Apparently I am the last person on the planet NOT to have heard of this guy.
Apparently AR people don't like him, which might incline me in his favor if it were not for all the @#$%^&* CELEBRITIES who endorse him.
But-- what's all this about being out in front of your dog? It may work in Hollywood. But how in all that is holy can you not let a pointing dog-- or a sighthound like mine-- not go ahead of you? How would you ever find your quarry? What advantage would you lose for the sake of ego?
Dubious ethology methinks...
4 comments:
It's ok Steve, even I, the famous-people addict, hadn't heard of him. I agree with much of his theory; that we often expect dogs to take on a humanized role that isn't natural for them. Dogs do respect the alpha in the pack, and if you want to get along, you better be the alpha in the house. However, always being in front of your dog isn't always practical. In your case, you need to see what he's doing. He's working for you.
In general, the "whisperers" make me skeptical.
How about just teaching a dog some manners? Common sense is sadly uncommon. Have I said that already?
Interesting body language on all the dogs, except for the happy go lucky fellow off his right leg.
If they haven’t been read (whispered) the riot act prior to this Kodak moment, I’ll hang up my leash and clicker.
I think the difference between the hunting dogs you’re describing and what we are looking at in this article, is the difference between working with a willing partner vs. creating a subjugate.
I think I’ll keep the muddy “designer paw prints” that grace my T-shirts and continue on by encouraging them to “getahead”!
:)
Gregg
Don't get hung up on the "dogs behind" thing. Since when is it prudent to take what is written in a journalistic fluff piece as representative of what the person "quoted" actually said?
Millan actually addresses hunting dogs, SAR dogs (my own specialty), and other working dogs specifically on this count. He's not ignorant of the demands of work. The good advice is to ensure that the dog is able to achieve a calm and self-controlled state before sending him to work. Anyone who has ever watched a feckless pup head for the horizon when its owner has neglected this precaution can sympathize. A few years ago I offically turned in my "rounding up other fools' dogs" badge at SAR events. Catch your own damned unmannered pup; you want to learn how to get a simple recall, pay me, same as any other pet owner.
The whisperer thing is marketing by NGC. It pinged my BS radar too, a couple years ago. Under the hype is genuinely useful stuff. I got over it.
I do the same job as Millan, without the celebrity endorsementsv or the camera crew. I Fight the "purely positive" BS juggernaut all the time. Millan's TV show has made my job easier. Clients are pre-introduced to the notion that their dogs aren't weird kids in fur jumpsuits. He's good for dogs, helps foster a reality-based conception of dogs among pet owners.
I watch him when I can. The man is good. He mainly works with 'red zone' dogs, the dangerous, vicious, biting, obsessive kind; the unmanageable' dogs headed for euthanization, with no manners but their own, no jobs except what they have created for themselves in the vacuums in which they live, no responsible relationships with owners or other animals, no discipline from owners--and in most cases, no exercise. He calls these dogs unbalanced of mind and body. So do I.
On a 'walk' (leash, sidewalk, in civilization kind of walk) he expects the dog to walk with its owner, not pull or lag, not lead where to go, not to pee on every post at whim, not attack other people or animals on the way--i.e. to have some civilized manners when needed, and adapt their pack instincts to domesticity.
Your dogs ARE dogs. You encourage them to do their job (way out ahead of you), to work in harmony within your group -- getting exercise, learning and thinking, behaving comfortably at home, being the dogs they were bred to be. From what I've seen, I think Cesar would approve of it all.
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