Cesar Millan has a new book coming out the first week of October, and it features Bob Bailey, Ian Dunbar, Joel Silverman, and Mark Harden, among others. .As the Amazon description notes,
Cesar takes on the topic of training for the first time, by explaining the importance of balance as the foundation for a healthy relationship between you and your dog. In order to provide a variety of training options, he calls upon some of the foremost experts in the field to offer their advice so that you can find the perfect approach that works for you and your dog through a variety of methods.
Filled with practical advice, anecdotes, tips, and trouble-shooting techniques from Cesar and his colleagues, this is the ultimate guide to a well-behaved and well-balanced dog—from a new puppy to an old dog who can still learn new tricks. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The Only Training Book You’ll Ever Need
#1 New York Times bestselling author Cesar Millan shows you how to communicate well with your dog and shares the most effective and humane methods for teaching your dog how to be a happy, well-behaved member of your household. In Cesar’s Rules, he’ll address:
* The most popular training techniques, including positive reinforcement and using a clicker
* Ways to teach basic obedience commands sucha as sit, stay, and come
* The importance of balance, and why a well-trained dog does not necessarily mean a balanced one
* How to use your dog’s own natural inclinations to create better behavior
* The methods and theories from a variety of renowned trainers, including Bob Bailey, Ian Dunbar, Joel Silverman, and Mark Harden
This 9-minute video clip was filmed by Dean Cluff, in collaboration with wolf biologist Dave Mech. The caption on Youtube reads:
An adult male wolf we radio-collared in the arctic near Eureka, Nunavut, Canada in July 2009 displayed continued dominance aggression on a younger male wolf, believed to be one of his offspring from a previous year. We suspect the behavior of the collared wolf represents domination on the part of a parent toward a maturing offspring that will eventually lead to the dispersal of that offspring. Filmed by Dean Cluff, in collaboration with Dave Mech.
You will note that this is the same David Mech who wrote a paper that the Cesar Millan-bashers are only too happy to routinely misrepresent. In fact, Mech has always been clear that dominance does occur in wolf packs. In fact, dominance creates and shapes wolf packs, from beginning to end, as older dominant males drive out younger males at age one or two.
An old cartoon, but a good reminder that dogs are not verbal, and that they are more likely to look for cues (body movement, hand signals) than listen for them.
Most people talk to their dogs far too much, and the result is that they are creating a background of "white noise" that tends to drown out and dilute the information they really want their dog to receive.
Watch a really good dog trainer, and you will see less talking and less flapping of the arms and wild body movements than you will see from the amateurs at the dog park.
Whatever "calm and assertive" means, it is certainly the opposite of multiple high-pitched calls, endless babble, arm flapping, side conversations with any people that might be in the room, anxious pacing, and meaningless head patting.
"Calm and assertive" means sending fewer signals and sending clearer ones. .
How come Cesar Millan, a dirt-poor former illegal alien from Mexico, with a strong accent and no college degree, has risen to the top of the dog world while Ian Dunbar, with perfect English, some obvious money, and veterinary and animal behavior degrees behind him, remains virtually unknown?
It's not that Ian Dunbar does not know how to train an animal -- he does. He understands operant conditioning. He is not a fool or an incompetent.
I have no doubt he is brilliant. I assume he has impeccable timing and can train anything.
So why has the world not beaten a path to his door?
I have an idea.
Watch the video, below, and pay careful attention to the first minute and a half.
Ian Dunbar says some smart things at the end.
He talks about the lack of thought that goes into solving common canine problems.
He says if calling your dog always means the dog is leashed up and all play is over, don't expect it to come!
Full applause for the last four and a half minutes of this presentation.
But what about that first minute and a half?
At the start of this talk, Ian Dunbar tells us he is a FAILURE AT DOG TRAINING.
Listen to what he says.
He says you can tell people what to do, but no one listens.
You can tell people what to do, but they they are not going to do it.
Whoa! Think about what he just said.
Ian Dunbar is saying people come to him for help, they pay money for help, and then he prescribes a solution.
But then the owners do not take his advice.
An amazing statement.
Now has he considered WHY?
Let me make a suggestion: Has he considered his presentation?
You see, most people have never heard of Ian Dunbar, just as once-upon-a-time (and not so very long ago) they had never heard of Cesar Millan.
Ian Dunbar claims he knows dogs, but most people have never seen him in action, and they have no proof of that.
People are naturally going to be a little bit dubious.
They are going to look for evidence of real expertise or its opposite; fakery.
Does this guy know what he is talking about? Is he a truth-teller?
Dunbar's speech is his "job interview".
For most of the people in the room, and everyone who will watch this video, his presentation is the answer to the question Do I want to buy his book? Do I want to hire him to train me and train my dog?
The first question of every job interview is almost always the same: "Tell me about about your last job, and how you did it."
And what is Ian Dunbar's answer to that predictable question?
Basically, he says: "The main problem in my last job was that my boss was an idiot and my co-workers were incompetent."
Think about it.
Isn't that exactly what Ian Dunbar is saying here?
You see, if you are a professional dog trainer, your client is your boss; they are the ones paying you, and they are the ones who may (or may not) recommend you in the future.
And, to put put a point on it, they are also the folks whose behavior you want to ultimately change and shape.
Dunbar seems to show a kind of exhausted contempt for dog owners, including his own clients.
"I am leading," he seems to say, "and so many of you are simply too stupid to follow."
Not exactly the right message!
Cesar Millan has a different approach. He begins with a simple question: How can I help?
He does not begin by telling dogs owners they are idiots; he begins by asking how he can be of service.
Yes he will lead them forward (rather quickly), but he never starts the lesson by "jerking on the leash" as Dunbar does here.
How ironic!
Question: Who do you trust more, the person who asks "How can I help?" or the person who says with exhausted disdain, "Look, I will repeat what I have already said, and you have already ignored."
Now let's look at how Dunbar talks about his co-workers.
The co-worker in question is Cesar Millan. That is who Ian Dunbar is slagging here, and everyone in the audience knows it.
And here's the thing: Cesar Millan is the most famous and successful dog rehabilitator in the world!
Has Ian Dunbar thought about that for even one dispassionate second?
You see, when an unknown person with unknown success slags a known person with known success, there is a massive credibility problem.
Most folks have seen Cesar Millan work half a dozen miracles on the National Geographic Channel, and they have seen his books in the store (even if they have not yet read them).
Oprah Winfrey says Cesar Millan is a God, and Barack Obama says he would be happy to have him visit the White House.
His reputation precedes him.
And yet Ian Dunbar, who most people have never heard of, much less seen train a dog, slags Cesar Millan right at the top.
