Don't disrespect Cesar Millan

I read an article in a blog by Dogs Today editor Beverley Cuddy that i just had to respond to! She was going along quite nicely talking about BGT winners Ashleigh and Pudsey and how reward based training is good and being good with the dogs is the way forward. All stuff i would wholeheartedly agree with until she overstepped the mark by being rude and dismissive about Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer.

What a lot of people don't accept is that the dogs they love and train are well grounded and easy going and that means that even though they have issues that should be corrected, it doesn't matter if they don't! Nobody is going to get hurt! Cesar takes extreme cases of dogs that are in extremely sensitive and often dangerous states of mind and using the common sense approach that mother nature takes, he puts the dogs quickly back into order with the minimum of stress. Normally he does this by just his energy and body language and that is as natural as you can get, one creature telling another that their behaviour is unnacceptable by natural means. Does the bitch not nip her off spring if they are being naughty? Do dogs not try to pin other dogs down to dominate them? Do dogs in the park not fight with each other on a regular basis in some cases. Answer is yes! They do this because they understand the use of force is a means to get what they want and they will escalate this up to serious violence to get what they want! By using energy and body language he tells the dog to stop and then changes the dogs state to one of compliance which leads to relaxation and the reward of being calm and happy together in a balanced state!

Your dog shouldn't fear you, but it damn well should respect you and from that basis you can have the trusting relationship you need to control unwanted behaviour. I have seen examples of harsh correction and it is a horrible sight and does not work at all! I disagree that a tap on the side with a hand or a foot is harsh. I disagree that when as I had recently, a Chihuahua is trying to bite me repeatedly, that I shouldn't hold him down until he calms down and then let him go when he sees that I mean no harm but will not tolerate his aggression! This dog was created by a female dog lover who treated him as a baby and I see this time and time again in my dog boarding business that the dogs that are treated as children have many issues that can be serious!

The use of electronic shock training tools is a difficult one because as a rule I would agree that they are a bad idea, however as I saw demonstrated on the dog whisperer show, a cattle dog in America was blinded by constantly being run over by the tractor as it chased it and nothing would stop him. Two uses of an e-collar stopped him and he never did it again and it saved his life so I understand why this makes people uncomfortable but if the end justified it perhaps it should be considered in expert hands?

Just as dangerous as this though is being a weak dog lover  Here is the bad news for the weak dog lover, your dog doesn't love you! They do not have that capability! They trust you, respect you and are happy to be with you yes, but if someone else comes along and offers them safety and security they will go with them! As a home dog boarder I have customers stress all the time about what their dog will do without them and do you know what? The dogs don't miss them at all. I have boarded 65 dogs in my own home over the last two years and not one of the dogs has ever pinned or been ill without their owners. If they loved them so much wouldn't that be the case? I take them a walk and within an hour I've got them and they could be mine. I can recall them and deal with them as my own!

What these people don't realise is that they are being cruel to their dogs because the dogs are stressed out! I have seen so many dogs that have been handed the leadership role by weak dog owners who then watch their dog becoming more and more anxious, ripping up the house, whining, barking, slobbering, shaking and being completely stressed  as they are forced into making poor decisions to protect the weak human creature they feel they have to defend! Why do you think dogs pull on the lead and bark and go nuts at other dogs? They are pack animals, they are programmed to be together they would only attack for serious reasons not just because they are passing by!

Loving dogs should mean that you are respectful of their DNA and the predator side of them and that you lead them with trust, respect and compassion. They are what they say on the tin! DOGS! not human babies and you don't dress them up, you don't let them lie on your bed and you certainly don't let them bite your other half or children because they are guarding their property!

So, please be good to dogs and treat them with respect and love in the right place, but don't be the weak and pathetic type of dog lover that thinks that what Cesar does is cruel, because if you do then you obviously haven't watched the show or understood the message that he is giving! If you followed his philosophy without a stereotyped idea of the "Barbara Woodhouse" type of trainer, then we wouldn't have millions of dogs worldwide with the issues that we have!

Sorry rant over but I am sick of listening to people put Cesar down as if they know better! I'd like to see Beverley Cuddy deal with some of these dogs with her reward based methods. I have been training dogs for over 20 years, I have been bitten on many occasions by many different dogs and i can assure you it is painful and it is frightening. If Beverley would like to stand in front of a GSD, Boxer, Staffie or Rottie and use her clicker to stop it ripping into her arm or leg feel free, Yes the clicker could stop any of this happening if used from puppy-hood, but once its happened it needs a real dog trainer / behaviourist to step in and not be afraid to challenge that dogs behaviour and that person is Cesar not Beverley or Victoria or any other non participants that watch and make comment from afar!

