Telly aggressive puppy.

My puppy Pebbles 7 months old, goes absolutely ballistic when she sees dogs, cats, horses on the telly, she's fine when she sees them outside but on the telly she is so bad we have to turn it off or put her in another room, any ideas on how to put a halt to this, she's been like this since we have had her but lately she is getting worse.

I would personally do one of two things!
a) either ignore the behavioutr completly. Do not talk to her, raise your voice or reassure her in any way.

b) get her to assosciate these things on tv with all things good!!! ie, get her in a sit.......switch on the tv with animal on!.....quickly offer a tasty treat (high value treat like a bit of chicken!). Turn it off again...repeat a couple of times each day. Eventually you should be able to go longer...and she should focus on you waiting for the treat instead of on tv (in this time take longer if she is doing well, do a couple of commands before she gets a treat!)

c) do not watch tv with animals on!!

In all seriousness its natural that a dog barking on tv will get a dogs attention. Blue often barks at dogs on the tv...he cant tell where they are coming from!

I agree with Honeysmummy

At the moment she's being 'rewarded' for barking at the TV - she barks/growls at the animals on the TV and they disappear (i.e. you turn the TV off) - job done as far as she's concerned.

So as Honeysmummy says - reward quiet behaviour with treats and praise and ignore 'bad' behaviour.

Good luck

Thank you both, I can see what you mean about the reward bit, I never thought about it that way before, I will try what you suggest, sheesh even the Churchill doggie gets her going.

But I bet you all laughed when she first did it! And then reacted when it got to be a pain? Great advice from Honeysmum - but I think you`ve got a very bright dog there! She`s learned what gets your attention really quickly.

I had this problem with Syd my male Dobermann and frankly ignoring it was not an option, He'd go into full guard dog mode and the noise was unbelivable. For us part of the problem is the Tv is wall mounted and fairly high at that, he didn't do it pre plasma days, but I'm not moving it just to shut him up. I have worked with him sitting through numerous, dog whisperer, it's me or the dog, dog borstal, wildlife programs etc. all pre recorded and used at a time when I had the time to concentrate on the issue rather than trying to watch the program. I tell him no, tell him to go and lie down and lead him to where I want him and not only get him to lie down but lay on his side with his head flat on the floor. He does it grudgingly but he does it, he grumbles and raises his head, but is told to 'lie down ' again as soon as his head starts to lift back up. It works, it took a while and now if I want to watch something doggy or wild I make him adopt the pose before it comes on and I wont allow him to kick off, his head is put back on the floor if he tries to lift it, because once he lifts it the grumbling starts, followed by the growling and the barking, and then full guard dog mode. So it's simply not allowed, he knows I mean it and will not give in, so he will now turn his head away , or roll over for a belly rub or better still the inside of his thigh which can always be guaranteed to send him into a trance.
You might need to have him on a lead to begin with and choose a time when you're actually not that interested in watching the program so can concentrate on his behaviour instead. Mine even did it at cartoon dogs and drawings of dogs and fwiw he never once was laughed at or had it reinforced inadvertantly.