And look how he does it!
Dunbar never comes out and actually mentions Millan's name. Instead he slips into a sly passive-aggressive style to talk about "a bloke on TV."
No doubt, he thinks he is being cute, but in fact he is displaying a failure of character.
A passive-aggressive style is not a position of strength. It is a sign of weakness.
Dunbar is not even content to tell the truth. He claims Millan has said "becoming a stronger leader" is how you end a dog's chronic backyard barking.
There is not one person in that audience who has ever heard Millan say that.
Not one.
And whether they have watched every episode of The Dog Whisperer or not, most of the audience will intuitively know it is a lie.
In their mind, they are saying,
"There is something wrong here.
I have never heard of Ian Dunbar before, but Cesar Millan did not become the most famous dog man in the world accidentally.
Millan came from nothing and is now on top, while this tired-looking British guy who obviously came from some money and thinks we are all idiots, is on the bottom.
SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH HIS STORY!
And bang, right there, Ian Dunbar has lost credibility and some respect.
And here's the funny thing:He did not have to shoot himself in the foot. It was unnecessary.
Dunbar could have reached across the table and said, "There are a million ways to train a dog, but the tapestry of every method is sewn with the same three threads, which are at the core of all operant conditioning."
That story is told in 20 seconds.
He could have explained the difference between dog training and dog rehabilitation.
That story is told in 15 seconds.
And then he could have gone on to explain why people so often fail in their training... And how he can help them all succeed.
Succeed!??
Ian Dunbar does not tell his audience they can succeed!
He tells them they will probably FAIL because they are idiots who will not listen to him.
And here we come to the crux of the problem .... and how ironic it is!
You see, Ian Dunbar thinks to be a leader you proclaim your leadership. Look at my degrees! Feel the searing force of my self-proclained expertise! I am an expert!!
Millan thinks something different. He thinks you are a leader when others follow.
Millan thinks his job is to "train people," not insult them.
And he thinks people will follow if they see what can be done
Now, to be clear, there is nothing wrong with Ian Dunbar's training methods. I am told he is a brilliant man, and I take it on faith that he can train anything.
He and Millan are actually using the same core techniques, even if they are using a slightly different language and have a different mix of methods, which reflects the different goals of training versus rehabilitation.
But, according to his own presentation, Ian Dunbar is a failure as a dog trainer.
And why is he a failure? Because he is not very successful at training people. The people will not follow.
My advice?
Click and treat, Ian. Click and treat.
And I could say the same for many other wannabe-a-big-name dog trainers who also have miserable presentation skills. Some are goofy, some talk to their audiences like they think they might be retarded, and most swirl around the arcane lingo of operant conditioning without ever talking in plain English or using simple words like "consequence."
No wonder Millan owns so much of the waterfront-- look at what he does through demonstration, and what he is competing against in terms of presentation!
When I turn on the radio, the songs of my youth (such as Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad) are now on "the Oldies" station."
Oldies?
Perhaps.
Now to be clear I listen to new music -- a lot of it. And I will also venture that we have more great musicians alive right now than we have ever had in the history of the world.
But "new" does not always mean better. Sometimes it does, but not always. I am pretty sure the work of Little Wayne will be forgotten long before that of Mozart, Armstrong, Sinatra, and Springsteen.
Of course, a lot of times, the "NEW" is simply the OLD in a new wrapper.
The kids call this "sampling" which sounds so much better than plagiarism.
And, of course, it is not new is it?
When Leonard Bernstein pitched Westside Story, he pitched it short: "It's Romeo and Juliet with Puerto Ricans in New York."
When Steven Spielberg was trying to raise money for his first real movie, he said: "It's Moby Dick.... but with a shark."
When Francis Ford Coppola pitched "Apocalypse Now" he did not waste a lot of time: "It's Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness ... in Vietnam."
So what am I to make of all these folks claiming to be "new and improved" dog trainers? These are the folks ripping off 80-year old techniques which are derived from 150-year old techniques, which were lifted from stuff stolen from the folks who built the pyramids.
I am all for this "new" stuff. But I am not for tossing out the "old" stuff either. You see, it's all the same thing!
But of course this may come as new information to the fuzzy thinkers and instant experts.
Take the anonymous coward who showed up the other day to say he or she thought Cesar Millan's methods were "outdated."
Eh? What? What are his methods?
And what are his methods to do WHAT?
Does this person think Millan is training dogs? He is not.
Does this person think non-associative habituation is outdated? It's not.
Does this person think operant conditional extinction is outdated? It is not.
Does this person think a leash is outdated? It's not.
Does this person think exercise is outdated? It's not.
Does this person think consequences are outdated? They aren't.
Does this person think walking a dog is outdated? It's not.
Does this person think clarifying the point that dogs are not children is outdated? It's not.
Does this person think showing affection for dogs is outdated? It's not.
Does this person think the notion that a dog trainer has to be calm is outdated? It's not.
Does this person think the idea that a dog trainer has to send clear and well-timed signals is outdated? It's not.
So what is "the method" that is outdated? And what is that method being used for again?
This is a genuine question.
I hear people saying "Millan's methods are outdated" but no one seems to know what that means in the context of what he actually does, which is RE-habilitating dogs.
Instead, what I hear are anonymous cowards who are willing to "fence fighting" but stand as complete punks, ignorants or fools if that fence is removed.
And so they keep the fence up! No names. No email addresses.
When you tell me so little, you tell me so much!
Of course, along with the anonymous cowards, the zombies and the trolls, you have the parrots. These are the folks who repeat whatever they just heard on a board, or who regurgitate whatever they just read in a book, never once subjecting the idea to rationale thought, research, or field experience.
Parrots are the folks who write all-breed books and who read them and believe them.
They may squawk a lot, but their brains are the size of a shelled walnut, and they are incapable of original though or use of tools. Most spend their entire lives never leaving their cage.
And then there are the folks who actually do things. And guess what? The most successful of these use tools, both old and new, as they find them, and as they need them.
But we also use electronic locating collars in order to locate the dogs under ground. And we use plastic water bottles and, if the need arises, a veterinary staple gun and antibiotics.
Tools are not completely the same from one place to the next, either.
In the U.K., they do not use posthole diggers as the ground is a bit softer. When a UK terrierman comes over here, however, he figures out he may have a use for this "new" tool!
What? Not all geography is the same? True! But tell no one.
And not all dogs and dog problems are the same either.
But mum's the word.Tell no one.
As for my old tools, I try to keep them well-oiled.
A few years back I realized I could not scrunch down into a hole like I used to, and so now I go to the gym a couple of times a week just to keep things moving.
