Cesar Millan is the last chance for dogs - he saves them

I dont intend this as a 'bashing' post more a place to compile some information together to counter when someone comes to me with the line that Cesar Millan saves dogs.

It is actually quite difficult to get follow up news on any of the dogs featured in his show as all the owners are known to have to sign a non disclosure form so they cant speak about the show after it.

But there are some follow ups out there

Shadow

This is one of the first episodes I ever saw. It shows many examples of why I dont like Cesar Millan. Firstly he threads the lead through the handle so he effectively has a noose round Shadow. He ignores all Shadows good behaviour when he isnt shouting at the other dog and keeps taking him closer to get a reaction (this is called 'setting him up to fail' you can train without doing this) and even then the reaction is not impressive enough so he kicks him in the guts while tightening the lead at the same time, he then fights with shaddow until Shaddow 'gives up' (possibly due to lack of air) He is also causing the border collie lots of stress being barked at like this. Later he 'floods' Shaddow with dogs very close to him forcing him to put up with them - but when you look at the poor dog you can see he isnt in any way happy to be in that situation, he does not fear dogs any less he just fears Cesar Millan more.
Here is a follow up on Shadow, this is from the woman who originally fostered him and made the mistake of giving him to this family to adopt. First point is with her Shadow had no issues, they only arose from aggressive training methods. Shadow was NOT fixed with this show and the owner was talking of getting him put to sleep when the fosterer got her to hand him in, then after rehab he was again a loving dog

Cesar Millan did not save this dog, the dog didnt have any problems before, CM type training methods caused the issues and CM's attention did not fix the dog - the owner gave him up

Other links about this dog

JonBee

JonBee was a rescue who had had horrible wounds on his neck, he had NO ISSUES except that he did not like to be rolled on his back inside the house on the slippy wooden floor . JpnBee very much does not look calm or relaxed after being pinned to the floor - and there is no reason to have to pin a dog on the floor, if you need them to show their tummy for medical attention then teach them to roll over - its a fairly basic trick. There are conflicting reports about what happened to JonBee after this - possibly he was rehomed, possibly the owner was planning to rehome him anyway as he was rescuing and rehoming dogs, and I saw one report where he kept the dog

But CM's methods did not 'FIX' this dog, those methods created the problem in the first place

Jake

Again follow up on Jake is difficult to find, I have been told that it was mentioned in his book that Jake was put to sleep - if anyone knows if this is true or not can you let me know? 

Again this is very distressing to watch, the dog has had such little socalisation that he is basically a wild animal. Many many wild animals have been tamed with time and love and lots of food - never by pinning it to the floor till it gets tired of struggling. This method is only good for getting people bitten

Holly

Holly is NOT a bad dog at all, she has food guarding issues which is something trainers and behaviourists deal with every day of the week without anyone getting bitten 

 

In the above video you can see Holly has been taken away from her loving home and is living at Cesar Millans centre. I dont know what happened with her afterwards - but there was no reason for this, food guarding is a common issue and can be dealt with without anyone getting bitten

Duelling PitBulls

In this episode a couple who had no issues with their dogs fighting sent them away to residential training to help with their obedience. The dogs came back fighting. This in itself is a big worry and I would like to know what happened to the dogs with that other person. They then tried several punishment methods and resorted to Cesar Millan. He meets with them and agrees they have a problem - and then waits 1/2 a year before he takes one dog away to his centre to help them.

Sadly again his methods fail and the two are still fighting at the end - and so CM actually just offers them a different dog from his centre 

That is not fixing or saving dogs - just swapping a loved family pet for a strange dog???

Cotton 

The show leaves Cotton looking like he is 'fixed' but the sad truth is CM's methods dont work for everyone, they look 'easy' on the TV but even CM gets bitten sometimes. Cotton is an example that once the dog has a bite history they are difficult to rehome and once the cameras go away its not always possible to keep up what CM started 

Here we see in the end his owners have to resort to having his teeth filed down. This is very sad because it means the poor dog is still as scared and stressed as ever, he is not 'fixed' he just cant hurt people.

