Hi all,

My Cav is generally a slightly nervy little girl and has recently taken to barking at the tv. It used to be the occasional growl at a dog on screen but it's now turned to all animals and strangely anything 'spooky'. A creepy film will have her growling constantly which does tend to ruin the suspense somewhat!

We've tried putting her in her playpen with a cover over it but she still reacts to the noise....putting her outside of the room is also not an option as she's pretty keen on being with us at all times when we're in the house

Telling her off achieves absolutely nothing so I guess that leaves me with a reward plan? If anyone has solved a similar issue I'd be keen to hear your thoughts

Thanks,
Andy

I expect at the beginning it was amusing and you /the family laughed . That was her reward .And saying things like 'you silly girl what are you barking at ?' in an endearing tone . (done it , had a dog bark at Eastenders theme )All trainers are different . You will get lots of advice to choose from on here.
You have to reward her for being quiet.
Train her to go to her bed or a mat .
This can be done on a lead at first (after a walk  so she is not expecting that  for the lead )Take her to the mat . Teach her 'down' if she doesn't already know it .Stroke her calmly in the 'down 'position 'Have a tub of special nice treats by the bed or mat, and reward her for laying on her bed or mat quietly.Praise her with your voice tone slowly and gently.Teach her this when the TV is off , for a few days .
Now turn the TV on to train her with . When she starts barking take her nicely and calmly to her bed or mat  and praise her for lying down and reward her for being quiet.Make sure it is not for the barking ..You need to be consistent and calm .When you want to watch a longer programme give her a lasting reward on the mat to occupy her .A kong filled with frozen smooth peanut butter paste  or some such treat ..
If something comes on she reacts to , do not react, calmly take her to her bed (it is not a punishment ) and reward her when she is quiet . She should twig ....

One of mine used to be really bad for this, we have sky so we decided that if she barked or lunged at the tv we would press pause and then wait for her to go and settle down on her own and then gave her a treat for being quiet. It took a few weeks and a lot of pressing pause but it did work for us.

Someone else may have a better method though!

I recently got pointed in the direction of this http://dogscouts.org/Protocol_for_relaxation.html it's basically training your dog to chill out - it's a bit of work and committment on your part but it is good and helps my whige bag!

I have a weim that is obsessed with sheepdogs on TV and goes ballistic at them, running at the TV and growling furiously.... the spec savers ad where the shepherd hand cuts his sheep dog is a nightmare, she recognises the music to that ad from the first note :(
The other 2 weims dont bother and look at her as though she is stupid (which she is). Ive never had a dog do this before in 40+ years
and have tried everything to stop her but think we will have to live with this one...

My older boy hates this advert too!
As soon as the music starts he is jumping and grizzling about it.
Also generally at the television......but his specsaver is a particular nuisance one

Karen

My friend had two Westies that barked at the TV especially when animals came on.

I told her to work with them one at a time and the second they barked they were immediately taken out of the room without a word being said. 

After a minutes silence out in the hall the dog was allowed back.  If they barked they went out.

It took only a few repeats of this for it to work and neither dog barks at the TV anymore.

All my Goldens have loved watching tv,my current girl watches quietly and will sit glued to an entire program of 'One man and His Dog'.
She loves programs with scenery involving rivers and sea and my tv screen permanently has 'nose marks'! This makes a change from the finger marks the little grandchildren smother it with!

My old Goldie boy whom I lost a few years ago at nearly 15, loved all animal programs be it real or cartoons. He didn't like any violence in programs and would make his feelings known loudly! If he wanted to watch a doggie program, I used to say 'only if you are quiet!' and he would settle down to watch, if he barked I would send him to the hall. As time went on, if he barked at the tv he would look at me and take himself to the hall for while and then quietly come back and continue watching! He was a wonderful character and I still miss him.

Mine have mostly seemed to grow out of it, I remember not being able to watch Crufts with Henry in the room! It's only the puppy who reacts much to dogs / animals on TV now, so perhaps your girl will get used to it if you just distract her from it when it happens. Slightly OT, she needs to be going to some good socialising puppy classes if she's actually nervy and not just reacting to dogs on TV, as Cavaliers should be pretty much the opposite of nervous! :-D

Thanks for the replies, very interesting reading.

We've tried removing her from the room when she does it but she doesn't seem to connect the two.  We're now trying to reward her when she doesn't bark at the tv and whilst it's going to take some work it does seem to stop her quite quickly. There's food involved so she's much more interested in learning!

I probably should mention as well that 'nervy' was perhaps the wrong choice of words, extremely excitable is probably more like it, she's VERY sociable when we're out and getting her to stay relaxed (other than when she's exhausted) is her main issue.

She's just about 9 months now and of late we've noticed an increase not only in barking/growling at the tv but also at things that she had no issue with previously....generally things through the window that she can't see clearly, tree shadows on the curtains etc. I've read about the second fear stage and just wonder whether this might be to blame?

Its not unusual, I get it. Maybe you put 3D glasses on her that will shut her up.

Lottie loves barking and growling at the reflections in our windows, it prompts us to close the curtains in the evening! Glad to hear she's just excitable - sounds like she could do with a good rampage around the fields with my Lottie, who's 8 months old and sounds quite similar! :-D

> We've tried removing her from the room when she does it but she doesn't seem to connect the two

Never worked for mine either - it just took too long to get out there that all connective thoughts got lost!   ...and I forgot who just said what to whom on the TV, and was he the murderer?

If possible DON"T PAUSE or mute the TV, you don't want her to think that barking makes the sound or spooky thing on the TV stop or go away.  You just have to rewind a lot :)

We used to keep a slip lead handy, lasso the little horror and call him to his bed by the side of me/us.  Prompt arrival onto his bed got rewarded and we'd offer a chew toy or a ear rub, tummy tickle etc.  We'd also distract him before the barking stage if he looked a bit interested in the TV.  Gradually he just stopped looking or listening.  Very occasionally one or other of the dogs will look, but we still won't allow staring and we call them away.

Weims

Isnt that funny one of my boys hates that spec savers advert, he only has to hear the start of it
and he rushes to the television barking and growling while the other one takes no notice of it at all.

He also loves watching dressage and sits transfixed watching the horses going round.

I used to say 'only if you are quiet!' and he would settle down to watch, if he barked I would send him to the hall. As time went on, if he barked at the tv he would look at me and take himself to the hall for while and then quietly come back and continue watching! He was a wonderful character and I still miss him.

I once used this remedy on a dog that went in the kitchen every night when the mum was making supper for the young child.  When the child went in the kitchen the dog growled and the mum sent the child out so as not to upset the dog in case it snapped at the child.  But they were clearly worried about the 'aggression' the dog had towards the child.

Noooooo I said, the dog goes out of the kitchen, not the child.

We set up making supper and the dog took up its station next to the cooker, the child came in and the dog growled.  I told it to go out and out it went.  We allowed it back and repeated the whole thing 4 times.  On the fifth time the child came in the kitchen and the dog got up and left without a murmer. 

The look on their faces was priceless as they had struggled with the problem for months.