But I still dig on my dogs the way it has been done for over four hundred years. I am not so vain as to think that because I invented a cheap game snare I invented digging on the dogs.
Here's another Cesar Millan episode to complement yesterday's offering.
The dog in question here is a Korean Jindo, which is a spitz-type hunting and guard dog.
You will note that the owner and rescuer is a pretty experienced person who seems to have had a lot of success settling, calming, training and rehoming damaged dogs.
Jonbee is the first dog he cannot tame. In trying to help Jonbee, he has already seen two other professional trainers, one of whom recommended putting the dog down, and the other who got himself chewed up.
Jonbee's would-be rescuer is clear:If Cesar Millan cannot fix this dog, he is going to have to be put down.
As you can see in the video, when Jonbee is touched towards the back, he explodes in a savage rage.
Millan remains calm as the dog tries to bite him. He always keeps the leash up, but he is not participating in the craziness at the other end of the leash.
If Jonbee wants to go nuts, that is his choice.
Jonbee explodes again and again trying to bite Millan, before finally relaxing and rolling over on his side, physically and emotionally spent.
What happened?
To reiterate a point made yesterday: No animal can sustain a temper tantrum or a fight forever.
A dog that explodes like this is a bit like a massive thunder storm -- it will blow itself out if it continues unabated. In fact, that is exactly what has happened here.
Why is Cesar Millan doing what he is doing, and why does it work?
The simple answer is that he is de-sensitizing the dog to touch, while at the same time removing the reward that the dog has gotten in the past from attacking anyone who touched it.
Strip it away, and what you have are two fundamental tools that can be used to rehabilitate a problem dog:
Habituation and;
Extinction.
Habituation is a type of non-associative learning. Simply put, it means the dog gets used to something to the point it no longer produces any kind of reaction at all.
Face the phobia. Stand in the river of life for so long that you no longer feel wet.
We have all become habituated to something irritating at one time or another.
If you move next door to an airport, for example, the airplane noise will drive you crazy for a few days, but after two weeks you will have stopped hearing it at all. Only when you are on the telephone will you be reminded that the airplanes are still there.
What Millan is doing with Jonbee is giving the dog the stimulus that sets it off (simply touching him) but he makes sure his response it as flat as possible so that the dog will eventually become nonreactive to it.
Constant stimulus that does not harm or reward is eventually treated by the body as "white noise."
Factory workers do not hear the factory, and oil refinery workers do not smell the chemicals.
If Jonbee gets neither reward nor punishment from being touched, and is touched often enough, he will eventually not pay the slightest mind.
Extinction is also going on in this film clip. While Jonbee is getting habituated to being touched, his violent outburst is also finding no reward.
Again, what is key here is that Millan is as flat, calm, and passive as a man can be while being attacked by a 40-pound dog hell-bent on ripping his throat out.
What happens in the end?
Three things: 1) Jonbee is exhausted and can no longer sustain the attack; 2) Jonbee is starting to get habituated to being touched (i.e. he is beginning to learn that touching is not a big deal or a threat), and; 3) Jonbee is starting to realize that the behavior that got him a reward in the past (i.e. no one touching him) no longer works now.
Watch the clip, above (part 2 of the same episode).
Notice that Jonbee, like Shadow (the dog shown in yesterday's post) is lying calm and exhausted on his side. He is breathing fine, his tongue is pink, and the leash is loose.
This is what a dog or small child looks like after it has blown off all its emotional and physical energy in a screaming and violent temper tantrum.
What Cesar Millan calls "negative energy" I simply call tension, anxiety and hyperactivity.
Whatever you call it, Millan wants people to get rid of it, and to be emotionally neutral and dispassionate.
By the the end, Cesar and the dog's owner can actually play bongos on Jonbee's side and back, and he loves it. Perfect!
Jonbee has, very quickly, become habituated to touch, and just as quickly he has allowed his violent outbursts to self-extinguish.
Why has Jonbee reformed so quickly?
Simple: He was not happy with his own response to the situation, but he was trapped in a cycle and did not know how to get out of it.
Terrified of being touched (especially within the confines of the house), he reacted out of fear, which made humans scared to touch him, which increased the tension, which further escalated the situation, and made the dog even more reactive and phobic.
Millan simply showed Jonbee a new way, and he did it by pairing habituation of touch with extinction of biting which no longer resulted in any kind of reward or reaction (thanks to excellent leash work on the part of Millan).
Getting Jonbee back together was a process, not an event. A relatively quick process, but not an instant miracle.
For example, watch the second clip and notice how Jonbee has his tail tucked in hard at 3:30. He is not yet comfortable, and he is still scared of this new way of doing business. He is trying to work through her fears, but .....
Looks at the owner too. He is also not yet comfortable.
Both of these actors are still remembering their old parts, even if Cesar has them both dressing up and reading for different roles.
And what happens in the end?
Trust.
Trust and then love.
Of all the dogs in all the world, Jonbee has found a home right here!
My favorite line towards the end is a simple declarative sentence by the owner:
"Dog's aren't throw away."
YES!
But how many dogs like Jonbeehave been thrown away? Millions.
Most dogs will do well under ANY training system that supplies exercise, consistent well-timed signals, and love.
But some dogs, like Jonbee, need more than that; they need someone who understands habituation, extinction, and pack dynamics. They need someone who has more tools and techniques up their sleeve than a mail order clicker and a cheese ball.
Yes, those are core tools in ANY dog training kit, but they are not the full kit.
And that is why you call Cesar Millan; because he knows a few things that the people down at PETCO do not. He know how to rehabilitate difficult dogs. And he is not too timid to do it.
Millan does not cluck and wring his hands. He is not confused. He does not think a dog thrashing at the end of a leash is a dog being choked. No aggression is shown to this dog; there is only the dog boxing with the wind, unable to connect, making the choices that, in the end, leave it exhausted and ready to try something else.
Millan uses habituation and extinction all the time to deal with fearful and phobic dogs, but it always seems to confuses the click-and-treat crowd who are a bit unclear as to how habituation, extinction and physical exhaustion can work together. What? You mean there might be something more than click and treat?
Yes. There might be.... Those are good tools. Those are core tools. But they are not the tools for this job. .
For some time now, the Cesar Millan haters of the world have been engaged in a whispering campaign.
One of those in the whispering campaign wrote yesterday because she wanted me to know that "the debates about him and the concerns about what he does" were "complex."
Specifically, she wanted me to know that it involved "on-camera asphyxiation of a dog, off camera harm of dogs and much, much more."
Right.
Sorry, but I call bullshit, and so should you.
My first advice to this woman was that her comments were, in fact, libelous.
