people that I hadn’t talked to since vet school — it was a fun experience.”

Pete Gaveras DVM’87, who was one of the first to jump on board, agrees. “I personally am very proud of how our class came together with a common goal,” he says. The exchange of jokes and banter “kind of brought us back 30 years to some of the enjoyable times we had as classmates. It was just really touching.”

Gaveras, who sometimes refers his clients’ pets for treatment at SVM, has given scholarship gifts in memory of these pets, and fund donors can also give in honor of people. “I thought that was a nice touch,” he says.

“We had a unique relationship with the school as a class,” Gaveras adds, noting that, as the first students, they were able to provide considerable input and help shape the program. “As a result, a lot of us have maintained relationships with the school, and we appreciate being able to give back to a profession that has given so much to us.”

This wasn’t the first time that Poff has given back. Because he was a married father of two when he attended the UW’s veterinary school, he knew how hard it was to complete coursework while working — which he felt compelled to do in order to provide health insurance for his family. So, several years ago, he and his wife started a scholarship for students in similar circumstances. But Poff, who has spent his career in medical-device development, says, “I wanted to try to figure out how to do more — and the idea of a doing a class scholarship popped into my head.”

His veterinary school education, he says, “changed not just my life — it changed a bunch of people’s lives. Let’s pay that forward.”