[cookieface]

Our dog, a nine month old standard poodle, tends to be dog reactive. Last night we were watching the AKC / Eukanuba dog show and she started growling and barking at the TV. We stopped it (it was recorded), let her calm down, and took her outside.

When we came back inside, we started watching the show again and sort of played the "look at that game" with her. Every time she looked at the screen and didn't react, we marked and reinforced. We did that for until she seemed to lose interest in the dogs and she was fine through the rest of the show.

At the time it seemed like a good way to reinforce her good behavior and we never would have thought to do so had she not reacted so strongly in the beginning. Now, I'm wondering if that was a good idea and if it's something we can / should repeat. Of course, we'll still work with her in real life situations as often as possible, too.

 

[DustyCrockett]

What do you see as a down side? I can't think of one.

What channel is that on? Will it be showing again? If only I could get Tucker to do that.

 

[cookieface]

Thanks for your reply.

What do you see as a down side? I can't think of one.

I couldn't really think of a downside, but I'm far from an expert.

What channel is that on? Will it be showing again? If only I could get Tucker to do that.

It was on ABC yesterday (February 4) afternoon. Not sure if it will be on again, but there may be videos on the AKC web site.

 

[Cracker]

I think that was a brilliant training opportunity for you! Good job and good instincts!

 

[CrazyDogLady]

I think this is a great idea and I'm going to try it tomorrow! I recorded the Puppy Bowl this afternoon but couldn't watch it because it kept setting Mercy off. I never even thought to use this as a training opportunity.

 

[xxxxdogdragoness]

Of all the dogs I have had in 20 yrs I have never had one that even have the TV a second thought or look, but they don perk up if something that SOUNDS strange to them comes on, but they realize by themselves that it's nothing & usually go back to sleep.

 

[cookieface]

Thanks for the reassurances. I thought this could be a brilliant idea or an incredibly stupid one - glad to be on the positive side of things. We still need to work on real life situations, but this can be a way to offer some controlled practice. I also picked up Control Unleashed and I hope that those exercises will help, too.

Of all the dogs I have had in 20 yrs I have never had one that even have the TV a second thought or look, but they don perk up if something that SOUNDS strange to them comes on, but they realize by themselves that it's nothing & usually go back to sleep.

Katie has never paid any attention to the TV before, but there's never been a parade of dogs on it either. We keep thinking that maybe she wasn't blessed with smart genes

 

[DustyCrockett]

Of all the dogs I have had in 20 yrs I have never had one that even have the TV a second thought or look, but they don perk up if something that SOUNDS strange to them comes on, but they realize by themselves that it's nothing & usually go back to sleep.

Canine vision refresh rates are higher than human, so dogs see mostly flickering images on most TV screens. A high def TV with a 120hz refresh rate should present a fairly clear moving image to dogs.