And Here we see even filing his teeth down did not of course 'fix' the problem 

Cesar Millan isnt the last chance for dogs, thousands of qualified behaviourist, dog trainers, rescuers and owners are helping dogs just as bad as the ones seen here, they are doing it quietly without getting bitten and without having a battle with dogs 

He is not the last chance, his methods are dangerous, stressful and should not be an option at all for any dog

Here is another good article by someone who had experience with him 

Pets at Home to Stop Selling Cesar Millan Books

I opened my facebook this morning to the best news

**ANNOUNCEMENT**

Based on customer feedback, we're removing all Cesar Milan books from our stores and they will no longer make up part of our book range. The transition will take a few weeks, so you may still see these in some stores.

Now I know a lot of people will be confused by this as to why it is a good thing and why there is such dislike for Cesar there are some useful links in the following pages

http://www.dogwelfarecampaign.org/
https://www.4pawsu.com/dogpsychology.htm

I know most people who follow his methods are not cruel to their dogs, they follow the principles in his training that are fairly common to all dog trainers, being consistent and making sure the dog has adequate exercise.
These things are fantastic

Then there is the middle ground of 'not so good but not in itself doing harm' where people hear that just about everything they dont like that their dog does is because he is dominant
and if the rank reduction methods are nothing more than stopping the dog get on the sofa or eating before them then its not really cruel - and to an extent it does work, not because suddenly the dog thinks you are 'Alpha' but because suddenly you are doing some kind of training with your dog, you are giving them some rules to follow

When it starts to become bad is when because you think your dog is dominant  and that is a 'bad thing' that must be stopped you start seeing your dog in a negative light
You assume he should magically 'know' how to walk nicely on a lead, keep off the sofa (that he was once allowed on) and worse still - not ever communicate wants, needs, likes and dislikes.
You are only now looking for the 'bad' in your dog so you can suppress it, you ignore the 20min when he is walking nicely on the lead to focus on the 30s when he lunged at the cat
You ignore the evening lying quietly on his bed to focus on the 2 barks at the door.
This is stressful for YOU to always see your dog in the negative, you are missing many opportunities to teach your dog the things you DO want them to do, and it is very stressful to the dog who suddenly sees you angry all the time and dosent understand why.
Again these methods do seem to 'work' this is because punishments suppress behaviour, they get depressed and give up trying to do things, the most dangerous of these things is punishing a dog for growling. It seems to make total sense - the dog must be challenging you by growling - so you punish it, eventually the dog gives up growling
The problem here is you have dealt with the communication NOT the actual problem
Growling is the dog telling you he really dosent like something, it is a warning
If you punish the warning it will go away - but the dog still dosent like the thing he was warning you about
Now he dosent have the option to communicate, you think he is 'fixed' and keep putting him in the situation that is very stressful for him.
So the best side of that method is he is very stressed - the worst thing is that some dogs will reach their breaking point and knowing growling dosent work then they will move right to the attack - without any warning.

If you see the communication as  'good' and help your dog to like the thing then the growling will go away
 

That dont impress me much!

Oh an earworm and a ranty post all at once - its a twofer Wednesday

Take a wee look at this video

Some of you will look at that and think 'Amazing' 'What control to have so many dogs under control offlead beside a busy road'
And I suppose in some respects if you are struggling with your dog pulling you all over the place and not listening to you this can look pretty impressive.
But
A few questions to ask yourself there.
Whos benefit is a walk for? Would you like to be those dogs? What is being gained by them being offlead there?
Have a look at the dogs body language, see how their bodies are all curled in on themselves - this is not just the conformation of the dogs, they are keeping their heads and tails down, making themselves look small and unimportant so as to not draw attention to themselves. Notice how they are doing their best not to look at anything as they walk about, their entire focus is making sure they stick to their position.
Dogs need mental and physical exercise every day - walking like this without looking and sniffing is only physical exercise, they might as well be on a treadmill
Notice how they dont want to look at their owner at all and he dosent want to look at them either, I love walking WITH my dogs, smiling at each other, spotting what they have seen, seeing their happy faces when we take the turn to the park, watching the different shapes their waggy tails make when they sniff different smells (I can even tell by the wag if one of their friends has just gone into the park)
Could I walk my dogs offlead to the park? Yes I am sure I could - BUT - it is risking my dogs for the sake of my ego - betting their lives on my training - and all for the time it takes to stick a lead on.

