The Dog Whisperer (Cesar Millan)

[3/18/26] Got an email that Cesar has a new FAST channel called Cesar's Pack Leader TV.  So far, I've seen Better Human, Better Dog streaming on it.  Haven't watched it enough to see what else it has.  Apparently it debuted on Rakuten TV in Europe about four months ago.  It's now available in the U.S. on Plex and TCLtv+.

[3/24/24] I noticed that Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan is now on Sling Freestream (as well as on Freevee earlier).  Even better, most of the episode are available On Demand.  For some reason, there are actually 3 different Dog Whisperers to add to the Watchlist.   Right now, there are 98 episodes + 14 episodes + 65 episodes for a total of 177 episodes.  There were a total of 162 episodes.  So there must be some overlap.

[12/1/23]  Earlier this year (I noticed it on 5/31/23), Dog Whisperer was pulled from iTunes, meaning you could no longer purchase the episodes from them.  Itunes was the only place that was offering all the seasons of Dog Whisperer, though Amazon had some seasons available.  Now the only episode I see remaining for sale is one episode on Amazon.  This had been the only way to get seasons 6-9 and the second half of season 5.  The first four seasons and first half of season 5 are still available on DVD.   I bought seasons 1, 5, 6 on iTunes previously, so I'm missing seasons 7, 8, 9.

Not sure why it was pulled, but I read later the Cineverse secured has the rights and was supposed to launch an AVOD channel.  I found the article on 9/26/23, but the release is dated 8/16/23.  I installed the Cineverse app, but no sign of Dog Whisperer.

This morning, I took a look at the Cineverse app and Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan was there!  It shows on the top ribbon of channels, but when I click on it, it gets stuck on a spinning circle.

But when you search for it, it comes up and all 9 seasons are there!  Sometimes the show is featured prominently at the top when you start up the app and it works if you access it from there also.

No AVOD channel yet, but I vastly prefer the episodes to be available On Demand anyway.

[6/10/20] Cesar has some tips for new dog owners
[8/22/18] Sling TV teams up with the Dog Whisperer
[7/4/18] Cesar Millan: Illegal Immigrant to American Dream
[7/3/18] Cesar broke the rule

[6/10/18] Audible for dogs

[12/23/16] Becoming a Pack Leader of Dogs and Donkeys

[9/30/16] I was checking out Cesar 911 and see that Amazon says it stars Cesar Millan and Jason Willinger.  Who's Jason Willinger?  He's the narrator.

Actually, I didn't like the narration of Cesar 911 as I preferred the narrator for Dog Whisperer.  (Who is apparently Phil Terrence.)  But now I've gotten use to Willinger.  (Though I still prefer Terrence since he was the first.)  Compare them here.

[8/27/16] Cesar's facebook post links to this 2002 Los Angeles Times article which might be the first article written about him.  I previously had found a 2004 article (see 10/9/09 below).  [OK, I'll finally update the date of this post.  It was originally posted on 10/24/05 9:24 PM.  It's now 7:17 AM]

[4/25/16] Cesar announces engagement to Jahira

[7/2/15] Calvin Millan gets his own show called Mutt & Stuff

[4/3/15] AOL Build: Cesar Millan

[4/2/15] Behind The Brand interview (full interview, see also 6/22/13 below)

[2/27/15] Cesar on WWHL

[2/26/15] How Dogs Taught Cesar Millan About Life

[2/24/15] Cesar Millan on the Steve Harvey Show

[8/5/14] Cesar sneaks up on Dr. Pol

[7/23/14] One of Cesar's client dogs bites neighbor

[4/6/14] Cesar tells his story to NPR

[2/16/14]  Remembering Daddy

[2/12/14] Cesar Millan Foundation hits seven years

[11/6/13] Andrea Arden reads cesarsway.com

[9/27/13] Cesar greets fans at LAX

[9/25/13] Emery Sumner Productions and Melissa Jo Peltier sue MPH Entertainment.  [Jim Milio in the good old days]

[9/17/13] Cesar filiming Love My Bully special

[8/31/13] Fergie and Josh Duhamel call on Cesar

[7/5/13] Cesar responds to criticisms from the Alan Titchmarsh show.

