Anxious about Television

Pope · Jul 19, 2015

Does your frenchie ever get extremely reactive and anxious when he/she see's animals on the television? Pope gets severely agitated and will sit shaking and whining for however long an animal is on the screen. If allowed he will actually begin jumping into the screen. The behavior can be quite obnoxious, but I'm not sure if it's something we can/should train out of him or if it's something we should be more caring about and avoid shows about animals. I personally think if I can establish dominance and ownership of the tv it would help, but I've tried several tactics and cesar milan type techniques with no results.

Does anyone else notice this issue?

Cbrugs · Jul 19, 2015

Jax will usually bark when he hears other dogs on TV and will occasionally run up to the TV.

MaplesMommy · Jul 19, 2015

Nope, it doesnt face Maple at all. There can be barking/whining dogs or other animals on TV and she doesnt even flinch. Once there were howling wolves on TV, she turned her head siteways in cunfusion but thats all.

The dog I grew up with on the other hand always freaked out when he heard/seen dogs on TV. He would try to jump at the TV, barking loudly. We could never train this out of him. So we ended up putting the TV on mute when dogs were involved

Chiana · Jul 19, 2015

Moses loves to watch tv. His favourites are animal shows and cartoons. Sometimes I put something like Beethoven on for him, just to give me quiet time to do my own things

He can sit through the whole show.
Sometimes he checks behind the tv, just to see if they are there. Silly boy, he haven't quite get the idea of tv yet

Squishy Walnuts · Jul 19, 2015

MaplesMommy said:
Nope, it doesnt face Maple at all. There can be barking/whining dogs or other animals on TV and she doesnt even flinch. Once there were howling wolves on TV, she turned her head siteways in cunfusion but thats all.

The dog I grew up with on the other hand always freaked out when he heard/seen dogs on TV. He would try to jump at the TV, barking loudly. We could never train this out of him. So we ended up putting the TV on mute when dogs were involved

This is Wally. I'll change the channel if I know a dog will come on. He mostly wants to play with it.

Alice Kable · Jul 19, 2015

Buster snaps to attention when animals are on TV. We watch a lot of Nature and he is very interested, no barking though.

blushy · Jul 19, 2015

Titan can't hear. But he's much more interested in TV than Isabelle.

He isn't very reactive, but he watches intently with me

He's also much more reactive with chasing bugs, butterflies, rabbits, birds, etc outside. Whereas Isabelle literally doesn't care at all whatsoever.

Cbrugs · Jul 20, 2015

Chiana said:
Moses loves to watch tv. His favourites are animal shows and cartoons. Sometimes I put something like Beethoven on for him, just to give me quiet time to do my own things
He can sit through the whole show.
Sometimes he checks behind the tv, just to see if they are there. Silly boy, he haven't quite get the idea of tv yet

Jax loves to watch cartoons too! Sometimes when I am getting ready and he is laying on the bed, I will put cartoons on and he just lays there watching them.

Squishy Walnuts · Jul 20, 2015

Cbrugs said:
Jax loves to watch cartoons too! Sometimes when I am getting ready and he is laying on the bed, I will put cartoons on and he just lays there watching them.

Wally loves cartoons too but he really pays attention to hockey. He's a Canadian Frenchie for sure.

Jakeyjake · Jul 20, 2015

Stella is a highly reactive dog to many things, including the TV. In working with her trainer, she has advised to try and get her out of that state and to not let it escalate. So distraction/rediretion with whatever works for your pup. We will usually try to redirect her attention on fetch or a command with a treat and that usually works.

Chiana · Jul 20, 2015

Cbrugs said:
Jax loves to watch cartoons too! Sometimes when I am getting ready and he is laying on the bed, I will put cartoons on and he just lays there watching them.

Yeah! exactly! I have thought that it must be the rich-colour images and high pitch kiddie tones in the cartoons

blushy said:
Titan can't hear. But he's much more interested in TV than Isabelle.

He isn't very reactive, but he watches intently with me

He's also much more reactive with chasing bugs, butterflies, rabbits, birds, etc outside. Whereas Isabelle literally doesn't care at all whatsoever.