If you are having a bad day and stressed that your dog is pulling a bit - look down at them - smile and be rewarded with that waggy tail - a little bit naughty for me is 100 times better than a depressed robot

Myths about positive trainers #2 Treat training makes dogs fat

Reeeealy??

Fat is caused by consuming more energy than you burn

Its as simple as that.

So yes if you give your dogs lots of treats and dont reduce their meals or exercise them more then your dog will gain weight.

But many pet owners give their dog some kind of treat, I know lots of people who will give their dog a dentistick or boneo or something in the evening to keep them occupied. This is WAY more than my dogs get for training, I give my dogs lots of treats when training that is true - but - they are tiny treats. For example something the size of a cocktail sausage gives my dogs up to about 25 treats or I use tiny slivers of dried liver 1/2 the size of my pinky nail.

Mental exercise uses energy as well - so learning things IS exercise

Also if you train your dog to walk nicely with you or be happy in different situations then you are able to take them more places and walk them for longer walks so they are less likely to get overweight.

Myth busted - overfeeding/under exercising dogs makes them fat

Myths about positive trainers - 1 Positive trainers just advise difficult dogs are put to sleep

I honestly dont know when this myth started. I know lots of followers of a certain TV celeb seem to strongly believe he is the last chance for many aggressive dogs because other trainers would just have the dogs put to sleep.

This is as far from the truth as is possible. But before I go into that lets look at the fact that yes, many dogs are put to sleep

In the world today we have more dogs than we have homes for and so it is a sad fact that in some rescues some people have to make the difficult decision to put dogs to sleep.
That is not a failing of the rescues - and it has nothing to do with any trainers - positive or otherwise. The blame there is firmly on the heads of the people producing too many dogs.

Yes often it will be aggressive dogs or dogs of a certain type who are put to sleep, there are two reasons for this, it is harder to find good homes for these dogs, there are plenty of homes for small fluffy puppies so it makes sense when you have to free up space to go for the dogs that are unlikely to find a home anyway. Also if a dog has bitten in the past many re-homing centres have policies of not rehoming these dogs incase they bite again, not only would the people in the centre feel responsible they also may end up being sued and that will have a cost impact on how many dogs they can help in the future.

Some trainers may refuse to work with aggressive dogs, that does not mean they are saying the dogs need to be put to sleep, just that they either do not have the experience to work with this type of dog or their insurance does not cover them for this type of work.
That is fair enough, there are specialists in every walk of life, you dont go to a pet dog trainer to teach your dog to be an obedience champ, dont expect all dog trainers to be aggression specialists.

Referring you to someone else is NOT  saying the dog needs put to sleep.

For a behavioural issue you need a behaviourist (try the APBC in the UK, these people have to be qualified to a high level with lots of experience in the field as well - remember anyone can call themselves a behaviourist but not everyone has any qualifications in the subject)
A GOOD behaviourist wont even see you till you have seen a vet to rule out any medical issues.

So do behaviourists tell people to get their dogs PTS?
Lets think about this - someone whos job is to help dogs with behavioural issues telling people to put the dogs to sleep - do you think these people would actually be in a job long if they killed off all their clients?
When talking about options they may well mention it as an option - IF the owners dont feel they are willing or able to do the work required to help their dog. Even using punishment methods to 'fix' a dog takes time, the TV celeb often takes 'difficult' cases away with him to work with them over weeks or even months.

Issues like seen on TV shows are bread and butter to good positive behaviourists, you dont see thousands of films of them helping because it is actually very dull to watch, no man v beast fight, the dogs are kept calm and taught how to not only act calm but to BE calm around the thing that they used to be aggressive about.

If you still doubt positive trainers help aggressive dogs then have a look at all the literature that is out there to help people with problem dogs - I will link a few below

Control Unleashed
Click to calm
Feisty Fido
Calming signals
Scaredy dog
Stress in dogs 

Thousands of  positive dog owners quietly rescue and help difficult dogs all over the world, just get chatting to people ringside at an agility show or have a look at the many forums and facebook pages for positive training and you will see what an amazing supportive community there is for people helping others with difficult dogs

Myth BUSTED
  

What positive training is not

I haven't done a ranty post about training methods for a while - so here is one
All too often I am hearing people who train using punishment tools saying they have to for certain behaviours because (real examples) 'How safe would it be for me to be trying to bribe with cookies when my dog is playing in the traffic' or 'wagging chicken in-front of his face when he is attacking another dog is not going to work'

