Help! tv obsessed BC now licking the tv?!?!?!

Taffyhorse

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Hmmm, ok so our Border Collie Freddie has always been a bit of a telly addict (I think i've posted about his tv addiction before!)... When it goes on in the evening, he'll normally watch it on and off for most of the evening - some things excite him more than others i.e. he'll turn his back on Coronation Street (sensible dog!) but will happily watch Eastenders, Come dine with me, Police Interceptors and obviously anything with animals in it elicits obsessive (in the way only a collie can!) tv watching...

However, he's now taken to standing up on his back legs and licking the tv!! Its pretty random, doesn't do it all the time and there is no set pattern as to what triggers it - he has done it at cooking programmes, soaps, animal progs - even the news and The Weakest Link!

As I don't really want a tv covered in dog snot and slobber, I'd really appreciate some advice on how to get him to stop!

When he does it, We normally say no and call him away from the tv - sometimes we have to say this a couple of times or call him by his name to get his attention and get him to lie down away from the television - we get him to lay down at least 4ft away from it anyway otherwise his nose would be glued to the screen!

We always praise him when he moves away. But sometimes its just totally obsessive and he just keeps on doing - have clapped a few times too to grab his attention and whilst it stops it then, it doesn't break the pattern in his behaviour.

Sooo, I thought I'd trot in here and ask you lovely peeps for advice :)

PS: We're not obsessive tv watching slobs but we do like to watch it for a few hours in the evening!

Thanks for any help - it not a massive issue but like I said above, it would be nice to have a tv that's not covered in dog slobber!
 

CorvusCorax

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Keep him on a line in the house for a while and back up the verbal with a physical tug on the line to break the fixation. Also try distracting him with a ball or toy and make that more interesting than the telly.
 

Taffyhorse

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Thanks CC - I might give the line a try. The toys I might give a miss though - he is equally obsessed with anything that can be thrown so if I distract him with a toy, he'll spend all night alternating between dropping the toy on us and poking us with his nose or paw to throw it for him and rushing back to the tv for the interesting bits!

I am probably making him sound unstimulated but we do use toys outside the house and he gets walked for approx an hour twice a day in the week and longer at weekends. We try and do lots to stimulate him mentally too (though clearly he's also finding his own amusements!) and want to start agility with him in the new year - was supposed to be this year but unfortunately mitigating circumstances meant that we haven't been able too!

Thanks for your help :)
 

Taffyhorse

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Hee hee - I howl at the Coronation Street theme tune, normally in despair that I'm about to be subjected to another 30 minutes of torture!

Maybe it is a BC thing - he's the first Collie I've had since I was a kid and she lived outside

He's currently curled up next to me on the sofa watching the news! Doesn't often howl at thing but two ladies and a child having a conflab on the tv elicted lots of tail wagging and yipping/yowling...

Their minds work in mysterious ways, that's all I can think of...!
 

Goya

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He will be laying down then suddenly he leaps up and runs right up to the TV and watches intently in close up.
Stupid dog. Lol. Like yours, he needs a couple of commands before he moves away.
Doesn't howl at any other music. (not that I've heard yet. Only had him 4 weeks.)
 

Taffyhorse

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Maybe it is a collie thing then :) Or we've just ended up with two tv obsessed ones lol!!

Ours does the same and would happily spend all day with his nose squished up against the tv if we let him.

We got him last feb (he's 3 now) and he didn't do it to start with but he'd never really been a house dog in his previous home. I think it all kicked off when I watched Badminton XC on tv - he spent the whole day curled up on the sofa with me watching it and since then he hasn't stopped.

He will properly 'ask' for the tv to be put on too if we are here in the day or it it hasn't been put on by about 7pm, he stands in front of it looking at the tv, then looks at us, then back at the tv and will poke you with his nose if you ignore him!

Strange dogs...
 

Cinnamontoast

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My two are a bit keen, but not obsessed, fortunately.

Bear is very very interested in the furniture, tho: it's an old boat that has been turned into a shelving thing. He will stand and peer into the recesses of it for 10 minutes: totally fixated, wagging his tail. It's almost impossible to break his concentration on it so I'm going to move it upstairs cos it's annoying the bejesus out of me!
 

Brownmare

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Love it! My aunt's collie used to demand that Pet Rescue be put on for her :rolleyes: and I once saw her follow a ball that was thrown on screen and look for it round the side of the tv PMSL :D Sadly her eyesight is too bad now to watch much tv but she still perks up at the theme tunes she knows
 

Indy

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Goya - my two collies howl at coronation street too.

When lamb watch was on my two kept were transfixed by the tv to the point that they started going round the back looking for sheep!
 
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