My 9 year old Westie has been with me for just over two weeks. He goes absolutely mental whenever an animal - from a deer to a dog - comes on the tv. He jumps up on the unit and barks constantly, he even went mad at a fish the other day! I deal with it by lifting his front legs down and saying "no" firmly but calmly.

The other dog barks at him whilst he is doing this, and sometimes he will then go for her a bit, I think his barking might scare her. So they'll scuffle for a second or two and then he just carries on going mad.

We walk past ducks and deer every day on our walks and he is fine with animals in the "flesh", its just on tv.

The other day whilst lifting his front legs down from the unit he bit my 11 year old son on the arm and tonight he has done the same to me. No warning, growling or anything and it was a bite rather than a nip, we both have bruising, raised areas and broken skin. It was the first time I have ever been bitten by a dog and I was really shocked at how much it hurt and still does 3 hours later. I responded by saying no and putting him straight outside whilst I cooled down. We only have two rooms downstairs and I stayed in the sitting room with the other dog whilst my son was doing his kitchen chores so that was the other reason for putting him outside, if we had another room downstairs I would have put him there.

Any advice greatly appreciated, I am still in shock and wondering if aggression was the real reason for the dogs being given up to rescue both times.

Do you know the history of the dog? it would help alot if you told us whether he has been aggressive since you've had him or this has just started.
Also is he a nervous dog with people etc. Did the place where you got him not give you any guidance with regards to how to nsettlehim into your home, maybe he's trying to take the dominant roll in the house and could do with some training classes even though he is an older dog.
The first thing i'd do is ring the place where you got him and explain whats happening, they should have some good advice for you. Also ask them whether they can give you his back ground, as it helps to find out why he behaves like this. the rehoming centre should of done  certain things with the dog to help find out what he's like ie with other dogs,people,cats etc before he was rehomed.
I'd think very carefully whether you have the time to sort these problems out or not and whether it is safe for you and your family to be around this dog. this is not acceptable behaviour and someone could get badley hurt. what if this happened to someone when they came round your house or out for a walk and reported your dog. the worrying thing is the unpredictable behavour which means you want be able to trust him.
If nothing else i'd ring the rescue centre and ask if you can bring him back in for their vet to check him over just incase there's a problem you don't know about and get their animal behavourist to do some work with him. this is not just your problem and they will do everything they can to help get one of their dogs sorted out. You may have to face the fact that this dog can not stay with you but the rescue will give lots of help and advice to you. if they don't then then their not doing their job properley.
Make sure you don't let your son or other people be left alone with the dog just incase he bites again.

Best of luck with this            

> My 9 year old Westie has been with me for just over two weeks. He goes absolutely mental whenever an animal - from a deer to a dog - comes on the tv. He jumps up on the unit and barks constantly, he even went mad at a fish the other day! I deal with it by lifting his front legs down and saying "no" firmly but calmly.
>
> The other dog barks at him whilst he is doing this, and sometimes he will then go for her a bit, I think his barking might scare her. So they'll scuffle for a second or two and then he just carries on going mad.

When a dog is in a highly excited state, such as you describe, it is best not to attempt any physical contact.  A 9 year old dog may also have issues with sight or hearing that inhibits his awareness of what is going on around him.  He may have confused your initial contact with a challenge from your other dog.  I'm not excusing the bite but attempting to explain what may have been happening.

If it's only the TV that provokes this kind of response then this is what you must address.  Is it the sound or the picture that gets the response?  What happens if you turn the sound off?  What happens if you switch sides when he starts?  At what point does he voluntarily come away from the television?

Once you know the answers to these questions you'll stand a better chance of developing a strategy to cope.   Firstly you could try and stop him getting to the tv at all, using a fire guard for instance.  Ideally you'd want to minimise his distress, by turning the TV volume down or off, before moving him away.  You can use a house line ie long lead, to gently draw him away from the television.  I would reward each small step using a clicker to mark the desired behaviours such as turning away from the TV, responding to his name, walking toward you.  I'm probably not explaining this at ll well but it is solvable with a bit of patience.  Many dogs gets agitated by the TV, some grow out of it but others may have developed a habit of shouting at the TV.