Not one scrap of what she said was true, and she had to know it, as she had not supplied a single link or citation.
My second pointwas that she needed to use her brain. Cesar Millan is a public figure who appears weekly on the National Geographic Channel. If one iota of the nonsense she was saying was true, someone would have won an Emmy and a Pulitzer with it. But guess what? They haven't!
My third point was simply to supply the link to the supposed on-camera "asphyxiation" of the dog in question. Funny that this link was not supplied, eh?
But that's how it is with a whispering campaign -- say anything, support nothing with links or footnotes, never appeal to common sense or reason, and always suggest there's a grand conspiracy behind it all.
Shhhhhhh!!!! I know secret things.
Right. Sure you do. Go ahead and ride the crazy train all by yourself. Lyndon LaRouche is conducting, and Sarah Palin is serving drinks.
The rest of us, however, can slow down and actually watch the clip. I append the clip in question at the bottom of this post, but before you jump to that, let me walk you through it using freeze-frames.
To start, let's set the stage: Cesar Millan has been called in because a large and very dominant Husky by the name of Shadow routinely rips into the other dogs in the house. The owners of this dog, a family by the name of Ament, no longer feel they can control this dog. Do they need to put it down? Does he need to wear a muzzle for the rest of his life?
Look at the picture above. This is from the first second of the video clip. Notice the placement of the tails. The Husky's tail is up and "flagging." The other dog's tail is tucked firmly between its legs. Yes, a flagging tail can mean happiness, but not in this case. These dogs know each other, and one is intimidated by the other. That Husky's tail is flagging because it is excited.
Notice that Millan has the Husky on a short leash with a standard slip chain collar placed high on the neck. Millan is a pretty strong, but he is not a very big man, and he knows if things "go south" with this large aggressive dog, he is going to have to maintain control in order to not get seriously bitten. A slip collar should be high on the neck to use it properly. No surprise that Millan actually knows what he is doing!
Remember that the owners of this dog have called Millan because this dog is very dog-aggressive and has posed a danger to them and their other dogs in the past!
Look at the picture above. This is the sixth second of the video. The Husky has turned away from Millan and towards the Border Collie, with mouth open and ears up and forward -- a classic sign of aggression. Millan has tightened the leash, given a "tssst" sound, and he has also given a light "heal tap" to the back of the dog as a correction. This is often described as Millan "kicking" the dog, but in fact this heel tap is designed to do nothing more than send a corrective message. Notice that the dog's body is not moved at all by the heel tap -- it a simple bump, and nothing more.
This is the exact same second as the shot in the previous freeze-frame. Yes, this is how fast it takes for a dog that is "loaded for explosion," to turn and bite.
Notice that the dog is NOT leaping away from Millan like a dog might if it were hurt. This dog is leaping into Millan, with his mouth open, his teeth barred, and his entire body going upward. This is pure aggression -- a dog seeking to establish injury. For the next three seconds Millan works to control the dog, which is used to biting its way to the top of the household pack hierarchy.
Remember why Cesar Millan was called -- this dog routinely rips into other dogs and people in this household!
The picture, above, is taken in the 10th second of the video. The dog is back under control. This setup does not last long. The dog decides to explode again, and again tries to bite Millan four seconds later (second #14). By second #17, the dog is back under control and sitting. The dog explodes again in seconds 20-26, but then it settles again. It explodes again at second 31.
Apparently these bite-and-release episodes continue for a while. Millan simply keeps the leash high (to avoid being seriously bitten), and the dog cycles through the explosions. The dog is making a choice to explode, albeit a very emotional, excited, and not entirely rational one. These same choices are made in street fist fights -- you keep punching forward until you are either too exhausted or you have your ass kicked.
At the one minute mark in the clip, the dog's emotional melt down has begun to drain off. The dog is exhausted, and he has lost the battle.
This is a simple, but core point: No one can keep a temper tantrum going forever! No one can throw punches forever. There is a reaon there are rounds in a boxing or mixed martial arts match!
Millan knows that waiting out the emotional and physical storm of this dog is critical. Once that happens, Millan has little trouble getting the dog to roll over on its side.
The dog is breathing fine, and the leash is now loose. Millan keeps his hand on the dog's neck to signal to the dog that he is still in control, but the hand comes off pretty quickly, and now the dog is clearly relaxed, resting, and thinking it all over.
In the picture, above, the leash is entirely relaxed, and the dog is resting on its side and licking its lips. This is a frame 1:17. Some have said the dog's tongue is "blue." It is? It is not! Watch the video yourself. That's a very healthy pink tongue being used by a dog to moisten its lips.
What does the dog feel like inside? I have no doubt it feels the kind of physical and emotional exhaustion a small child does after throwing a screaming, hitting and flailing temper tantrum ... and then being put in a time out to allow the emotional tide to drain away.
The dog is now centered inwards. It is resting, exhausted from acting out, but it is also calculating and recalculating what has just occurred.
What the hell just happened here? A lot of work for no gain! This is new. I am tired, and I have exhausted myself physically and emotionally, but for what? No gain.
Slowly a simple realization drifts in: I do not seem to be running the world anymore.When did that happen?
For a dog or a child, facing calm non-reactive discipline for the first time is more than a bit of a shock. Up to now, the world has revolved around them, and they have been able to manipulate their way to success or bulldoze their way to the top through sheer force of will or body strength.
But apparently, no more.
Will this be the last explosion we can expect to see from this dog?
No. Probably not.
But it is the beginning of the end, provided the dog's owners can show they will also not be bullied into submission.
Now watch the entire video tape below.
This is the one and only "horror show" that Cesar Millan haters point to, and yet itshows Cesar Millan successfully saving a dog's life, because is there really any question where this dog was going?
Powerful dominant dogs like Shadow are pretty rare because their genes tend to get weeded out of the pool.
Why does Shadow bite?
Some will suggest that Shadow must have been abused.In fact, Shadow shows no signs of abuse. Dog-on-dog aggression is not a sign of abuse.
Some will suggest that there must be something wrong medically, and a veterinarian should be consulted. A vet will have no answer for Shadow, other that a shot of sodium phenobarbital to end his life.
Cesar Millan says the problem is that Shadow is a rare, but truly dominant, dog.
A lot of folks have problems with the world "dominant."
They sniff that Cesar Millan is not a "trained" animal behaviorist. No doubt they also think paper from the AKC signifies quality, and doing the job in the field does not. Sorry, but that kind of nonsense is how we got into trouble with dogs. I am not sure it is the road out.
They say they read somewhere that wolves are not really dominant, and that "in nature" wolves live in family units as imagined by Walt Disney. Only in the "artificial" wolf packs created in large wolf-pen enclosures is wolf-on-wolf dominance and aggression ever shown.