Cheers Steve

Claiming food

Part three of my method is now on the website. Claiming food is vitally important within the home and out on the walk. If you can't take food from your dog it could ingest things that will cause serious harm or kill it!

You should be in control of your dog and have a trust and respect based relationship whereby your dog will allow you to take food from it as it accepts your position and also that whatever you do is for the good of the dog. Something the pack leaders do and the followers accept gratefully. After Hurricane Katrina struck in New Orleans, packs of dogs formed and one was led by a small dog the breed I'm unsure of but it led the German Shepherds and other large dogs as its leadership and energy were not questioned by the pack regardless of size!

So step up to the plate and do the right thing for your dog! They'll thank you for it!

Cheers Steve

Claim Everything

Part 2 of my method has been added to the website at lookafteryourdog and deals with the issue of claiming everything that your dog comes into contact with! Toys, chairs, beds, anything! You own it, you brought it and if you make it clear to your dog that it doesn't have any rights to anything without your say so, then you will have a calm and happy dog that knows its place and doesn't feel the DNA animal need to compete for resources!

Cheers

Steve

George update

George has gone home and was really excited to see his owner who felt the same way! It was interesting to see him come out of his shell and to find some of the reasons why he is like he is!

Mia his sometimes companion has been around since he was a pup and I believe that she has had an effect on his confidence due to her character, which is quite dominant towards him and has meant that he has not been free to find his own feet without her putting him in his place!

He needs to be encouraged to express himself without being too cocky as he is liable to bark at people and dogs and snap at any excitable dog. Having an anxious nature means that they try to act tough but are usually just trying to keep everything at bay!


I've asked Georges owner to try a different method around his unpleasant habit of eating other dogs half digested poop which then leads to diarrhoea When George usually sniffs it 99.9% of the time he is only sniffing like any other dog and he is not going to eat it! Georges owner cannot tell sometimes what he is going to do and because the consequences of him eating it are bad, he gets quite upset by it and it usually leads to a stressful walk.

Plan B is to allow him to smell anything he likes but as he turns away from it he can be recalled to a treat to show that sniffing and not eating gets a reward and if he stops when he was about to eat some, then he is called and praised with a good reward to encourage him to seek his food from the owner rather than the poop! The video shows him intently smelling some poop which he may have normally took a bite at, by watching him and encouraging him when he chooses not to eat it, we can encourage him to make a better decision and should start to smell it and come to us for reward which we can harness in the short term, until the habit dies away!

Its a work in progress as in this video so we will see how he gets on!

Cheers

Steve

My Method Update - Be the Boss!

I've published another part of my method on lookafteryourdog This section called be the boss touches on how we should view our relationship with our dogs and why it is important!

Please feel free to have a look and I will add be adding all the other parts over the coming weeks and months and hopefully it might help someone to change their relationship with their dog for the better!

Cheers Steve

George the not so brave!

George is now staying with us the old English sheep dog is a great dog if a little bit quiet and a little shy. George is nervous and anxious and so I'm trying different things to try to bring him out of his shell. When a dog is anxious like this is important to give them lots of confidence and to perhaps slacken some of your rules in order to allow them to feel comfortable to be themselves.




George was walking behind me on the first day which I find very disconcerting as it indicates a dog that lacks confidence. I prefer a dog to be happy and confident and running forward to smell all the exciting scents that should captivate a dogs attention! I like to walk in Sutton Park when I have a dog like this because it allows the dog to experience a variety of smells and encourages the dog side of them to come out. They also meet lots of other dogs and as long as each encounter is managed and goes well, this too gives confidence to the dog!

I don't speak to the dog unless it is for a specific reason! Calling them to you, playing with them or encouraging them is fine, but too many people talk continually to their dogs and this tends to switch them off and makes them less likely to respond to an urgent command! Talk less and then speak to your dog and you will see that you can get their attention a lot quicker!

It is also important to be a leader to the dog to take away their feelings of having to protect you and help you. It is important that you are in charge and that they feel confident that you can deal with any situation.

George is settling nicely but will be a work in progress for his owners for sometime due to his nervy nature!

Cheers Steve

Steve's formula for a great dog

I've begun work putting my formula for a great dog onto the lookafteryourdog website! If you visit the Bit by bit I'm going to put my 27 years of knowledge and experience into a method of training that I use with every dog that I look after or train.

If you follow the formula and all its parts, you will have a great dog and they will still have their spirit and individuality, but will all conform to a happy and relaxed way of being!

Part 1 is be the boss! A simple but essential component of the formula that requires the human to step up to the plate and be in charge of their dog! Without this simple fundamental you will never succeed in creating a great dog!