The problem with the thinking of punishment based trainers is they have to see the behaviour and then punish it
So they think positive training would be the same - see the 'bad' behaviour and then bribe the dog with food or toys in the hope they would learn to not do those things

And of course the problem is in some cases that is what they might see positive trainers doing - except at that point they are not training
For example imagine the case of positive and punishment trainers walking along a path with an untrained dog. One day there is an unexpected hole in the fence that the dog sees before the trainer and darts into the road

Of course as the dog is untrained he has no recal

A punishment trainers course of action may be to yell for the dog to come back, which of course will not work, then have to run into the traffic to try and grab the dog - and possibly even punish the dog when they reach them - which by that point the dog does not realise they are being punished for going tru the gap in the fence.
Later that trainer may walk to path beside the fence and punish the dog any time they start to move towards the hole
Or train a recall by punishing the dog while they are away from them and stopping the punishment when they choose to come back

A positive trainer may try to get the dogs attention with some food or a toy so they can grab the dog and get them to safety - THEN knowing about a problem they will work on training the dog a behaviour they do want
So most likely a whiplash recall in lots of different locations
and a nice heel command so the dog can walk nicely with them past a danger
AND clip the dog on the lead while they pass this point on the walk so the dog is kept safe and does not get to practise the unwanted behaviour.

So if you look at the above both for positive and punishment trainers the first point of the dog running into the road is not actually training - it is the trainers seeing that there is a training problem/opportunity
'bribing' with something nice is just a way to hopefully deal with the immediate danger and get the dog to safety.
Actually giving a cookie to the dog for running into the traffic would not work as training - if you did it often enough then your dog may learn to run into traffic to get a cookie.

Positive training is NOT letting a dog do the wrong thing then bribing them with food
Get the dog safe (manage the situation at hand) THEN realise you have a gap in your training and work on fixing it

Cesar and Allan

When I heard Cesar Millan was to be on the Allan Titchmarsh show I was initally worried
I was actually so worried I was amongst the many many people who wrote to his production team complaining and sending loads of videos and quotes from people about the cruelty in Cesar Millans methods.
I wasnt hopefull thinking this would just be a interview about how great CM is
But I was very very surprised! A hard hitting interview that really had Cesar on the back foot
Enjoy

Cesar Millan - Gizmo

Another clip from Cesar Millans new show - and another bite for him

Granted this owner has made quite a few mistakes but Gizmo is actually really tolerant of what for him is a pretty confusing thing
Cesar is just looking for confrontation - Gizmo even backs off and sits, which would be a perfect time to let him get the food - but it seems that Cesar just wants to push the dog until he bites to make things look 'good' for the TV

Dogs guard food because they dont trust that they are safe to eat unmolested
Teach them that you are a trustworthy person and your hands bring them nice things
Teach children to leave dogs alone when they are eating
Noone needs to be bitten

Cesar Milan - How not to deal with food guarding

It seems the dog abuser is back for a new series.
I know loads of people love him and will be totaly up in arms with me calling him an abuser - but please take the time to watch

In this clip Cesar confronts Holly, a food agressive dog. He is called in because the family have a new baby and are justifiably concerned.
Cesar right from the start is spoiling for a fight, his crouched position and staring hard eyes are really aggressive to a dog but Holly tries to eat.
He then tries to put his hand in the bowl and she snarls at him.
At this point any decent trainer would have seen all they need to - she guards food an could bite if pushed
But no - Cesar has to push it further. His instant response is a punch/slap to the side of her jaw
(the camera jerks at this point so it is difficult to see if its a punch or one of his hand jabs - but its full force)
Agression leads to agression - causing pain increases adrenaline and makes a dog more likely to want to attack
He advances on Holly, she backs up - she is showing her teeth at him but also backing up and licking her lips - all her trying to comunicate with him that she is uncomfy and feeling trapped.
If she was agressive she wouldnt warn him - but she does - lots - and he keeps pushing her
Eventually she lies down and is turning her head away - she is trying to diffuse the situation. He puts his cupped hand onto her nose - I am not sure if he thinks he is patting her at this point - but she sees it as an attack and responds the only way she knows how - she bites him

