slightly agressive dog help

poppy_f1

my baby barney is 2 years old and im losing the will to live wiht him sometimes
he can be quite agressive at time, no not to other dogs, to ANY animal he sees on the tv
he jumps up at the tv, barks and growls at it and even wants out the back garden to see the imaginary animals that live out there

had to stop watching things like animal park/meerkat manor etc but even in things like a horse on somthing like midsomer murder or a animal on a advert drives him and me crazy

help??
tried a few things like obv saying NO and thought he would grow out of it, i must admit its my fault for not addressing it sooner

thanks

pboae

Is it only the TV he does it to? TV's disturb some dogs, (windows have a similar effect on some dogs). If it's just the TV then it should be fairly easy to sort out, if he does it in real life as well you need professional help, it's too easy to mess it up.

If it's just the TV, there are different ways you can approach it. You could to teach him a command like Leave so you can call him away from it. Starting by teaching him the command, then using it when he is around the TV (but with no animals on it) building up to using it when there are animals on TV.

The other way is to teach him a different behaviour. So whenever an animal is on TV you give him a tiny treat (this is similar to the food bad method in dog-dog aggression). You would need to control the situation, so you would need to videos or something of animal shows, and try not to let him see animals on TV between training sessions. You would also probably need to work out a safe distance to start from. I'm not sure how easy that would be with a TV, but for example, would he react if he heard animals on the TV, while he was in another room? How about a stationary picture of an animal on TV (on pause, or off a photo CD)?

However you decide to approach it, the main thing is not to let him practice it anymore. Which means either turn the TV off when animals come on, or put him out of the room. Do not let him out in the garden to look for them, it's encouraging him to think of them as real. If he's been doing this for a while, it will be fairly ingrained (and fun/self rewarding for him too) so it won't be fixed overnight.


EDIT to add, and stop using NO when he does it. It's pointless, No has to many potential meanings, don't do that, don't go there, do this, get off that, it's not specific enough to be useful in training.

foreign_correspondent

I cant see anything here that suggests the dog is even slightly aggressive - thank goodness! Just a keen telly viewer and a bit exciteable!! I know a terrier that does this, mine is not interested in watching TV, but apparently dfferent breeds see TV differently because of the physical properties of their eyes!
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s953902.htm

Have you tried distracting him with a treat or a game?

poppy_f1

pboae wrote: »

Is it only the TV he does it to? TV's disturb some dogs, (windows have a similar effect on some dogs). If it's just the TV then it should be fairly easy to sort out, if he does it in real life as well you need professional help, it's too easy to mess it up.

If it's just the TV, there are different ways you can approach it. You could to teach him a command like Leave so you can call him away from it. Starting by teaching him the command, then using it when he is around the TV (but with no animals on it) building up to using it when there are animals on TV.

The other way is to teach him a different behaviour. So whenever an animal is on TV you give him a tiny treat (this is similar to the food bad method in dog-dog aggression). You would need to control the situation, so you would need to videos or something of animal shows, and try not to let him see animals on TV between training sessions. You would also probably need to work out a safe distance to start from. I'm not sure how easy that would be with a TV, but for example, would he react if he heard animals on the TV, while he was in another room? How about a stationary picture of an animal on TV (on pause, or off a photo CD)?

However you decide to approach it, the main thing is not to let him practice it anymore. Which means either turn the TV off when animals come on, or put him out of the room. Do not let him out in the garden to look for them, it's encouraging him to think of them as real. If he's been doing this for a while, it will be fairly ingrained (and fun/self rewarding for him too) so it won't be fixed overnight.

thanks, it is just the TV he does it with

i tried showing him clips of animals on youtube over the course of a few nights but he just growled at them

i'll give some of your suggestions a try

frugallass

my westie attacks every animal on TV (even the cartoon Felix) - he recognises music from certain adverts and runs from one room to the living room in order to 'kill the intruder' - keep a bunch of keys next to you and the next time the dog attacks the TV just chuck the keys on to the floor and he'll be distracted (hopefully)

(he even growls at the cows on The Archers !!!)

poppy_f1

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

I cant see anything here that suggests the dog is even slightly aggressive - thank goodness! Just a keen telly viewer and a bit exciteable!! I know a terrier that does this, mine is not interested in watching TV, but apparently dfferent breeds see TV differently because of the physical properties of their eyes!
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s953902.htm

Have you tried distracting him with a treat or a game?

will try that as well, i know hes not really agressive but i couldnt think of ways to describe it, he does like watching tv, he sits and watches with us but as soon as a animal comes on he goes nuts
will try and distract him from now on

foreign_correspondent

is he a westie by any chance? I ask because the dog that I described above is a wesite, and so is frugallass' dog?

frugallass

apparently when he is at my mums he is fine - I think it's a territorial thing, he's trying to protect his household from the strange creatures in the box !

frugallass

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

is he a westie by any chance? I ask because the dog that I described above is a wesite, and so is frugallass' dog?

Westies are mad :rotfl:but very entertaining !

TIP - go on YouTube and type in Clangers - just watch the dogs ears / head !

poppy_f1

frugallass wrote: »

my westie attacks every animal on TV (even the cartoon Felix) - he recognises music from certain adverts and runs from one room to the living room in order to 'kill the intruder' - keep a bunch of keys next to you and the next time the dog attacks the TV just chuck the keys on to the floor and he'll be distracted (hopefully)

(he even growls at the cows on The Archers !!!)

mine does that as well, he will run upstairs to see if the same thing is on there as well

poppy_f1

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

is he a westie by any chance? I ask because the dog that I described above is a wesite, and so is frugallass' dog?

no hes a fox terrier (well mum was, we dont know what dad was)

hes a wee cutie and a sook at heart but this just drives me crazy, i think he is being territorial and threatened lol