Right.
Do Shadow and Riley look like a "family group" to you, or an artificial pack with no sanguinity? How about the dogs in your house? Funny how the "instant experts" always leave the obvious off the balance sheet!
The simple truth is that some dogs, like some people, are bullies.
We all know bullies. We grew up with them in grade school.
Bullying is a self-reinforcing behavior. What that means is that bullying is entertainment for the bully, as well as a means to an end -- respect, power, money, food, or sex.
A bully will continue to bully until he or she loses social status, gets a punch in the nose, or is hauled away by the police.
Even if there is no obvious reward other than entertainment, a bully will continue to bully.
In the dog world, that means some dogs will continue to bully other dogs even when the other dog is submissive, and it also means that some dogs have learned that people are also pretty easy to cow.
All of this can be pretty confusing to a young dog with no real role-model or calm assertive hand (human or canine) to lead the way.
Call this dominance if you want. Call it bullying if you prefer. In the real world, it's pretty much all the same.
Most of the folks who hate Millan and who point to the tape of Shadow as evidence of abuse, do not know very much about dogs, and are not competent to judge what is going on.
Some are simply liars.
Let us dispense with the liars -- the folks who say Millan kicks the dog, for example, or who say the dog has a blue tongue. If that's a kick, then I too have booted a lot of dogs, and if that tongue is blue then so is mine!
The main issue with this tape is that most people cannot read Shadow and the other dog very well at the very beginning. They see a dog's tail up and think that means a happy dog. They see Shadow turn to the other dog, but they do not see it as an aggressive move.
Let's pause for a minute to look at the face and body postures below. This is from an old (was it Konrad Lorenz??) illustration on canine communication. It is a bit stylized (as are human versions of the same thing). No dog presents exactly like this, but the general thrust is correct and clear -- dogs do communicate aggression and fear, dominance and submission, through facial expressions and body posture.
1. Threat; 2. Uncertain threat; 3. Weak threat; 4. Faint threat - the dog is very uncertain; 5. Fear; 6. Expression of uncertainty in presence of dog of superior rank
1. A self-confident, dominant animal in the presence of another dog; 2. Threat; 3. Trying to impress (tail wags from side to side); 4. Unconcerned attitude; 5. Uncertain threat; 6. Posture when eating; 7. Subordinate attitude; 8. Uncertainty between threat and defense; 9. 10. 11. Subordinate attitudes in the presence of a dog of superior rank.
Photo manipulation has shown that humans too can read and send massive amounts of information by making very slight changes in facial expression or body position. The slightest movement at the corner of a lip or eye can change the message entirely. So too with dogs.
Millan is very good at picking up on canine signals early on, and so he can often nip aggressive behaviors as they develop, and before they manifest themselves into a full-on throw-down.
Many of the folks who call themselves dog trainers, however, are not very good at reading canine signals. Most will never see a truly aggressive, domineering, or bullying dog like Shadow, and if they do, they will get bitten and suggest that perhaps the dog should be euthanized. The dog is clearly broken beyond repair, and they know this because they cannot fix it!
Of course, there is a place for euthanasia. Just as there are paranoid schizophrenics in the human population, so too are there dogs with this condition. Should we treat these dogs with medication? No. The cost is too high, and the medicine does not work that well even with humans. There are limits to all things, and those limits are lower with dogs.
But is Shadow one of these dogs? No. Not apparently.
This is a dog that acts out against other dogs. It is not nuts all the time -- it is specifically nuts. It is dog-aggressive.
It is, in the words of Ceasar Millan, "dom-eee-nate." If it were a human, we would simply call it a bully.
Back to the video tape.
Notice that Cesar Millan was calm and controlled throughout. This is not a man easily riled. He is not adding to the chaos of the fight -- he is simply handling it. Even at the end, his voice is amazingly calm.
Notice toohow quickly he reviews what happened in his mind -- the high tail of Shadow, the low tail of the other dog. He does not use the word "bully" but he knows that is exactly what has been going on.
Some women love to tut-tut about Cesar Millan. They will tell you that "aggression just begets aggression." This is patent bullshit from people who know nothing about it. I have never heard a man say it.
The reason so many kids are miserable in grade school is because their mothers and their teachers (all women) tell them to "just ignore the bully" or else to "try to move away."
What is being missed is that bullies choose their victims because those victims make "prey noises." What I mean by this is that the folks who act submissive and intimidated by a bully are the ones who are reinforcing bullying behavior.
You know what does not reinforce the bully? Someone who will punch him in the nose.
Yes a smaller kid may get a beating out of it in the end, but that bully will not be coming back to repeat that experience, provided at least one good hard punch to the nose was gotten in by the smaller kid.
Notice too that bullying tends to fall off pretty quickly after grade school. Ever wonder why? Simple: Police.
The cops do not click and treat. They hit you over the head with a nightstick, throw your ass in jail, remove your driver's license and fine you a month's wages. They may put you in a cage and leave you there for years.
And guess what? That works! Most young men have a run-in with the law at some time or other, and that run-in is not designed to be a fun experience. It is designed to pull you up short and get you to re-examine the way you have been doing business.
And guess what? That's exactly what happened to Shadow in this tape.
Shadow just dicovered there's a new sherriff in town, and his name is Cesar Millan.
Dog training is not complex, and it does not require psychic abilities.
Of course some people think that must be the case! After all, if they have trained a dog to jump over a low fence, they must have a "gift" and a "special talent" for dog training, right?
Wouldn't that make them "special"?
One of these types wrote in yesterday to claim clicker training required "empathy, sensitivity, patience, excellent observational and mechanical skills, self-awareness, planning, appropriate utilization of canine ethology/canine body language and signals, and a knowledge of nutritional factors".
To which I can only say ..... Ri-i-i-i-ggght!
Clearly this poor soul does not know much about operant conditioning.
If she did, she would know that the best operant conditioners in the world have NO empathy, NO sensitivity, do NO planning, have NO knowledge of canine ethology or body language skills, and do not give a damn about nutritional factors.
And you know why these excellent animal trainers are so cold-hearted?
Because some of the bestoperant conditioners in the world are machines!
Machines are great at operant conditioning because they have infinite patience and perfect timing.
And here's a thought: they have infinite patience and perfect timing regardless of whether it is rewards-based training or aversion-based training.
This is Skinner 101.
The Skinner reference, of course, is to B.F. Skinner, the father of modern operant conditioning.
Watch the videos below, and you will Skinner's training machines in action.
And what is one of the best training machines for humans? Skinner points to the slot machine!
