Introducing Fifi...who jumps on bed every night!

Training and behavior topics, guidelines, and tips for Chow Chows.

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nehaandfify
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Introducing Fifi...who jumps on bed every night!

Post by nehaandfify »

Hi all,

Me and my husband are new pet parents of a Chow Chow. I've had dogs pretty much all my life and I am now 32 yrs old. Fifi is five months old and is my first Chow. She's essentially a potty-trained pup and generally responds to voice calls such as 'Come' and 'No' but gets aggressive at certain times during the day. When she completes a bowel movement, she runs around the whole house, jumping on furniture and even clamps our ankles and hands. We both try to tell her to stop by threatening to use water by saying 'water'! and holding a bottle. But she growls and then sits in one place. It isn't ideal though because one of us then goes to her and pats her gently, lovingly talks to her and even at times, brings her water bowl to her so she can drink from it (after all the running). The second thing is that in the middle of the night, she jumps on the bed, and starts walking about, clamping our hands and feet (and that hurts) and then circles the bed aggressively only to sit there. We brought a crate for her, she lounges outside of it. We brought a mattress, she keeps her toys on it. She is a fussy eater and loves eating mostly in the evenings and late afternoon, as she sleeps during the day. She is quite socialised, has been around my parents, my brother and his family and also doesn't jump or bite anyone who walks into the house. She is wary but not aggressive with strangers. I walk her twice a day.
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Rory's Dad
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Re: Introducing Fifi...who jumps on bed every night!

Post by Rory's Dad »

I think you have a couple of different issues there...

1st off, stop threatening her with the water bottle. You won't win a battle of will with a Chow, especially if one of you is going to reward her with affection immediately after.

That extra energy after her 'potty time' is perfectly normal. I would ignore her, outside of a 'good girl' encouragement. Assuming she has done what you expect, you just want to reassure that she has done well. This can be helpful if you are walking her and want to make sure the walk is productive and not just an endless stroll around the neighborhood. Keep it all 'business' and she will stop with the extra activity.

And stop chasing her. She thinks its a game, and she's winning by getting all that extra attention. If you want to gain her attention, try to reward motivate her. Grab a small piece of cheese or a bait treat. Get her attention by letting her smell it, and then have her sit at your side calmly. When she complies and is acting properly, let her have the reward. Associate a verbal command, aside from sit/down, that matches the behavior. Even if you tell her 'calm', she will get the process.

The bed behavior sounds like an attempt to control. She is challenging. How that is handled is up to you. If you don't want her on the bed at all, then you simply remove her to the floor. Once down, tell her that its good behavior. The reward here would be an nice pet on the head and maybe a quick belly rub if she allows it. I would not food reward when correcting behavior. If she persists, then utilize the crate so she learns that the bed is not included in her acceptable spaces.

If the bed is acceptable, then work on her 'down' training. Teach her that when on the bed, she needs to be lying down and relaxed. That can be done with the treat reward method.
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