How to Train Your Dog to Stop Barking at the TV

Hello Robin, I would work on interrupting the behavior, leashing pup, and progressively desensitizing pup to the videos, rewarding calmness and not reacting to the videos with a treat. Check out this video first to get a general idea of this being done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvzxwnAOU8E I would start by using a slideshow to begin desensitizing pup to the TV, since that will in essence be a video but one moving very slow. Start with very slow intervals between picture changes. Teach pup the Leave It command and Quiet command: Leave It method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite Quiet method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Next, you will need an interrupter. In the video above the leash was used as an interrupter. The level of pup's arousal will effect what type of interrupter will be best in your case. Does pup ever redirect aggression toward you if you are nearby while they are reacting to the videos or pup is interrupted while doing so? So pup redirects while aroused, you will need to desensitize pup to wearing a basket muzzle for your safety. You may also want to use an interrupter that's remote to give some space between you and pup. A remote training collar that has vibration, stimulation, and tone can be a good remote option. You can use the tone before giving vibration or stimulation as a warning that pup will learn to respond to. You can also try using vibration as an interrupter before using stimulation. Some dogs only need the vibration. Others find the vibration more harsh than stimulation, and other dogs just ignore the vibration, so you would need to use stimulation anyways. A lot of high quality collar brands like e-collar technologies, dogtra, garmin, and sportdog include all those functions. Don't buy a cheaply made shock collar with only a handful of stimulation levels. A good collar should have at least 40 to train effectively and safely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cl3V8vYobM For most dogs something like an unscented air pet convincer or training collar is sufficient as an interrupter. Pup needs to be interrupted right when they start to react to the video - if you can interrupt as soon as you see them tense up, interrupt that soon. The sooner you interrupt pup in the arousal process before they are highly aroused, the easier it will be for pup to respond well and calm back down. Keep your images moving slowly so pup's not getting too excited, and can be more easily interrupted. Reward pup each time they calm back down or don't become reactive when a new picture moves onto the screen. This will take a lot of repetition. I would do this for 20 minutes every morning and evening you can. The goal here is for the TV and videos to become boring again. Once pup is doing well with slow slideshows, increase the speed between slides, so it's moving a bit faster. Start practicing this on other devices too if those devices can accommodate slides. Only increase the speed when pup is calm about the current speed. Gradually you will work up to the fastest speed option between slides so the slides are moving more quickly like a movie. Once you reach that point, choose a real video, but do something slow paced and more boring, not an action film or animal movie, to start with. Continue desensitizing regularly with the actual videos, until you eventually have worked up to being able to watch any movie. Use your Leave It and Quiet commands as reminds as needed once pup is trained to ignore the TV as well. Kikopup on youtube has additional videos on the desensitization process in general when it comes to reactivity. If you want to learn more about that type of training. I don't recall her having one specific to videos, but the general process is similar when applied to anything a dog is reactive too due to being overly sensitized. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Nov. 15, 2021