Does anyone watch Dog Whisperer?

[atchbedyto]

bckrazy, I must have posted at the same time you did. Excellent post Bravo!!! I wish I had your way with words

[IRescue452]

I break a lot of "dominance" rules. My dogs sleep on the bed and walk in front of me and play tug-of-war. Guess what, I'm still the leader. I've seen plenty of alpha wolves (I know they aren't dog) walking at a regular pace while the others walk in front or behind. They're paying attention to where the alpha is going. Human parents also. Little kids walk ahead or behind and still respect where the mom is going. As long as a dog knows and cares about its leader, it doesn't absolutely need to walk behind or be constantly shut down. I like my dogs to be relaxed and safe, and in turn they are obedient and loving.

[bckrazy]

bckrazy, I must have posted at the same time you did. Excellent post Bravo!!! I wish I had your way with words

I was going to say the same about your post... wonderful. I am so touched to hear about your Rottie girl. Those are some amazing, resilient dogs, so I can only imagine the torment that she went through before you rescued her. I grew up with a rescue Rottie who had been beaten senseless, forced to fight other dogs, and left in a doghouse for months with broken hips, and he had the most rock-solid, kind temperament I've ever seen.

I LOVE that you touched on the dangers of supressing warning behaviors. A dog who is punished for growling is a dog who learns to bite first and growl later. If anything, you want a dog who is vocal about discomfort, and whose breaking point is stretched out as far as possible. Challenging agression with aggression will inevitably breed aggression!!! In observing my own dogs, I notice that Fozzie, who is vocal in everything he does, has never been challenged aggressively by another dog. If a dog makes him uneasy, he will growl/whine/roo-roo calmly, and they will completely chill out and leave him alone. He has never needed to snark at another dog, nor has he been involved in any scuffles, because he communicates how he feels before it gets to that point. Both he and Gonzo growl at each other to communicate, yet they have never had even a mild altercation. I definitely trust a growling dog over a supressed dog who snaps "out of nowhere".

It just makes my heart sink when I see CM, and people on a daily basis, punishing their dogs for giving warnings. He hand-bites a dog that growls, instead of respecting that growl and backing off. The dog learns that growling is ineffective, the aggression/tension/discomfort is not "blocked", it is simply supressed. Understand your dog and their breaking point. If you don't want them to growl, don't push them to that point, teach them that whatever they are growling at is not a threat and they needn't be afraid of it. When you supress ANYTHING, it may be a temporary fix, but it's going to escape someday, somewhere, somehow. And it's going to be a lot uglier than a growl, a snap, or a nip.

I've seen plenty of alpha wolves (I know they aren't dog) walking at a regular pace while the others walk in front or behind.

Werd!!!

How practical would it be, in a pack of wolves or wild dogs for that matter, if all of the other wolves HAD TO BE behind the alpha wolf at all times... lest the alpha wolf would physically punish/choke them? Quite impractical. To me, respect does not involve an invisible line at my side that can never be crossed, nor does it involve a bed, a couch, or a meal being eating before I eat mine. Respect is the look of complete trust, willingness/eagerness to please, and happy compliance that my dogs give me in all situations. What more could one want from their dog? My dogs are not slaves, they are companions. If I had to force them into being calm/submissive every moment of every day, I would be unhappy and bored.

Furthermore, has anyone here EVER seen a dog/wolf forcefully alpha roll another and hold them by the neck simply as a display? Please, please, please show me any proof of this. I would love to see. The one time I witnessed a forced alpha roll was when a Rottie was rolling Gonzo with an intent to serious maim or kill him, leaving punctures all over his neck. Does that make her an alpha dog, or an unstable and dangerous dog? Oh, and, the end result was Gonzo becoming highly reactive to other dogs after years of working toward seeing them as a good thing. Woohoo! I imagine that Gonzo would be personally hurt if I alpha rolled him, and his trust in me would be shaken. If I give that dog a stern look he is crushed, noticeably crushed, all day. I have never used any negative punishment with Fozzie, but the one time my little sister collar corrected him, he became fearful of her, tried to get away from her, and would not come near her for the rest of the day. He is such a pleasant, trusting dog, and I'm positive that physical corrections would have a devestating affect on his natural confidence in people.

[finn's mom]

Great thread. I like Cesar. The girl, Victoria, on the other show, drives me bananas. I try to watch the show when it comes on, but I haven't made it past four or five minutes. I have used some of Cesar's techniques in my home with our six dogs, and have seen improvement. My dogs are my family, but they have been learning their place in it the last few months. Just as an example, our three are no longer allowed to sleep in our bed, since we will have a co-sleeper next to the bed for the baby. They still get loved on like there's no tomorrow, they just have a few more restrictions than they did before. I don't agree with all of Cesar's methods, but I haven't met or seen a trainer that I do.