Last night, I watched a new TiVo'd episode of The Dog Whisperer. It was shot in Omaha, NE rather than in Southern California where all other dogs have been located. There was a woman and her husband who adopted a dog 4 years ago who had been kept in an animal testing lab for a long period of time prior to that. Animal vaccines had been tested on him and he'd become fearful of every human because his only contact with any human during that time was one human who would give him the shot - no love, no contact with other dogs, nothing - such an amazingly cruel thing to do to a pack animal. After the dog's time in the lab was done, he was given to the humane society. A shelter volunteer took him home thinking he would get better with love, but he never did. So for four years, this poor dog has been completely terrified of everything: cowering in his kennel at night, wouldn't go out for a walk, constantly running away from every person even though the days of physical pain were over for him. Imagine living like that for four years. How awful. A traditional dog trainer was brought in and said there was nothing that could be done because he couldn't teach a dog that fearful how to sit, stay, etc. Caesar shows up and within hours of his arrival, he has the dog out of his kennel, sitting calmly near to him, out walking with a pack of dogs and doing just fine. Seeing the dog's body language is all the evidence one needs to see what he did worked for that dog. The follow-up camera footage showed that his owners continued to make significant progress with him and he's doing great; his tail was even completely in the air which, for this dog, really amazed me. I'm sure he still has his moments of terror - how could he not? - but it was so great to see how quickly a dog like that can change with the right type of human interaction.
I've read a fair number of complaints from dog trainers who think The Dog Whisperer has put dog training back 20 years. However, I've tried both dog training classes and his techniques. If I had stuck solely with the traditional path of dog training, there is no way that we would have had a glorious trip to the vet like we had yesterday. I remember when I came back from one vet trip and swore that I would never take both dogs at the same time again because they were that uncontrollable. Not only can Eddie now behave normally at the vet, but I can handle taking both of them on just their normal nylon collars - no gentle leaders, no pinch collars, no pulling me into the vet from the car, no jumping all over everyone. All of this is due to what I learned on The Dog Whisperer, what I learned from the woman he refers people to for one-on-one help, and a bit to the bark collar that Eddie wore maybe 5 times which I haven't put on him in probably 2 months. I don't claim to know even close to as much as a professional dog trainer, but I do feel that any trainer who feels Caesar's techniques are anything but a productive supplement to dog training hasn't given them the full credit they are due. I don't think you could take a dog with no training and only use the techniques Caesar preaches to get a trained dog; but he says in the beginning of his book that it's not about dog training, it's about dog psychology. I guess that is what frustrates me about his critics. At no point have I ever gotten the impression that Caesar says you don't need to do additional work with the dog. He's just fixing their behavioral issues so the training part can get through.
I told D the other night that having Eddie and his "issues" (turns out most of the issues were ours) definitely better prepared us for dealing with kids. Sometimes I don't like being the dog owner that doesn't let my dogs go out front of me sniffing willy-nilly for the whole walk; I only let them do that on my terms, in spots where I decide it's OK, and they have to earn it by sitting and waiting for the OK first. Sometimes I don't like that I make the both walk beside me which means it looks like they're not having as much fun as the other dogs bouncing back and forth in front of their owners. Sometimes I don't like telling Eddie to get off the bed when he jumps up without being invited ... that one still kills me inside because he can give the most intense, "You're not fair!" looks not to mention the indignant sighs. However, I know all the practice at saying, "No," because saying no is what is best for the dogs, rather than just giving in because that is what is best/easiest for me, can only result in better parenting. It may be more fun (in the moment) to spoil a dog or a child, but it most certainly isn't the most responsible thing. Hear hear for saying, "No!"
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