Barking at the TV

Hi everybody.
Any advice? We want to tackle this before it becomes a bigger problem.
Molly, now 10 months old, is barking at certain things in the tv: pictures of horses, other dogs, certain people - and sometimes we simply don't know why she is barking. She recognises the shapes and figures, the sound can be switched off, and she still barks at those things. She has done it for months, but we thought she would stop after a while.
Maybe I should mention that we have a rather big TV about 50 cm above the floor, and it is NOT possible to remove it up or away.
We are trying different approaches: saying "NO!", scolding, calming down. The latest thing has been to take her head and turn it away from the TV (calmly, of course), looking her into her eyes and saying NO, then speaking softly and rewarding her, when she stops. It does have an effect, but is it the right thing to do?
We really wonder what is going on in her head, what an imagination, she must have
Of course we can stop watching TV including horses and dogs (farewell historic battle scenes and animal programs), but sometimes we simply don't know why she reacts. She sometimes also reacts positively. When we watched Harry Potter for the first time after her arrival, she didn't react until Harry Potter and Molly Weasley (her name sister) showed up - and there she rushed over and showed joy by licking the screen and waving her tail. Do we just have a weird dog or is this normal, and we shall just let it be?!
Charlotte

Good luck, Charlotte!! I have posted about this very same thing. Oliver goes crazy over animals on tv--even cartoon animals!! He can be sound asleep and somehow sense an animal on tv and wake up to go bark at it! I have tried everything! And now that I have Bentley, the puppy, Im pretty sure he is watching every move big brother Oliver makes!

Let me know if you have any success!

Telling the dog off for this behaviour will only encourage them, I am afraid. They will see it as condoning it & egging them on to bark more. An idea would be to divert their attention & praising them for giving their attention to that. That or when the dog has a natural pause, praise for the pause & ignore the barks.

Megan does this if she sees a man or another animal such as a dog, cat or horse she starts growling and barking at the tv, we just ignore her and she soon stops

And bizarrely, my pair will also bark at people on the tv- but only when the sound is on mute. Otherwise they only bark at assorted animals. I'm thinking the mute thing is because they then think the TV is a special sort of window. Amber at least has worked out that the doggies and horsies are in the box- she often walks around it very suspiciously while Holly's still going daft..

I cant watch Animal Cops with my lot as everytime they hear a dog bark or cry they are off like mad things.

Lisa_T said:

And bizarrely, my pair will also bark at people on the tv- but only when the sound is on mute. Otherwise they only bark at assorted animals. I'm thinking the mute thing is because they then think the TV is a special sort of window. Amber at least has worked out that the doggies and horsies are in the box- she often walks around it very suspiciously while Holly's still going daft..

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Sounds like my pair! Oakley tries to look at the back of my laptop when we're finished watching one of the cavalier video clips!

Ok - thanks everybody! The idea of the "big window" (Lisa T) was actually very good. It would explain a lot. Molly can't get around the TV, but she follows whatever is on very intensely!

My old girl "watches" the picture frames on the wall.

I've not had one of mine bother with the tv, but my sisters dog is here for a while & she goes mad at certain programs

Amber was absolutely fascinated by Baby Ballroom this evening.... : )

Lisa_T said:

And bizarrely, my pair will also bark at people on the tv- but only when the sound is on mute. Otherwise they only bark at assorted animals. I'm thinking the mute thing is because they then think the TV is a special sort of window. Amber at least has worked out that the doggies and horsies are in the box- she often walks around it very suspiciously while Holly's still going daft..

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I think you have hit the nail on the head there Lisa. Though my guys don't bark to the point that they are problematic, they do tend to have sporadic bouts of barking & running around frantically looking for the animal on the tv. I find it rather funny. I've had dogs all my life, and my two Cavaliers are the only dogs I've ever had that have paid attention to the TV. It was a very rare event that one of the Boxers would react in any way.

