# The Dog Whisperer



## pico's parent (Apr 5, 2004)

Has anyone seen the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic? This guy is so amazing! I've forgotten his name already (too danged much data in my brain to be able to efficiently find anything in there







)

He was able to correct some really horrific dog behaviors in just minutes.....it was something to see. One dog had started to become aggressive on his walks with his owner to the point that she wound up being bitten several times by her beloved pet! Mario (I think that's his name) put a halti on the dog, took him for a walk and within minutes was walking the dog past other dogs, up to other dogs and WITH another dog and he was calm as could be. Then, he trained the owner in the technique. She was not quite confident enough and he did have to make another visit with her when she was bitten again but by the end of the segment, she had the dog under control and calm again.

Another dog would bark when the toaster would pop up, get aggressive then spin in circles. He'd do the same thing when his owner got on the telephone. Mario didn't have a leash or choke chain so he took the toaster TO the dog and held him down with one hand gripping his spine in a "bite" firmly and popped the toaster. Cured! No kidding! His technique is to bring the dog to confront his fear.

It seems the big factor in all this is the confidence he showed in his body language and the Alpha attitude he conveyed. It was so cool. There were 3 1/2 hour shows back to back and I was just fascinated the entire time.

I would love to be able to take Pico around other dogs and cats without him drooling copiously from stress. It is very unpleasant when we are visiting my daughters, one has a cat and the other a cocker puppy. He just got furious at the puppy when all he wanted to do was play with Pico. He never bit the puppy to my surprise and the puppy got his nose right up in Pico's face with Pico baring his teeth and growling fiercely and barking madly. I wonder what Mario would suggest for that problem?


----------



## MalteseMaMa (Dec 31, 2004)

I know the feeling everytime I take my fur baby outside on his leash he will see another dog and just start barking his little head off,as if he was gonna attack the other dog!! i tried breaking him of this habit but it aint working!!!


----------



## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




----------



## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

I MET HIM!!! you guys should read the uncle matty training thread i made. it was sooo unbelievable. i went to his dog psychology center. and you have NO IDEA that he has around 50 dogs there because its totally quiet. 


the whole basis of his training is to basically get the dog really tired....and then you train the dog. and he showed us how to have that assertive walk. it was really neat. we only took gruffi into the area where all the dogs are (cuz we'd have to work with simba more and he's a sharpei and cant see well cuz of the folds....sprite and ellie are too small to go into that area). he had dogs as small as ellie, but he was like "i worked with these dogs before they go into this area". it was the coolest experience ever.


----------



## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Nichole_@Jan 9 2005, 06:05 PM
> *I have seen this program before and the first time I saw it I was in awe, but then the awe wore off and I was left very confused.  I believe that Cesar Millan has the ability to train dogs, but what the show does not show is HOW he does it.
> 
> I know they show him doing various things with each dog, but it always seems to come back to putting the dog on the leash and leading the dog around, I don't know if I believe that is ALWAYS the way to train a dog.
> ...


[/QUOTE]

I know exactly what you mean.... I bought his book and was totally confused.. it has been many months but it was a total waste of money. He may be able to do this stuff himself but is not very good at teaching others how to do it....


----------



## ButterCloudandNoriko (Aug 26, 2004)

I guess he's good at teaching dogs, but not good at teaching humans! LOL


----------



## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Shoving something a dog is afraid of in his face is likely to get you bit. Hopefully, he is using sound training methods off screen to desensitize the dog first. That takes time. 

If you want a good book on understanding dog behavior and how they learn, I recommend Jean Donaldson's The Culture Clash. 

On leash aggression is fixable, but it takes times. You start in the house teaching attention exercises, then you generalize those exercises outside. Now you set your dog up for another dog or people to walk by at a distance. The dog does attention exercises at that comfortable distance. Slowly, you decrease the distance still using the attention exercises to distract the dog and offer them a correct behavior. Mikey was simply obnoxious and now all I have to do it call him and he runs to me to go through some simple obedience and is fine with the other dog around. It took some time and we did use a gentle leader to band aid extra control for a while.


----------



## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

I need the dog whisperer to stop Kodie's barking and marking!


----------



## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

cesar millans book hasnt come out yet. you're thinking of The Dog Whisperer by Paul Owens....i just got that book for xmas,i havent read it yet. 

Cesars book is Beyond a Whisper

Cesar Millan's book

it comes out july 2005...i cant wait!


----------

