Puppy barking at TV

[Cay]

Hello,

 Ever since bringing Apollo home at 12weeks he has barked like crazy at the TV when a dog/horse/cat/deer is on screen. He is now 6mo and really watches whenever the television is on.. We have praised him the times he doesn’t bark (rarely), removed him from the room temporarily, tried to distract him, and even gently put my hand over his eyes haha. Nothing is fixing the behavior, is this normal ? Has anyone had success correcting this? 

[Lisa Raskind]

I have the same problem with my 10 month old doodle Hana.  It has gotten so we hate watching TV.  I have no suggestions, and am waiting for others to reply!

[DonMarie and Picco]

Watch non-animal shows?  :-)     I would think he would get used to it and settle down.  Picco still barks when he sees animals, especially dogs on TV but usually gets bored after awhile.  He does watch TV with us, seems to like baseball although I don't think he can really see the ball.  I can't half the time!  

I do have a citronella spray anti-bark collar which he wears at night because he will bark at noises, early morning paper.  It might be something to look into if the barking is too excessive for you.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I had a foster doodle that watched tv; she wasn’t a barker though. Suggestion to try that you can tweak to your situation. Praise her throughout the day when she’s quiet and you are in that room. When she starts barking, Tell her whatever command you use for leaving something alone, if she does not comply, then get up and remove her from the room. It is not her right to watch tv with you, it’s a privilege for quiet dogs. I would make sure to sit in your ‘tv places’ without the tv on sometimes and make sure she is with you, getting positive attention. 

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

MURPHY - my wonder puppy is the most obnoxious TV barker even.  Not really fair since we have only had Siberian Huskies who rarely bark at all, one Golden Retreiver, who was an angel in all ways, but she really bothered my DH's allergies, and three doodles.

Roo, doodle number, one was a world class barker, but not at TV - finally had to use an electronic bark collar on him - success!

Tigger, doodle number two, still around at almost 11, barked moderately at everything, including TV, used a bark collar set on lowest for a short time, problem solved.

Murphy, doodle number three and the dearest dog ever, barks like a maniac at the TV.  Does not bark if I have her on her leash and say quiet,  -except at the TV.. DH and I feel your pain!  Bought a new electronic collar her that starts with vibrations.  I started putting it on her twelve hours a day, but in the off postiiton, starting on Sunday.  Tomorrow evening will be the test. We will start then on vibrations, as I think she is the most sensitive dog we have had since the Golden, although Tigger is a close second to her.

I will let you know.  

PS Murphy has been to training classes with me nearly every week since she was 16 weeks old.  In November she earned GCC or whatever it is called, her Trick dog one and started on her rally training.  She is pretty darn good on sit, wait, leash walking, etc. even if I do say so myself.  But she has me beaten (temporarily I hope) on this daggone TV barking.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Update on Murphy and TV barking.  I turned on the power on  her SPORTDOG  collar.  It is the basic one that has three levels, the first being vibration.  It does not have a remote like you need to train a hunting dog.  It responds to the vibrations in her throat and ups them until she does not bark again.within 80 seconds.

Early success!  First night she responded appropriately after the third bark.  Second night, no loud barking.  Success is continuing to her monitoring herself even when she does not have collar on.  Murphy is  pretty sensitive and not too stubborn. We will continue to use the collar for several months.   You can only leave it on for twelve hours a day.  For us that is not a problem as TV is only one for 2 or 3 hours.  I put it on well before and remove for her to go in her crate.

I recommend that you check out the Sportdog.com site.  They have a wide range of collars and have online help for new users.  I found it pretty straight forward, but I have, of course used a less sophisticated collar before with Roo and Tigger.

I really like this collar as it start with vibration to callibrate sensitivity, also has a setting for adjusting the "shock" by itself and the dogs bark and another for trainer/owner adjusting. 

REMEMBER:  Do not leave collar on if not monitoring dog closely, do not use on a puppy less than 6 months old, always remove collar when crated or left alone.  Start low and patiently await results.

Murphy was far far fasting at getting the message than either Tigger or Roo.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We’ve used on by PetSafe for Clancy. It really was magic for him. Periodically he needs a refresher time. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Murphy will react to a dog (or any animal) on TV.  Even if the animal is not making any noise, he has a sixth sense and will even wake out of a sound sleep.  I respond the same way I respond to any behavior I don't like with Murph.  I stand up, get right in his face, and sternly tell him to STOP.  I stand right there until he relaxes and lies back down.  He knows he made a mistake, and I'm disagreeing with that behavior. When he's calm again, I pet him and tell him he's a good boy.  In fairness to him, I don't watch any shows that are going to have lots of time with animals on the screen if he's in the room.  We have a relationship at this point after years of training that I don't have to give him a physical "correction"....just a reminder that "I'm the boss and I'm not okay with what he's doing".

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Murphy  is monitoring herself without the collar on.  I have to laugh because she goes to her crate in another room, gets on my lap or lays where she cannot see the TV.  She is probably smarter than I am.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Good for Murphy!