Does he have a bed in the room with the TV?  If he is driven by fear then he may appreciate a bed behind the sofa where he doesn't have to look at the TV.  Finally is he generally well trained and obedient?  Commands such as sit, leave it, watch me, on your bed etc are all useful tools in this situation and if nothing else can be used to distract him from his target.

Do find out as much as you can about him but this episode may just be down to an elderly dog being surprised whilst he is in an emotional state.  I hope it's nothing worse for your sake and his.  It's nice to hear of older dogs being rehomed. :)

Hi

Don't know if this is a "westie" thing, but all mine jump up at the tv, especially when animals are on. I have tried everything to get them to stop this behaviour, and mine range in age from 8yrs to 9 months old LOL !!!!! Even ones ive had and re-homed over the years have also done this. I have tried putting them out of the room one at a time for a few mins to changing channels, and other things,but, nothing seems to work.

I know a lot of folk with westies and quite a lot of them do this.  The biting part is a no, no, Ive not had that.  Why was this dog rehomed at such an older age, did the person you got him from tell you his history, I do find dogs more feisty than the bitches, and they need firmer handling, but, no doubt someone will disagree with me.

I would go back to basics and start treating this dog like a new puppy in the home with rewarding good behaviour with titbits and bad behaviour with time-out in another room. I have baby gates in different parts of my house for this reason.

I have just read your post again and noticed you got him from rescue, was it westie rescue you got him from , or, another one, I know westie rescue work with the dogs to find out temperment etc , before they re-home them.  If you could find out was he a house dog, or a kennel dog before you got him, but sounds like a house dog to me.

Irene

His background is that he and Megan were in a pub and the owners no longer had any time to walk them and complained they were "too naughty" He is 9 and Megan is 5. We don't know anything about their previous home before the last one. They were hugely overweight when they were handed in.

The RSPCA told me he will bark at dogs on walks and indeed when we walked him there at the rescue centre, he did bark at the other dogs and try to get to them. But since the day we got home he hasn't done this at all on walks. He sniffs the dogs we pass nicely and only barks at them if they first bark at him which is rare.

When he is in the garden he barks whenever he hears someone walk past to get to their house and sticks his nose under the tiny gap and tries to sniff them. He does persist at this even up to 5 minutes after they have got into their house. He can't see them because the fence is solid and high.

I think it is the picture of the animals that provokes the response but I will test this quickly later when I feel a bit braver.

If we switch sides when he starts he will carry on barking for another five minutes or so and then sit alert, ears up watching every movement on the tv, he is on guard I guess? He will not come away from the tv unit at all voluntarily unless we switch sides and then it will be about 20 minutes before he will move right away and go to his bed. Yes he does have a bed in the room.

I think the fire guard is a good idea as the wooden unit is now scratched to pieces and the dvd player, Sky box and Wii are in danger of becoming destroyed. I also like the idea of a long line & clicker as even when we are not planning on watching an animal programe, dogs and cats in particular pop up in a lot of other progs and adverts! It's not fair on my son that he can't watch his animal documentaries either, he is home educated so as well as enjoyment there are lots of things he watches for education value.

He is not particularly obedient and will only sit for a treat (used with the clicker) at the moment. He does understand "outside" and will go in the garden when I say it and "bed" but responds to nothing at all when he is in this particular state of mind.

My son wasn't alone with him when he got bitten as I was there too. He was just closer for lifting his legs down and we were taken by surprise by a dog in a show we did not expect to be there.

Hello there!
It's like reading something I would have written!  Although I've been fortunate in avoiding the biting my Westie does her absolute conkers when she sees an animal on telly.  In real life she can walk past cattle, horses, sheep etc. without any worries but on the telly it's as if she thinks they're in the room with us.  She looks behind the telly too as I think that's where she thinks they come from.
It started just with dogs on the telly then escalated to all animals and then all animals including animated ones! (and fish!)
I have asked around as several people I know have Westies and also looked a lot on the internet and although I know a lot of people don't like to attribute certain behavours to certain breeds but I must say I don't know anyone who has a Westie that doesn't bark at the telly!
If yours is like mine then she is very friendly other than that but a red mist comes over her when animals appear on screen.  We can't even watch The Dog Whisperer anymore or any films about animals! 
We have managed to improve it a degree by purely using vocal reprimands (she knows what "quiet" means thanks to me using it on my Patterdale a lot!).  Standing in front of her (in between her and the screen) "owning the telly" and sticking my hand out and in a stern way saying "Quiet"!  I wouldn't recommend trying to touch if you are likely to get bitten but for the short term maybe keep a training lead attached and if you can get hold of a baby gate, when the barking starts, pick up the end of his lead and remove him from the room until he calms down then bring him back in.  If he starts again then straight back out.  It can take a while before you see any improvement but perservere and it will get better. 

