Wow! I have never seen that show before, although I've heard it mentioned many times. I watched two hours of it tonight, Bud watched the second hour. We still have a few issues with 2½ yr old Rosie reacting to (some) other dogs at the park. I can see that we have been giving her a lot of mixed messages. Can't wait to get to the park tomorrow and try some new, nonverbal, re-direction! Is this show on at predictable times/days? Thanks for the heads up, RVSnowbird. Enjoyed it very much!
Judy & Bud (Judy usually the one talking here)
2004 Pleasure-Way Excel TD
unfortunately, the previous two weeks had 5 continuous hours of it, tonights only had two but both most enjoyable.
Thank you for the schedule Susan which is a curious one as being on the west coast, it seems we get the eastern feed at 5PM plus the western feed starting at 8.
Should I be Tivoing this show? I don't watch much tee vee, but this one sounds interesting. I have been whispering to Orson for a long time. Am I not doing it right? Uh oh. You mean I have been doing it wrong?
I will set up an auto-record thingie for this show.
Ummm, do you mean those that are philosophically "left coast" or those that hang out here? I happen to be in California right now. Does this make me a "left coast" person?
--doc
I feel like I have an extra hundred pounds on my feet. Wait, I do and he snores.
Doc, you will find it very interesting. He has some different approaches to becoming the pack leader. None of which involve wrestling or biting your dog's ears. Not to say that is a bad method, but its nice to have alternatives in case you run into another hard case.... might be muddy out, or you may not feel like wrestling, or whatever. Just add to the old arsenal. Plus you can watch all the crazy LA people insist that their dog is a human.
Judy, you want to catch the episodes with Bandit and Nunu. Those are the two "demon chihuahuas" he's worked with on the show. (Not that Poquita is a demon, but you'll find it amusing, in a sick sort of way.) Also some of the episodes other than those on last night show his pack, which is quite a thing to see. The dogs he has were former "problem dogs" and the pack includes about a dozen pits, some rotts and lots of other big breeds, but also several chis. There's an episode with a dog named Sparky (you will see the name on the schedule) that shows a lot of the pack.
He definitely does things that could result in a bite, and I've seen episodes where he gets bitten. Doesn't seem to bother him much. But as previously noted, he's not a trainer. He's there to correct the pack structure, not teach commands, and he does that by first establishing himself as leader, which can result in confrontations. There's a really repetitive "do not try these techniques without professional help" disclaimer, that you hope people will listen to.
Well, holy cow, those two hours of Dog Whisperer last night were sure worth the price of admission! We just got back from the park and couldn't believe the difference. I had recognized several things we've done wrong with our two. First of all, Bud takes Poquita (who is the best toy breed dog anybody ever saw with almost no bad behavior) and always walks ten paces ahead of me and Rosie. That, I take it, tells Rosie that I am not his equal in pack leadership. So I had Bud and Poquita walk beside me (he has to adjust his stride) and then I did like Cesar said: I walked purposefully, looking ahead, shoulders back and not glancing all around the park for other dogs or similar distractions. I kept the leash loose at all times, except to give a quick correction when Rosie stopped for no good reason. We did let them stop to examine their favorite P-mail addresses, only about 3 or 4 in a huge park. The only verbal correction I gave was "walk with me" which we learned in obedience class and that was when she tried to pull ahead. She immediately fell back to my side.
We walked all around that park with nary a single low growl from her at man or beast. The first thing we noticed was that we got a much more vigorous walk because I was controlling it, not Rosie. No stopping to follow a rabbit's scent or anything like that. The second was how quickly both dogs seemed to react to the new approach. Poquita's only flaw (told you she's only almost perfect) is to pull like crazy when our car is in sight. We all walked four abreast and Bud reinforced "walk with me" all the way to the car and no problem! Wow, we are convinced! Thanks Susan, for the Natl Geo schedule. We have DirecTV and no guide except what's on screen. I am going to make sure we see some more of those programs. I would love to see the chihuahua episodes, but our girls are nothing like the stereotype, fortunately.
OK, saw my first episode. I agree with most. Good show. I wish they would hot mike him so we could here some of the comments he makes off the record. Boy would that be worth seeing. Has anyone seen an episode where he worked with an owner who knew how to handle a dog but the dog actually had behavioral issues not created by his owner? Ive seen two episodes. Both problems I saw were created by the owner. The dogs had a good grasp of how to act when they lack a leader and was doing exactly that. This looks a lot like the Nanny for dog owners? Hopefully this show will catch on.
I've been watching the DW for quite a while, I LOVE HIM!!!!! I do use his methods, and they do work. Now I have two cairn terriers, so i do have double duty. But they're only 1, so they're still pups. But I think he's awesome.
I looked at his seminar schedule and all the ones i could go to, all the way up to Nov 2006 are sold out...can you believe that? Boy this guy is going to be rich!!!!
2007 Country Coach Magna aka Maggie
2004 Honda Pilot
Ellie Mae & Dori - Cairn Terriers
Offline