Compare this with how another dog trainer deals with a similar dog

 

Victoria can see the dog is likely to snap and so keeps everyone safe. She teaches the dog that people being close to his bowl is a good thing - there is no showdown, no 'man verses beast' just calm training that anyone can do

Unfortunatly for Holly there is no happy ending. Cesar decides Holly is now to agressive for the family and moves her into his 'pack'

Watching him interact with these dogs is so very sad. The dogs are not well behaived not jumping on him and greeting him - they are frozen stressed statues. Lip licking is very much a sign of stress, as is the fixed 'grins' on the dog
Poor Holly, another dog failed by Cesar, a problem that is fixed daily by many behaviourist and trainers all over the world - in the hands of Cesar this poor girl lost her home and has a bite history on her record

No you be the leader

All too often nowadays people are obsessed with becoming the 'pack leader'
Always suppressing our dogs and seeing a challenge to their status in every little thing the dog does.
This is all unfortunately because of flawed research done years ago in wolf packs.
The researchers thought they saw packs of wolves with an alpha pair who were the bosses leading with paws of iron





and the rest of the pack was made up of lower ranking wolves all trying to climb the social ladder to be the alpha dogs.
The alpha wolves were the only ones to mate.
People assumed this meant that only the strongest in a pack ever got to mate and submissive animals never got the chance to pass on their genes.

More recently researchers have realised that view was wrong.
A pack is not a group of individuals fighting to get to the top


A pack is a family. The alpha pair are the parents.
Wolves do not become sexually active till they are at least 2 so the other wolves in the pack are older cubs of the alpha pair.
There is no point in the younger animals striving to reach the top - that would mean them breeding with their parents.
When wolves become mature they go off and find their own mate and create their own pack - even the submissive ones.




So rather than the pack leader we should think of ourselves more as a 'parent' role.
Yes dogs need rules, guidelines and training.
But letting your dog on the sofa will not mean he will chase to postman.
Making them wait to eat after you will not make her recall when called

If you have a training problem address the actual problem rather than making up rules that make no sense for the dog



So for today's walk I let Mia be the leader. She found us a wee path to walk along - it seemed like a wee deer path - but I gave it a go.
Then it opened into the most lovely park and then a forest walk

and even me letting her 'lead' she still stayed when I asked for a photoshoot and she recalled when I called.

So I guess all this power hasn't gone to her head and she isn't going to steal my credit card just yet

The APBC continues to challange Cesar Millans methods

The Association of Pet Behaviour Councillors has issued this statement against Cesar Millan and his methods.

The APBC are a major body in the UK, if you have a behavioural problem with your dog and are referred from your vet it will be to one of their members. As such every day they work as the last chance for aggressive dogs so they really know what they are talking about.

Like many they are concerned that the advesrsive type training Cesar Millan uses not only compromise the welfare of the dogs but they can in the long run make the dogs more aggressive as the problems are not addressed and fixed just suppressed.

I find it really sad that for many years positive trainers have been changing the face of dog training with kind and effective training and behaviour modification which does not stress the dog and is safe for everyone to practise, but with one flashy TV show dog training has been put back 20 years.

Why is it so natural to the human species to enjoy the spectacle of a man wrestling an animal to the ground?

Featured dog website

The Dog welfare campaign is a great website for any dog lovers

The aim of this web-site is to provide the media and members of the public with
more information about the behaviour of dogs, the possible consequences of using
aversive training techniques, and where to go for appropriate advice on training
and behaviour issues.

It contains some great information and links for finding good dog trainers and behaviourists in the UK.

It explains the problems with using aversive punishment training on dogs and has a list of all the experts and bodies in the UK who are specifically against Cesar Millan, his teachings, his TV show and his tour of the UK.

It is sad that so many experts in the UK voice concerns of the dangers of using these types of confrontational methods and yet he is still coming to the country, his shows still get the airplay on the TV.