[7/5/13] Googling Dog Whisperer One Mean Tucker brings up this anti-Cesar thread at Shiba Inu forum.  Lots of negative energy here.  All I will say is that none (or very few) of the critics can do what Cesar can do.  Actually a lot of his criticized techniques you see on TV require a high level of physical skill and timing.  So it's probably less dangerous to do more conventional (positive-only) techniques.

[6/26/13] Junior's Tale

[6/22/13] Cesar Millan: Behind the Brand

[6/13/13] Cesar interview on Brian Williams Rock Center

[5/17/13] Tshss'ing Brian

[4/1/13] Leader of the Pachyderm

[3/15/13] Cesar on The View (Sherri Shepard's dog Ashley)

[2/9/13] Men's Journal article: Rescuing Cesar (long)

[1/29/13] Cesar and Shorty (photo)

[1/15/13] Cesar on omg! insider

[1/9/13] Cesar on Today Show (KL&Hoda)

[12/19/12] Cesar talks to The Big Issue

[11/24/12] Cesar gets his exercise

[11/19/12] You could do worse than Cesar

[11/18/12] Cesar hopes sharing struggles will help others

[11/16/12] Cesar bouncing back from suicide attempt

[11/16/12] Cesar Millan: The Real Story

[11/1/12] Cesar on Anderson Live

How Dogs See The World (CNN video, 11/19/10)

[10/31/12] Alan Titchmarsh interview with Cesar Millan

[10/17/12] Wall Street Journal interview: fear of dogs

[10/10/12] Cesar's new book: Short Guide to a Happy Dog

[10/9/12] Cesar on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NGW biopic to air November 25, trailer)

[10/1/12] Cesar on Today Show (10/6/09)

[9/27/12] Cesar revisits his first home when he came to America

[9/14/12] Cesar on KTLA

[8/10/12] Cesar at the Playboy Mansion

Nat Geo Wild orders biopic Cesar Millan: Pack Leader

Dogs Keep Celebrities Humble

Cesar talks with Kelsey Grammar about divorce

[7/29/12] Cesar Millan on dogs around the world

[7/7/12] More back and forth on Cesar

[7/7/12] Tales from the Set, Part 4 by Bob Aniello

[7/4/12] This site has some Dog Whisperer videos online (many of which are hosted by gorillavid).  Probably illegally so they'll likely be taken down eventually.

[6/20/12] Tales from the Set by Todd Henderson

[6/11/12] Steve Dale wishes Cesar well

[6/10/12] Cesar and Mango (probably would have been a good Dog Whisperer episode -- depending on how he did it I guess)

[5/31/12] Cesar Millan in the movie Beethoven's Big Break (saved me from buying the DVD).

[5/26/12] Cesar talks with Indulge Magazine

[4/24/12] Who is Cesar Millan? (by Cesar Millan)

[3/6/12] Cesar on adopting the right dog

[1/16/12] The rise and fall of Cesar Millan (judging from the comments, what fall?)

[10/16/11] Cesar's aha moment

[8/1/11] Cesar on Michael Vick

[7/27/11] positive reinforcement techniques of Cesar Millan

[7/10/11] Cesar on his new book Cesar's Rules

[7/9/11] Zak George says Cesar Millan is yesterday's trainer

[6/7/11] Sessions with Cesar, the new online dog coaching course from Cesar Millan [via The Teachings of Cesar Millan]

[4/28/11] Cesar Millan on Jeopardy

[3/27/11] Cesar meets Mark Zuckerberg

[3/6/11] Cesar Millan, future governor of California?