My Patterdale is possibly a bit more clued up - he knows it's just the telly and not real life and pretty much ignores her when she's on one but if he goes near her he is likely to get some sort of reprimand from her!
If he is fine in every other way then I really think it's worth putting in the effort.  I got my Westie when she was 4 and have owned many other breeds but she is probably the most gentle, wonderful breed I could ask for and great around children (even though we don't have any).  She's just a little demon when she thinks there's a giant ant or something in the room! 

He has been aggressive at animals on the tv since the start and he is not nervous with people, he seems to love them.

We are on the waiting list for training classes for both dogs, about another 10 weeks left I think.

Oh and the RSPCA did say that they could not be rehomed with cats at all and as I said he is absolutely fine with dogs in real life.

We are going to see our own vet tomorrow for a check up and the RSPCA vet at the end of next week as both dogs have skin problems and are having treatment (not that its working!)

Its strange how Megan doesn't bark at the tv, maybe its because she is Westie X JR?!

I have also been standing in front of him and "owning" the tv and sticking my hand out and saying "Quiet" too.

I am definitely going to get a long line/training lead and start using that. If I used a baby gate he would still be able to see the tv from the hall so maybe putting him in the kitchen for a quick time out, then bringing him back in when calm would be a better version?

Could well be the jack russell in her making her see sense!

I only suggested the baby gate as that way you could see when he gives up and lies down that he is ready to come back but if he can still see the telly he's not likely to calm down really is he!!??

The biggest punish my dogs could ever receive would be to be removed from the pack or ignored, they hate it!  But if you've only had him a few weeks then it'll take a bit longer to form the bond before he craves to be with you.

Good luck with him, I'm sure you've got some funny and positive stories to share too, I look forward to reading them!

If he is 9 years of age, he has acquired habits that you cannot expect to change in so short a time as two weeks.   Have you considered consulting a behaviour specialist?   Personally, if the television is the catalyst for aggressive behaviour, I would not have him in the same room as the television whilst it is on.   I wonder if his "aggression" towards televised animals was encouraged by his previous owners?   Some people find it funny to see a dog react to something on the television.    When you turn on the television, take him out of the room and put him in another room where he can feel safe.

I would certainly agree with the poster who suggested that you do not leave him on his own with your 11 year old son until you have had his behaviour assessed.

would a house line assist, at least then you wouldnt have to touch physically but use the line to guide away from the tv?

My 9 year old Westie has been with me for just over two weeks. He goes absolutely mental whenever an animal - from a deer to a dog - comes on the tv. He jumps up on the unit and barks constantly, he even went mad at a fish the other day! I deal with it by lifting his front legs down and saying "no" firmly but calmly.

The other dog barks at him whilst he is doing this, and sometimes he will then go for her a bit, I think his barking might scare her. So they'll scuffle for a second or two and then he just carries on going mad.

We walk past ducks and deer every day on our walks and he is fine with animals in the "flesh", its just on tv.


Hello there

Your Tv picture is made up of a series of flickering pictures that are streamed together to make a moving picture.
Humans can only make out these series of images as whole pictures at the rate of 50-60Hz.
That is called a flicker fusion rate, and as ours is 50-60Hz, so Tv is broadcast at 60Hz.
The flicker fusion rate for dogs is 70 to 80Hz, so the TV image to them flickers slower so seems choppy, like watching an old scratchy silent movie.

Also, as a dog ages its visual acuity deteriorates, meaning it sees less sharply, meaning he can now make out normal TV as his flicker fusion rate starts to equal ours.

Lastly, the dog's sense of hearing is stronger than sight, so he may be responding to the sounds.