If you have a problem with your dogs behaviour please please contact an expert, do not try and follow advice from a TV entertainer

'Red zone' dogs, compare Cesar Millan to poitive methods by a behaviourist

Many people often comment that Cesar Millans more extream methods are OK because they are saving the lives of real OTT red zone dogs that would otherwise be put to sleep.
Most people do not realise that most behaviourists will deal with these type of dogs on a regular basis. In the main these methods are not shown on TV as they do not seem as flashy, the dogs are kept calm - not as interesting for TV as a 'out of control' dog, a man v's dog struggle and then a 'calm, fixed' dog turning up as if by some kind of magic.
So I am puting up a couple of similar examples for you to see the difference


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iX7oyAjJDA&feature=player_embedded

This first clip shows a positive way to do things.
At the start the dog is very stressed and giving out mixed signals to the dog. Sure its tail is wagging but look in its eyes, look at its face. This is a common problem with people with fearful dogs. This dog is stress panting, it does not know how to behaive with the other dog being there and has learnt the best way to cope is to bark and be scary because that makes the other dog go away (either the other dog is taken away or it is dragged away - either way it dosent have to interact with the other dog)
At this point the trainers are not training the dog, they are assesing the situation. The dog is not in a position to learn anything much, it is just reacting.
Like all flashy TV shows this is now cut as the dog is taught some better ways to behaive.
Training a dog at a great enough distance from the trigger (the other dog in this case) so the dog can be calm. It learns that nice things happen when the other dog is about and that the handler is not going to force it to interact with the other dog.
At the end of the clip you can see from the dogs body language that it is relaxed and happy, it is able to focus on the handler and is enjoying working with them. It is aware of the other dog being there but now the other dog being there is just a signal that nice things - like work and treats - are gonna happen, the other dog is no threat.
That dog is calm, happy and safe.

Now lets see how Cesar deals with a dog like that. (for some strange reason Nat Geo takes these clips down often - strange that - so it is working now but if it is gone when you try to watch then let me know and I will try and find one that is up)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eSERTmOrpk
At the start the dog is walking fairly close to the collie although it dosent look v happy it is not showing agression and there are plenty of chances for CM to reward the dog. But of course CM does not reward a dog for good behaviour he prefers to force it do the wrong thing so he can punish it and show it who is the boss.
So he keeps bringing the dogs closer together until the dog looks at the collie
Note there is STILL no agression here yet
But that is enough for CM. He kicks the dog and at the same time tightens the lead

Now people argue about the force of the kick, whether this is a 'foot tap' or a 'kick'
Have you ever been focused on something and not realised a friend is behind you until they tap you on the shoulder? Sometimes you whip round heart racing, you really jump
When you see it is a friend you calm down say 'what a fright you gave me' and have a laugh
But in Shadows case it isnt a friend behind him, its CM, who at the same time is tighting the lead up and cutting off the dogs air

Of course the dog will fight back, and it shows what a really good dog that is that it dosent do some real harm to CM. It could have if it had wanted to.

Now there is a battle, it ends when the dog gives up - whether it has run out of air or if it just gives up I do not know.
But what has it learnt here??
Strange dog is about, it is still scary, but this man is even more scary

The slideshow shows where CM goes from here
He muzzles the dog and surrounds it with strange dogs
If you look at the dog you can see it is NOT happy, it is NOT calm and submissive it is stressed and scared.
Now what do you think will happen when it sees another dog when CM is not holding the lead?? Do you think that the owners are going to be able to fight him like that to show that they are more scary than the other dogs??



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Petition - Stop National Geographic showing Cesar Millan

In response to the post below and the many dog behaviour experts expressing great concern about Cesar Millans methods this petition has been started



Online petition - National Geographic: Stop showing Cesar Millan


I know that many people are divided on Cesar Millans methods but as the National Geographic channel is supposed to support animal welfare then I strongly believe that if there is any doubt at all that dog suffer during Cesar Millans training methods then it is their responsibility to stop broadcasting his show until it can be proved that his methods are not cruel and abusive.

Denmark has already banned his shows and Italy is in the process of banning him. If you are in any doubt then consider the evidence that a country would need to ban a high ratings TV show.
Please sign the petition and post links to it to all your dog loving friends

Cesar Millan - Exercise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjLDQmgYd-s&feature=PlayList&p=C8668BCC31D63588&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=20
The TV 'entertainer' Cesar Millan is coming to the UK on a tour. I will not put links to the pages to get tickets because I don't want in any way to help this man.