Of course, we have progressed beyond Skinner boxes and slot machines. Now we have online tests and even online universities. Click and treat!
I suppose, I should note that there is nothing wrong with empathy provided it is moderated somewhat.
You see, a good dog trainer is not overly emotional, while a bad dog trainer is one that is wearing a little too much on his or her sleeve.
The dog does not need the trainer's "concerns." The dog does not need the trainer's sympathy. The dog simply needs a clear, well-timed consequence or signal. And guess what? Well-designed machines are pretty good at delivering those, while "deeply concerned" arm-flapping humans who assume dog training is all about them, often are not! .
What we call "dog training" is also called "operant conditioning."
For all the mumbo-jumbo you hear about dog training, there are are only three basic parts to it: positive reinforcement, aversive reinforcement, and extinction.
Positive reinforcement is any kind of consequence that causes a behavior to occur more often. Examples include food, praise, and play. In some situations, positive reinforcement can be the removal of an aversive reinforcement.
Aversive reinforcement is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur less often. Examples include a leash pop, a harsh sound, or any kind of nonverbal aversive communication made through body movement or positioning. In some situations, punishment can also be the removal of a (positive) reinforcement.
Extinction is simply a complete lack of response. The nonresponse should be total -- no eye contact, no noise or sound triggered by the dog, and no responsive body movement. The dog is invisible.
Watch the short animated clip above, and you will note that the cartoon Cesar Millan uses all three methods to train South Park's Eric Cartman after "Super Nanny" collapses and goes insane in the face of the trials and tribulations of this spoiled-rotten child.
Step one in the Cesar Millan bag of tricks is to extinguish Cartman's negative behavior.
What Millan is doing by ignoring Cartman is signaling that a "new sheriff" is in town -- one that will not be overly reactive.
When Millan talks about "calm, assertive energy" what he is really saying is that the owners have to react less.
A calm owner is not sending a lot of signals, and an assertive owner is not sending tentative or confusing signals.
Send fewer signals. Send clearer signals. Do not be drawn into the dog or the child's drama in a kind of call-and-response situation.
By ignoring young Eric Cartman at the beginning, Millan is creating a "silence" which forces Cartman to pay attention. Suddenly he is not running the show, which means he now needs to pay attention to see how (and if) he can regain control. Cartman is used to running the show and he thinks that is his job. Millan is teaching him something else.
Cesar Millan puts up with a certain amount of nonsense from young Eric, and then he sends a negative signal. The signal has two components; one is tactile, and the other is oral (but not verbal).
Even as he sends the "punishment" of an unambiguous negative signal, Millan is also maintaining his control by ignoring Cartman.
Cartman is not able to "lead" the group by acting out. In fact, both Millan and Cartman's mom are ignoring him! He has gotten a negative reaction, but he has not gotten an empowering response that makes him the center of attention.
At the end of this clip, Millan is seen walking Cartman.
Walking does several things simultaneously-- it gives Cartman something physical to do, and it helps to drain off "the jitters" that both kids and dogs naturally have if they are kept cooped up for too long.
Taking Cartman for a walk also forces the Mother to spend "alone time" with Cartman -- a major reward for Cartman (attention-seeking is one reason he may have been acting out).
The act of taking Cartman for a walk also puts the Mother in the role of initiating, leading and ending the activity.
In short, walking the child or the dog is both a reward (time with mother), a remedy (activity soothes anxiety), and a recapitulation of the pack hierarchy (the Mother is reinforced as the pack leader).
Watch any episode of The Dog Whisperer, and you will see Millan use these same three techniques over and over again.
And to recap, he is using ALL of the tools of dog training:
Positive reinforcement (reward)
Aversive reinforcement (punishment)
Extinction (nonresponse to minor inappropriate behavior that is not self-reinforcing).
Is Cear Millan using dog treats and a clicker for positive reinforcement? No, not generally. But yes, that too is a way of giving positive reinforcement. Contrary to what some dog-training faddists might have you believe, however, click-and-treat is not the only way to give positive reinforcement.
Is the punishment harsh? No. Cartman is not being spanked, much less whipped with a telephone cord. What is happening here is simple communication. The goal is to get the child or the animal to understand what is not wanted, as well as what is wanted. Aversives do not need to be harsh for either a human or an animal to want to avoid them.
You will note that Millan does not always use a leash to train. It shocks people that Millan actually touches a dog! Oh. My. God.
But Millan is no fool -- he knows dogs in houses do not (and cannot) spend their life on a leash, but mild corrections are still needed. The answer: a simple tap with his fingers and a harsh (but not loud or overly threatening) sound serves as a warning that the immediate behavior is improper.
Millan's timing is excellent. He generally corrects dogs in mid-action, and so there is no ambiguity as to what is being said. Sometimes he will "body block" by squaring up his body with the dog -- a way of punctuating his message.
For the record, your life is a product of the same kind of operant conditioning that is being practiced by Cesar Millan.
You get to work on time because of the prospect of positive reinforcement (praise, pay and promotion) and negative reinforcement (criticism, demotion or termination).
If you tell a racist joke at the water cooler, and your coworkers turn away and act as if you are invisible, your bad behavior will be extinguished pretty quickly.
Here's a question: Do you think people would stop at a red light if they did not get traffic tickets for running through them?
Should a store owner praise you and tell you what a wonderful person you are when you pay for your goods, but simply look the other way if you steal them? If you steal from the store, should the limit of the store owner's displeasure be to tell you "no" and not praise you?
How do you think society would work if there was only praise and no punishment?
How do you think society would work if there was only punishment and no praise?
Think both of those questions over.
You see, the world needs balance. And it needs balanced trainers who come at the job with a complete set of tools.
As I have noted in the past, I can build a house with only six tools, but I need every one of them to do a credible job.
The fact that I do not use a level and a square as often as a saw and hammer does not make these two tools expendable.
And so it is with dog training.
I can train a dog with only three tools, but I need all three do to a credible job.
I would no more salute a dog trainer who never used aversive reinforcement than I would hire a builder who never used a level and a square, and for much the same reason -- lining things up and keeping them tight makes the entire structure more durable under stress and in bad weather.
And really, isn't that when we need a good house most?
As for Eric Cartman, how did the rest of his training go? Well, let's see:
Notice that young Eric Cartman had settled down pretty quickly.
Is he happy that he is not the center of attention and leading everyone around? Not yet! But Mrs. Cartman is not at her wit's end here -- a glimmer of hope is revealed because for the first time ever, Cartman is getting clear and consistent communication. Part of that communication is that bad behavior has consequences, and that the agenda is no longer being set by the small annoyance at the end of the leash.