Anyway, the way I handle problem barking is to first communicating to the dog that I am aware that something has him on the alert. I know this probably sounds funny but that will mean getting up, going over & looking at, around & behind the tv and then saying "everything is ok, quiet now!" and then sitting down. This lets him know that I have the situation in my sites and he doesn't need to worry about it anymore. If he barks again I will say "quiet" again, then if he barks yet again I put him in his crate & cover it until he has settled down.

My Blenheim Cavalier barks at dogs and basically any 4 legged animal she see's on TV. We have always found it funny. Never annoyed by it. That's just part of her cute personality. I always thought she was the only Cavalier that did that. But have met 2 other Blenheim Cavalier's that bark at the TV as well. I also have 2 tri-colored Cavaliers and they've never done it. Sounds to me that this behavior is just one of the Cavalier traits that's bred in some of them. We have a hard time watching the dog show. We tell her she's just jealous that she's not a show dog competeing in the show ring. LOL!

My blenheim also barks at the tv and very seldom does my tri color.....very odd. My blenheim is very more on edge all the time and my tri has a very laid back personality. I just assumed it was due to their personalities and nothing genetic. Interesting observation though Carrie. I will pay closer attention from now on.

Barking at TV

Our tri barks at the animals.
My husband encourages it, lion man being his favourite.
Not good at 7.30am on a Sunday!

Cupcake does this as well...we can't watch the animal planet channel anymore! She also goes nuts over the Frontline Plus commercial we have here in the US (with Rose from the Golden Girls!) that one always riles her up.

Nope, no advice from me either. If Scout sees an animal of any kind on tv she stops whatever it is she's doing growls and charges the tv in full bark. It's kind of funny and annoying at the same time. I haven't noticed her barking at people....yet. Sometimes I just turn the channel. Please, if someone has a solution let me know. LOL:flwr:

Lynn said:

My blenheim also barks at the tv and very seldom does my tri color.....very odd. My blenheim is very more on edge all the time and my tri has a very laid back personality. I just assumed it was due to their personalities and nothing genetic. Interesting observation though Carrie. I will pay closer attention from now on.

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That's interesting about your tri-colors being laid back. My Tri-colored Female is by far the laziest dog i've ever met. LOL! My tri-colored male is laid back as well and doesn't care much about playing. The only time he's hyper is when he see's his leash. My Blenheim on the other hand is best descibed as being a class clown and loves playing with her toys. She is so funny. She loves to slide down the slide at the playground. She actually runs up the stairs, runs to the slide and goes down it all on her own off leash.

After reading all the comments I am now more reassured that the TV-barking is a common phenomenon between cavaliers
We have changed tactics: When she is barking, we reassuringly say "it's okay, we're here, we take care of it" and things like that. It has become better, but sometimes we still have to say "No" if she does'nt stop after we have tried to calm her down. Especially horses and other dogs put her off! A bit of a problem when we are watching Rohirrim in Lord of the Rings

Ruby only barks at the TV on occasion. It usually has to be some kind of siren or a very loud barking dog. Oh, and she goes CRAZY over motorcycles. She more the out-the-window kind of barker. She will sit at our back door and look out the window and just bark (she's doing it now). It kind of drives me crazy, and I can't seem to make her stop. Definitely have to work on that. Oh, and to add to the whole conversation about how different colors act, Ruby is such a calm dog and always has been. She's almost 9 months old, but you'd think she was much older. She has never really liked being around your typical hyper puppy and usually just walks (or runs) away from them. Don't get me wrong, she definitely gets playful at times and loves to act crazy with her toys and dogs that she likes. She's just such a docile little thing. I've never been around a dog that liked to cuddle and sleep as much as she does.

Pickles barks at the TV too! Usually when she sees an animal. Monkeys and other dogs are a big barking - starter. I think it's hilarious. She runs to the TV and looks behind it and all around it. Then she comes back to me and looks at me to see what I think of it all.

If we change the channel she'll watch the TV very carefully for a long time to make sure that no interlopers come back into the room.

She also barks at her reflection in mirrors or in glass. She stands in front of our oven door and barks and barks.