I have been meaning to post about his methods for quite some time but this tour has given me the boost I needed

I will try and keep it nice :D

Among other more controversial methods that I will get to later Cesar Millan I wanted to talk about his fundamental philosophy for living with dogs.
Exercise, Discipline, Affection

In that order

So to start with Exercise.

It is true often on Cesars show he sees owners who never walk their dog. This is cruel and stupid - every trainer or behaviourist will tell you to exercise your dog to a level that is appropriate for the breed. This is not Cesars way - this is nothing new.

But

Cesar advocates exercising the dog to exhaustion - often dragging unfit or puppies around at speed - sometimes with him on his roller blades. He even recommends running perfectly fit dogs on a treadmill (there was a case brought against him when a dog at his facility was left unsupervised on a treadmill wearing a choke chain)

One major problem with this is what happens next week when two hours running do not tire out the dog because it is becoming fitter??

Also running on a treadmill or alongside someone is good for fitness but it does nothing for the mental well being of an animal

Most zoos nowadays are looking to improve the lot of their captive animals, some animals who naturally would cover long distances every day in the wild.

Do these zoos put giant mouse wheels in the enclosures? Take lions out for a run beside a bike?

No they look at enrichment strategies

Enrichment can be defined as:

“…a process for improving or enhancing animal environments and
care within the context of their inhabitants’ behavioral biology and natural
history. It is a dynamic process in which changes to structures and husbandry
practices are made with the goal of increasing behavioral choices available to
animals and drawing out their species-appropriate behaviors and abilities, thus
enhancing animal welfare (AZA/BAG 1999).

So better to think of ways to enrich your dogs environment and have moderate exercise this way your dog will be mentally and physically satisfied.

Ways to enrich a dogs environment - considering natural behaviours of a dog

Chasing - many dogs love chasing things - just make sure its things you are happy with and not cars, joggers, children on bikes. A few games of fetch and even chasing you around the park will be far more fun for both of you than hours on a treadmill - and changes of pace, twisting and turning and even eye paw coordination will all tire the dog out more.

Chewing - Not only puppies but all dogs love to chew, I love watching Ben chewing a nice knuckle bone - he is on his side with a dreamy look on his face. This is good for their teeth, gums, jaws, and even neck muscles. If you don't fancy big stinky bones think of other things for them to safely chew - chew toys, rawhide/treats, even kongs all satisfy this behaviour

Tugging - Tugging is a natural behaviour too and if your dog enjoys it and you are physically able to why not have a game of tug - just set rules like no biting, let go when I say, and stop it before they get overexcited.

Tearing - Does your dog like ripping toys to pieces?? It is natural behaviour, how about going to a charity shop and getting lots of cheep toys he can deestuff, then you can restuff, fix them up (care not to let them swallow thread) and give them back again - you could even stuff old socks with treats and let them get them (but keep your good clothes away from them)

Digging - its fun and natural. You could get a kiddys sandbox and fill it with earth, hide treats in there and teach your dog to dig there (and not in your flowerbed) or how about a big box filled with scrunched up newspaper and a few treats?

Sniffing - teach your dog to sniff out treats or even scatter a handfull of kibble in the grass and let them sniff it out.

Working with humans - Dogs are descended from the wolves who worked best with people so most dogs (with the right motivation) love to work with people, if you dont have animals to hunt or sheep to herd then you can teach tricks and that can be your dogs work, clicker training is great because it makes the dog use its mind to figure out what you want, this tires them out far more.

Sleeping - dogs like to sleep lots, give them plenty of down time where they can chill and file away all the things they have learnt for the day - it is possible to overstimulate a dog and then they become hyper and difficult to train.

Depending on the breed most dogs need between 1 - 2 hours walking a day, if you made 20 min of that fetching and chasing, played a game of tug and did some clicker work before settling the dog down with a chew then you should have a pretty content dog

I would love to hear your ideas for enriching your dogs environment

'Red zone' dogs, or positive training for aggressive dogs

I have been looking for this vid for ages (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL13n-yYy8I&feature=related for facebook readers)

A fantastic example of how you can use kind non confrontational methods on even 'red zone' aggressive dogs.