In the end, Eric Cartman is completely transformed. No longer angry and out of control, he is getting regular positive feedback for engaging in model behavior.
He has learned the most important rule of society: Do good, get good; do bad, get bad.
But of course, it turns out that young Cartman's needs are easier to fill than his mother's!
When Cesar Millan leaves, Mrs. Cartman find that she is lonely again, and she reverts back to her old ways of making Eric the center of the house, sending the wrong signals, and relinquishing all power to "the little monster".
Any question as to how that ends?
Now to restate a point I have made before: Cesar Millan's way is not the only way to train dogs.
That said, all successful training methods are based on only three components: positive reinforcement, aversive reinforcement, and extinction. Almost everything else else is chaining, shaping, timing and repetition -- methods to put a point on the pencil.
Different trainers will have different mixes of positive to negative reinforcement, and some will use extinction to better effect than others.
Some trainers are better at timing and nonverbal communication than others.
Different trainers will have different preferences in terms of rewards and aversives, and most good trainers will change those rewards and aversives based on the type, temperament and preference of the animal.
That said, if a trainer does not ever use extinction and does not ever use aversives in training, you do not have a complete trainer or a complete training system.
Can a man with just a hammer and a saw build a house?
Sure.
But remember that the house will be slower to build, will leak when it rains, and will be hot in summer and cold in winter.
Some people are fine with that -- "Hey, it's just a little cabin in the woods. I'm almost never there."
Other folks demand a higher standard. They want a carpenter with a tape measure, a square and a level as well a hammer, a saw, and a glass cutter.
Not only will the house that carpenter builds go up faster, it will also do the job better in the long term.
Yes, both carpenters will be working with just saw and a hammer most of the time, but those four other tools, properly used, actually do make a world of difference. .
On television later today, Cesar Millan is scheduled to take on psycho chihuahuas.
This should be amusing, not because the dogs have such terrible issues (although many do), but because the owners are often so terribly confused about who they are, what the dog is, and how to establish a caring, clear, consistent and coherent relationship between themselves and their animal.
Cesar Millan is generally working with dogs that have been seriously messed up by their owners.
I have very little time for folks who criticize his techniques because they themselves have managed to clicker train a labrador retriever puppy that they got at eight weeks of age and so, by extension, they assume they are experts on every aspect of canine training.
You will pardon me if I think I know one small thing about dangerous dogs and dangerous animals in general: popping a clicker while your neck bone is being chewed on is a sure-fire program for failure.
If you have never seen or worked with a truly dangerous dog (and Millan does it all the time), then please drink a nice warm cup of shut-the-fuck-up, and go play with your labrador retriever.
Ditto if you have never been seriously bitten by a dog, have never broken up a dog fight without being bitten yourself, or are an expert in primate and corvid behavior and assume -- by extension -- that you are an expert in canine behavior as well. You aren't.
The simple truth is that when most clicker trainers are faced with a really violent adult dog (big or little), they say the same thing: Put it to sleep.
To his credit, Cesar Millan does not. Instead, he has taken in hundreds of violent dogs over the years, and he has turned their lives around.
No, it's not pure-positive clicker training.
It's something much older than that -- something that has always worked and will always be in the repertoire of a true animal trainer: Calm assertive power, simple and consistent direction, a coherent message said in the language of the dog, and a level of caring that goes beyond click-and-treat and kill-it-if-it-ever-bites.
Millan is willing and able to do something few other wanna-be dog trainers are willing and able to do: take aggressive basket-case dogs, and prove most of them can be turned around and rehabilitated.
And yes he believes in the sensible use of choke chains, lots of excercise, and establishing a pecking order in the pack, in which he is the alpha.
For the record, he is also all for treats, cuddles, and scratches behind the ears. He's just not interested in doing that while the dog is gnawing on his bones and attacking the house guests.
For those interested in reading an earlier and longer post about what Cesar Millan does, why it works, and where most of the "clients" in these dog-training shows have gone wrong with their dogs, read >> A Balanced Trainer for Unbalanced Dogs.
And if you think you can do a better job with violent dogs than Cesar Millan is doing, then be sure to call up National Geographic. I am sure they can find a few red-zone Pit Bulls and Jack Russells for you to work with while their cameras are rolling.
One of these is an out-of-control pervert; the other is just an old man.
The story dominating the news is that Paris Hilton is cracking up because the poor thing has to spend a few weeks in jail.
Her inititial four-day stint in the County jail reportedly had her breaking out in hives and in self-pitying crying jags. Yesterday, after being dragged back into court to serve the remainder of her already-reduced jail sentence for repeatedly driving on a revoked driver's license (revoked because she repeatedly drove drunk and failed to take a court-required alcohol-and-drug intervention course), she screamed out to her mother in court: Mommy, it isn't fair!
Am I the only one that is reminded of one of those pampered Hollywood poochesthat dog trainer Cesar Millan is always being asked to fix?
Ms. Hilton is like a toy poodle runnning wild in the neighborhood. She craps on everyone's lawn, digs up the flowers, ignores commands, occassionally bites people, and sets other dogs to barking. It helps not at all that she is unspayed and promiscuous.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this young bitch, but its owner has raised it all wrong. As a young pup this dog learned to jump up on the table and grab whatever it wanted from the main plate. It was allowed to sleep on the bed and crap on the rug as well. When it barked at the door, no one ever told it to shut up, and after it began biting the occassional visitor, people were told to walk slowly and keep their hands close by their side. If it wants to sit on the couch, you need to sit in the chair. Don't even think about removing her food bowl.
Initially, when this little dog was seen running wild in the neighborhood, people merely smiled. We've all had a dog get loose once or twice. Your dog pissed on the rug? Let me tell you about mine.
What might have generated a sympathetic head bob the first time around, however, is a great deal less amusing on the 10th iteration.
And it's especially not amusing if it's drunk driving. There is a place in this world for dog catchers and dog pounds.
The pampered poodle at the dog pound is in for a world of shock. For one thing, it's a small dog that has been tossed into a wire cage next to a lot of very big animals. Even though the big dogs in the next cage cannot quite reach it through the wire, there is a very real sense that it would not take much for very bad things to happen. Not much at all.
Instead of soft couches, perfume and soap, this metal and concrete cage smells of urine, dog shit, vomit and death.
At meal time the folks at the pound do not cook and cut up up little steaks and serve them in a bowl of cream -- they scoop dry kibble out of 50-pound bags, and water comes from a lick spigot with a drain cut into the floor.
At the dog pound, Paris the pampered poodle will not get a nice warm fleece bed to curl up in --she's going to get the wire tray or concrete slab, the same as everyone else. The toilet will be in the open and no one will scoop up her dooty after she has finished. Jeweled leather collars and cute bandanas are now allowed; she will wear the same flat nylon collar with numbered slide tag as everyone else. It will not be new.