It must be the same with dogs as it is with humans, that if you lack one instinct, it will be compensated with another high intensity-instinct. Titan must see the world very visual. He is like a super-dog with a special super power of seeing things vividly

whereas Pope is more hands-on and wants to tackle things on spot

btw, [MENTION=669]Pope[/MENTION] have you tried other Cesar Millan things in practise? I'm a fan, but not yet mastered any I've tried, such as to own the brush, vacuum cleaner etc...but Mo does not get it...or maybe I just lack the needed presence.

blushy · Jul 20, 2015

Chiana said:
Yeah! exactly! I have thought that it must be the rich-colour images and high pitch kiddie tones in the cartoons

It must be the same with dogs as it is with humans, that if you lack one instinct, it will be compensated with another high intensity-instinct. Titan must see the world very visual. He is like a super-dog with a special super power of seeing things vividly whereas Pope is more hands-on and wants to tackle things on spot

btw, [MENTION=669]Pope[/MENTION] have you tried other Cesar Millan things in practise? I'm a fan, but not yet mastered any I've tried, such as to own the brush, vacuum cleaner etc...but Mo does not get it...or maybe I just lack the needed presence.

I tell Isabelle "excuse me Isabelle" and she calmly moves away from the vacuum cleaner.

Our last dog would literally try to kill it. She would leap onto it, bite it viciously, etc. I vowed to have calm dogs around a vacuum after her.

2bullymama · Jul 20, 2015

Cheli has no interest in the TV... Wonder if it is because they are all wall mounted and not low for him to see

Pope · Aug 1, 2015

Jakeyjake said:
Stella is a highly reactive dog to many things, including the TV. In working with her trainer, she has advised to try and get her out of that state and to not let it escalate. So distraction/rediretion with whatever works for your pup. We will usually try to redirect her attention on fetch or a command with a treat and that usually works.

We have tried redirecting, but he is FOCUSED. I've included a link here to show you how he reacts. I actually just raised the TV this morning because I was getting so annoyed with him doing this. It's gone from only when dogs are on TV, to literally ANYTHING. We've tried a squirt bottle, removing him from the room and not letting him back in until he's in a calm state, getting his attention onto a toy.. nothing is working. My husband has just given up and said we might just need to accept that this is how he is, but I don't really accept that. P.S- someone mentioned muting the parts that might bother him- doesn't work. :/ Also, this video doesn't even show his worst. He typically dives into the TV repeatedly. It's gotten to the point where we CAN'T watch TV without him doing this, and while it's not the worse thing to get up and do other things, but we barely watch TV anymore because of this behavior.

Oh! P.P.S- this particular vid was recorded today at 4:30pm AFTER pope has been on THREE 1-3 mile walks in 86 degree weather. So he's not full of energy.

2bullymama · Aug 2, 2015

UGH.... Have you tried leashing him and preventing him for jumping up?

blushy · Aug 2, 2015

Pope you crazy boy laze around on the couch instead!!

My pups watch TV or ignore it completely.

I wonder if redirection techniques & time if he'll calm down ...

Our vet said our frenchies aren't going to stop wrestling like mad men until hours and hours and years pass... I wonder if this behavior with your corrections could curb it?

Frenchie Mommy · Aug 2, 2015

I have Wyatt...our 3 yr old Frenchie who loves to watch TV and Clancy who is 9 months old and loves music and will look at the tv if some good music is playing. Wyatt goes insane over any animal on TV.....even the gecko on the GEICO commercial. Horses are a real problem for him and when the camel was on for "GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS" and the Elephant for the CPOD commercial...we mute the TV if we are in the room. Clancy can't figure out what all the excitement is, lol. I have to say it gets annoying at times for sure. He does charge the TV but he can't reach it and he's not a jumper. I have been known to watch TV with mute on and put the words on and hope he doesn't look[emoji3]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Pope · Aug 3, 2015

2bullymama said:
UGH.... Have you tried leashing him and preventing him for jumping up?

haha UGH is right. I tried redirection with him the other night with cheese, he was super into it, and then maybe 2 min in he couldn't care less, he just wanted in the TV.

Leashing is a GREAT idea, if anything, it will just keep him from being able to jump, and will hopefully aid with more consistent and forced redirection.