GRRRR - BAD DOG

I am sad to see that many many dog owners do not really understand what our furry friends are saying to us and without meaning to can make a dog become aggressive.
Pretty much everyone understands a happy dog, tail flying, relaxed happy mouth and eyes. Its when the dog is not happy that the communication problems arise.
This is made worse still if the owner is constantly putting themselves under stress to be the 'pack leader' (more about that another time)
Dogs have many many different signals to tell us they are unhappy, many are very slight and quick and us clumsy humans miss them.
What we do notice is when our dog growls. It may be the case that your dog has been trying to communicate lots and lots that it is not happy in a situation, and what dogs do is they build up the communication. They start with a little head turn or a tiny licking of the lips, mibby they will sniff the ground. But us silly humans just don't notice - or worse still we mistake this for the dog being disobedient, stubborn or just plain 'at it'
How do we respond to that?
More likely we get a little angry or more insistent that the dog does the thing it isnt happy with.
Lets imagine in this case we are taking the dog to greet a child.
It is trying its best to tell you it is not comfy being dragged over to this strange unpredictable small thing.
You keep dragging it because toddler wants to meet fluffy.
Fluffy tries and tries to tell you it is not comfy in this situation.
What is the next step? Fluffy now shows its teeth and mibby even growls at the child.

This is NOT aggression - this is a GOOD DOG telling you it really isnt happy in the situation.
But what do we do??
Now we really punish the dog, that is BAD BAD BAD, dont you EVER growl at children.

So what has Fluffy learnt here??
It was correct that the little humans make bad things happen.
Its human doesn't understand its 'errmm, I am a little unsure here' signals - so there is no point using them.
Growling gets you punished - better not growl any more.

Human is happy and thinks 'what a good dog trainer I am, look I stopped Fluffy growling at children'

But the problem is ALL you have done is taught the dog not to warn you it is not happy, you have not solved the problem of the fact that the dog is not comfy in the presence of children.
So at the least you have a dog who is not happy - but if the situation gets worse, say that unhappy dog, around a child where it is expecting bad things to happen and the child reaches out for the dog - or something else that makes the dog feel even more scared - what can the dog do?? It has no warnings it wants to use cos it will get punished - better to just attack swiftly

It makes me feel sick just to post that. Of course this dosent happen in all cases or in even many cases but you can see that

Punishing a dog for growling can make a ticking time bomb

(For those of you reading this on facebook the video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7BWxC6iVs )

Bad dog!

I am doing a lot of reading about dog training and I thought I would update some of the things I am learning and what I believe and add them to the training section.

Reading forums and listning to dog owners talk about their dog when it has been 'bad' has made me really think about if a dog is being bad or not.

I have come to the conclusion that NO a dog isnt being bad - that is us humans putting our views there

A dog does what is rewarding to them and avoids things that are not rewarding

So if your dog is doing something you consider bad it is because

a. It does not understand what you want it to do

Dogs dont come with a manual of how to behaive
sure some might be better than others - so if they are doing something you want them to do - reward them, and put a name to what they are doing
If they are doing something you dont want, dont tell them off, train what you want them to do in the situation

b. It does not find the thing you are asking as rewarding as other things

Sure, your dog might have a perfect recal in the house, but outside there are lots of interesting smells and fun dogs to play with. Build up slowly and make doing what you want more fun.

c. It does not find working with you rewarding

Thankfully this is really easy
Dogs are bred from the wolves that most wanted to work with humans. Over thousands of years we have slelectivly bred from the dogs who most wanted to work with us.
Dogs naturaly want to work with us, we just have to make ourselves more interesting.
The best way to do that (IMO) is to work with your dog, train it - anything, tricks are not demeaning to your dog - they are fun, they make your dogs brain work and they make them realise that its a good thing to work with you.


Sure in the begining it might take a wee while to train things, but the good thing is the more you train the more the dog wants to work with you and the quicker it learns

If you punnish the dog for being bad you make it less likely to want to try new things, less confident and less trusting of you
and of course very confused - randomly being told off when it dosent know better.

As I driving instructor I liken teaching people to drive like dog training.

I tell them what I want them to do, I show them if needed and I keep on helping them till they are confident and know what they should do, and I praise them when they are doing well, guide them when things go wrong

If I was to train using punisments then I would give them the keys and just yell 'NO' at them every time they did something wrong - but leave them to figure out how to actualy drive
Sure some people might learn that way but most would either get agressive and find another instructor and the rest would just sit in tears doing nothing incase they got it wrong.

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