Please keep an eye here for updates to the formula, or on our Facebook or Twitter pages where I will announce new additions and exercises to follow to train your dog to the formula!

Cheers Steve

Is my Dog Overweight?


Your dog should never be overweight. It places stress on the joints and causes all manner of conditions which can seriously affect your dogs health and can contribute to cutting your dogs life short. How to tell if its overweight or not is not too difficult.

1.  Does it look overweight


If you look at your dog and are completely honest with yourself you will know that it is carrying some timber. The problem is that for humans there seems to be some tolerance to obesity which is why we are heading for a health crisis! If your dog looks overweight it probably is overweight!


I found a great blog post on the web at reddmolosserdogues.com which shows a diagram of the degrees of over or under weight really well. Click here to go to the blog to see the diagram!


2.  Can you feel his/her backbone?


You should be able to run your fingers along the spine and feel the indentations of the dogs spine, coated by a covering of fat and skin which doesn't stop you making out the spine. If you cant feel it and there's a big layer of fat especially at the top of the shoulders as in the boxer here then your dogs overweight.


3.  Can you feel his/her ribs?


The way I had it described to me was its like having a Biro in your pocket. If you rub your fingers along your dogs side from the shoulder backwards, the ribs should be easily felt and all of the ins and outs made out! If you cant feel them then your dog is fat by the degree you cant feel them. If you can just make them out then your dog is probably OK but might need tweaking during the summer months, a bit of winter fat isn't a bad thing especially for working dogs.


Use your hand to feel


I found a brilliant description of how to tell what the above should feel like! You run your hand across the back of your knuckles and the sensation you feel of flesh and solidness is the correct feeling. If you run your fingers across the back of your knuckles but on your palm, that requires a bit more pressure to achieve the sensation of what lies underneath! Rub your fingers behind your thumb on the palm side and you cant feel anything! Go to successjustclicks.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/fit-fido-or-fat-fido/ to see exactly how to do this!


4.  Has the dog got a waist?

Can you see the dogs belly tucked up behind the ribs and a nice flowing in after the ribs as in this picture here! You can see the difference with the boxer above who is like a big barrel and has no definition anywhere!


So please, using what you have read here, look at your dog with honest eyes and if its too skinny then feed it up a little and if its a working dog, let it rest a bit more in warm, quiet surroundings undisturbed. If its a porker, then cut the food down, or change it to a less calorificaly dense food which we'll discuss at a later date and exercise your dog more!


This has been taken from my page Feeding Your Dog which I will use to discuss feeding your dog, how and what to feed!


Good luck, as always get in touch if you need any help!


Cheers 


Steve

Dillon the solid Springer Spaniel

First dog of 2012 to board with us is Dillon a Springer Spaniel who we've looked after before. Dillon was the dog who before he had the snip was a little dog aggressive when the mood took him and whilst in Sutton Park he decided to hang off the neck of a huge tiger brindle coloured Pit Bull that was carrying a small tree in his mouth! Pulling them apart was one of the scariest moments I've had; but respects to the Pit, he didn't bat an eyelid and just stood there with Dillon hanging off his throat!


Anyway, I discussed my thoughts with Dillon s owners and they took the decision to have him done and he is massively less aggressive and will only fight if he is attacked by other dogs which is perfectly right and proper as he is entitled to do!


Since having the snip he has unfortunately piled on a few pounds! I think this is a combination of things. The effect that castration has on relaxing the hormones that curse around a male dogs body and the stress that this can cause is removed and the dog simply exerts a little less energy. Secondly he has been placed onto a quality dog food called Harrington's which is nutritionally better than the previous food he was on and its very easy to add a bit much to the dogs diet.


As eating is such an important part of a dogs life, I've set up a page on the blog to deal with how to feed your dog and what to feed and will try to update it as often as possible. The page is accessed by clicking the tab at the top of this page.


I have posted a blog about how to tell if your dog is overweight and how to feed your dog, regardless of what food they eat!


Cheers 


Steve

Back again!

Happy New year to one and all! I'm having another push at keeping my blog updated, I know i always say Ill try to keep it fresh and then don't but sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to 2012 for loads of reasons, at the end of it I retire from full time work and so I can focus on my business at Lookafteryourdog and really give it the attention that it deserves and that I enjoy giving! I know I'm going to see loads more of our customers fabulous dogs as we expand the Home Dog boarding business at Lookafteryourdog and its Euro 2012 and the Olympics as well; result!

Anyway Ive got to get back to the bucket load of jobs that I should do but keep putting off! Dillon the Springer comes tomorrow and hes a star, so Ill be able to go on some fat burning walks to try and get fit again, another 2012 resolution to break!

Cheers Steve