Worse than all the auster physical amenities is the fact that the folks in jail do not seem to give a damn about Paris the pampered poodle. This is a dog used to attention and used to having her every demand catered to. This dog has never had to deal with frustration and therefore has almost no capacity to cope.
Nor will acting out get her too much attention. At the pound, you can bark and howl, wag your tail or jump against the fence, play bow and even present your rear end up for any willing dog to mount, but no one is going to pay the slightest bit of attention to you if you are in a solitary cage. And believe me, if you are small pampered poodle at the dog pound, you want to be in a solitary cage.
Equally distressing to the pampered poodle is that some of the keepers at the pound seem to have issues themselves. Instead of smiling and saying submissive things, they stride into the cage and dominate the space with their presence. They think nothing of putting a choke chain on a dog and leading it on a short leash to wherever the it is they want it to go. And you better go -- this is not a request.Don't make them use the catch pole.
Paris the dog and Paris the human are different in one regard. If Paris the dog had exhibited the kind of behavior she did yesterday, she would probably have gotten a black tag placed on her cage. The black tag is the one that says that after a three day waiting period, the dog will be walked to the back room and given the Final Shot. After all, the world is full of good dogs without emotional problems; who needs to waste time on another pampered poodle who bites the hand that feeds it?
Paris, of course, is not going to be given the FinalShot; she is going to be let out. Unfortunately, when she is let out she will still be the same maladjusted young bitch she was when she went in a few weeks earlier.
When let out she will immediately be surrounded by the same people who helped make her so dysfunctional in the first place; her enabling mother, her alcohol and drug-addicted friends, and a raft of syncophant lawyers and assistants. In her social circle Paris will have no trouble all finding a half dozen mewing morons to tell her she was really a victim in all this because they treated her so much worse just because she was a well-bred toy poodle. My God, where are the dog catchers when all those black rottweilers are running about?
The idea that Cesar Millan should be called.is an idea that will occur to no one, yet I have little doubt that Cesar could set Paris right in short order. Cesar has worked with a lot of willfull bitches before, and has a track record of success.
Cesar Millan would not try to talk to Paris. He would not try to "understand" Paris. Instead, he would put a slip collar on her and take her on a long run every morning.
Cesar would stop all free-feeding. If Paris wants to eat, Paris will have to work, and that means physical work doing something normal like chasing a ball or doing yard work or painting the outside of a house.
Above all, Cesar will let Paris understand that she is not the top dog; she is just a small dog in a large pack, and with her small size and complete lack of ulility the best she can hope for is not to end up two rungs below the stupidest waitress at The Waffle House.
When not being worked or excercised, Cesar will mostly ignore Paris provided the dog behaves reasonably well. When Paris does get attention it will be when Cesar has time for it, and only on Cesar's terms. Attention and play is what you get after excercise and after doing good work and following directions. It is a reward, not an unearned right.
Time will tell what happens to Paris Hilton the human. In truth, I'm not sure why anyone cares. This girl is not any prettier than the peroxide-blondes we sneered at in high school and her morals are not as good. Based on her judgement calls, she is a mental defective. Both she and her friends are a traveling circus of alcholic dysfunction and unnecessary drama.
As for her mother, she is more of the same.
Which brings me to a concluding throught. To paraphrase the late Supreme Court judge Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Isn't three generations of idiots enough?
While Paris Hilton is incarcerated, is it possible she could be spayed?
A Bucket of T-Rex Please: The New York Times and other sources report that chickens are descended from T-Rex. Well actually, the truer story is that all birds are descended from dinosaurs. Hmmmm. So they didn't all die out with the meteor crash?
Are Breed Restrictions Code Talk?: The Bluedogstateblog asks whether breed-specific bans, and pit bull bans in particular, are the new "code talk" for keeping blacks and poor folks down and out? In the era of Imus, that's not crazy talk, and there are some good points scored here. That said, I am not always thrilled by some of the numbskulls who own pit bulls. One can admit there is a problem without necessarily embracing the solutions offered by know-nothing politicians.
Manatees are Doing Well: More evidence that the Endangered Species Act works: US Fish and Wildlife Service officials are considering reclassifying the manatee as threatened instead of endangered, a sign that the numbers are up a bit thanks to motorboat and development restrictions. And, yes, manatees will still be under Federal protection.
Bite Sized Snacks Released to Wild: Twenty endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits, Brachylagusidahoensis, were reintroduced to the wilds of Washington state just three weeks ago, but 14 of them have already been eaten by coyotes, hawks and owls. These little rabbits are the only burrowing rabbits in this hemisphere, weigh just 1 pound, and their wild population got so depleted a decade or so ago that they were all rounded up and put into a captive breeding program to ensure their survival. One has to wonder how retarded the scientists were to not do basic predator abatement at the reintroduction site.
Wired Monks Gone to the Dogs: The Monks at the New Sketemonastery are the stars of the new Animal Planet series "Divine Canine: With the Monks of New Skete" which premiers on Monday. I hope the brothers will explain why they stay away from AKC dogs and always import breeding stock. See Inbred Thinking on how the AKC's closed registry system wrecks dogs.
Wild and Working Dogs on PBS: PBS channels will be showing "Dogs That Changed the World" on April 22 and 29. The series promises to offer a broad look at dogs and the human-dog relationship and features a round-robin of clips "from the jungle to the arctic" of dogs hunting, herding, guarding, pulling, and guiding. Again, we can only hope the series explores a little bit of the Inbred Thinking that undermines dogs today.
Animal Planet Plays Catch Up to Cesar Milan: Animal Planet is trying to play catch up with Cesar Milan with their new series "It's Me or the Dog" where Briton Victoria Stillwell tries to sort out dysfunctional pets and people. The series starts Monday. Once again, it seems only people with accents can train American dogs and owners. Walkies anyone?
Wolf-Man, Dog-Man or Idiot?: Once again we have a Briton, but this time it's Shaun Ellis who took in three abandoned wolf pups (from where?) and decided he was just the guy to raise them up in a big zoo-cage enclosure in order to teach them how to be a wolf. Apparently long hair and a disdain for a bath is all you need to do the job. It was all filmed for the National Geographic Channel series "A Man Among Wolves," and shot "on location" at the 25-acre (is that all?) Combe-Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park in Devon. Call of the wild indeed!
Spring Thanksgiving: Spring turkey season starts this week in most places -- be careful out there. Meanwhile, let's give thanksfor what the National Wild Turkey Federation has helped give us.
The Only Training Book You’ll Ever Need
