by Bailey Coldwell
It is the end of a long day, and you just want to relax and watch TV. Perhaps cuddle with your dog. We don’t often plan in advance that sometimes we need to teach dogs how to “watch” TV, as many dogs will start to bark at them. When you think about it, television must be a super weird concept to dogs. One moment, they are hanging out with you in your living room, the next moment, they suddenly see and hear animals, other people, and weird objects appear seemingly out of nowhere. Even though we, as people, know that it is just a dog food commercial, animal planet, or a sporting event, our dogs don't automatically understand this. We must help them learn that they are safe and that better things happen when they don’t react.
Some pups might come home and immediately notice the television. Some might not see or seem to care until they reach adolescence or a fear period. Some pups might never have a reaction (which I imagine isn’t the case with your dog, considering you are reading along). Responding to the television doesn’t make your dog a bad dog or make you a bad owner, it is just another behavior that you want to help your dog learn what to do instead. Regardless of when or if this behavior starts happening, here are some tips:
Try to observe your dog while exposing them to the television. Reward them for not having a response. If you have worked with me, you know I often tell you to “reward your dog for offering good behaviors.” This situation is no different. A reward can be talking to your puppy, treating them, giving them a chew, playing with them, petting them, etc., while the potential trigger is there.
Many dogs might perk their ears, fixate on the television, and/or show tension in their body language. If a dog is in this fixed position for over 3 seconds, there is a good chance they need some support. Otherwise, a dog who is fixated on a trigger can quickly become a dog who takes matters into their own paws and starts to experiment with barking. If you see your dog fixating on a trigger like this, try to interrupt them. An interrupter can be calling their name, making a kissy noise, saying “leave it” (if you have taught them this cue), or otherwise trying to grasp their attention. If your puppy responds quickly and readily, reward them in a carefree way. Teach them that it is okay to look at the television, but more incredible things happen when they can also take their attention away from it and focus on you instead. You interrupting the fixation also helps to bring the stimulation levels down.
If your puppy is not easily redirecting after 1-2 attempts, you will likely need to support them a bit more. Start with standing up and moving. Adding movement can help grasp a dog’s attention. You can even stand right in front of them to help break the fixation.
If the dog tries to move closer to the television then, starts to vocalize, or if they start to have an energy increase, we will want to help them decompress by creating distance.
Have a leash either nearby or already connected to your dog. If they are at the point where their energy levels are rising and intensifying instead of redirecting towards you, create distance. Calmly do this; we don’t want to add to the heightened emotions. You might have to get to the other end of the room or you might have to exit the room entirely for the dog to decompress.
Keep an eye on your dog. Wait for them to look up at you, do a “shake off”, stop vocalizing, and/or loosen up. This is then the point at which you want to reward your dog carefree and calmly. You can then get closer as your dog does well again. Get further away if your dog is struggling.
You want to get your timing right when rewarding your dog. If your dog is already reacting or showing intensity towards the situation, do not reward them. Avoid shoving a treat in the dog’s mouth as a distraction when offering unwanted behaviors. Reward once they are able to redirect to you.
If you are not able to reward your dog for not barking or if you are not able to interrupt them for barking, keep your dog in a different room while the TV is on until you have taught your dog what to do instead. This might mean more time in the crate or a pen for now.
It might take several repetitions of getting closer and backing up again if your dog keeps vocalizing but don’t give up. We are working on the threshold distance to the TV and hoping to get to the point where the dog feels safe and neutral when seeing triggers on the television.
Purposely have sessions where you are working on this. You can also pause the TV on an image of the trigger instead of having it be a video. This is a transitional step to help the screen not be as intimidating.
You can also practice on a smaller screen like a laptop. This can also make the trigger seem less intense.
Make sure that everyone is consistent about this. If sometimes the dog is still able to have these barking episodes, it will be harder to break the habit.
You can’t reward too much. When first working on this, you might have to reward your dog every few seconds. Once your dog is doing well with this, start adding more time in between rewards.
Give it time. We often hear, “I have tried all of the suggestions, and it continues to happen.” If it is still happening, we want to work more on rewarding the dog before they bark, preventing it, and creating distance. Dogs do what works for them and don’t do what doesn’t work for them. If something consistently works, they will keep doing it. If something doesn’t work for them, they will learn to stop doing the behavior if they are taught what to do instead.
You can get to the point of relaxing with your dog and watching television together. Don’t be alarmed if your dog has started this behavior, as it is common. Hopefully, these tips help you get to your TV-watching goals with your dog. Reach out to our team of trainers if you would like more support.
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