[2/13/11] Found this old post (googling for Jennifer Ng) with Sophia Yin calling Cesar's methods "outdated" (compared to modern veterinary practice). (But the last six comments, including CJ Anderson's, make sense to me.)

[1/30/11] Good Dog, Bad Dog. Found via Kathy Sdao's twitter (found via dogbehavstudy found via PamelaDennison). She says the article did a lousy job (probably because it wasn't anti-Cesar enough).

[12/2/10] I was playing around with Digital TV for PC on Arlene's computer and saw there is a Cesar Channel. On the internet it's on livestream or use this shortcut.

[10/4/10] Cesar on CBS Sunday Morning [via Peggy and Willie]

[7/19/10] Ah here it is. Redeeming Rover, the 2002 article that started it all (according to The Ultimate Episode Guide).

[11/2/09] I was looking to reply to Sheri about how to avoid stress and thought about Cesar's 6 Steps For a Calm Walk. That was the episode with Tipper (Cesar's 6 Step Plan for Calm Walks). And came across this uk article. The six steps by the way are (1) Take A Deep Breath (2) Stay Calm (3) Set The Pace (4) Pick Up Speed (5) Face Your Obstacles (6) Get In The Zone

I also see a bunch of articles on Cesar's site (which are bound to be positive since they are on Cesar's site after all). They go back to 2006.

[10/9/09] I'm thinking of buying the Dog Whisperer Ultimate Episode Guide (especially since I recently bought Dog Whisperer Season 3 at Blockbuster) plus I see on ebay for 3.99 and I have .80 ebay bucks. I found this review on the web which said that a 2002 Los Angeles Times article helped lead to the series. So I did a search for Cesar Millan articles at latimes.com which came up with this 2004 feature article. It's not the same article but it is interesting looking back at the viewpoint of a 5-year old article. [7/19/10 - edited 2004 article link]

More latimes article: The sad story of Cotton who regressed after Cesar left. The owner turned to canine disarming. (Cotton kind of looks like Kimo.)

Cesar Millan: Saint or cult leader?

Marley and Me could have used Cesar

[5/5/07] Cesar has a myspace page

Cesar on youtube

Cesar on NPR

Nightline story

Boston Globe story

[7/14/10] Early videos with Cesar on Oprah's show

[8/12/10] videos from seasons 1-3 from The Teachings of Cesar Millan facebook page [via (oddly enough) the +R/-P Resource WebPage (rogue's gallery) relayed by terry pride on dogbehaviorscience 7/9/10] [2/2/12 - now here]

American Humane says Cesar's methods are inhumane.

Cesar responds to critics

[10/13/06] The Dog Whisperer comes to Hawaii

[1/30/07] Ian Dunbar vs. Cesar Millan

[6/14/10] Another article on Ian Dunbar

[9/16/10] Ian Dunbar on his contribution to Cesar's book [8/23/18 - I think I have this link elsewhere in my blog too]

[6/6/06] Not everyone agrees with Cesar's methods

[1/26/09] Another page of criticism of the Dog Whisperer

[5/28/10] Another critic of Cesar (and a lot of defenders)

[5/31/10] Here's a mostly positive article in a Modern Dog, evidently a magazine that backs Positive Training. Most of the comments are positive. Most.

[6/1/10] More criticisms of Cesar's by professionals. Followed up by a lot of his defenders.

[6/10/10] Beyond Cesar Millan (a whole website containing everything negative they can dig up on Cesar's techniques)

[8/3/10] Actually it's not just Cesar that the POs are campaigning against. It seems that they are against any training that's not PO and Cesar just happens to be the most visible. So that means virtually every single trainer of ten or twenty years ago. Take a look at the one-star comments of Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson's book (as opposed to the 135 five-star comments).

[6/11/10] Cesar discussed on Tracie Hochtner's Dog Talk show. Continued.

[7/1/10] Jean Donaldson against Cesar (or "force" training)

[7/14/10] Nicole Wilde compares/contrasts Dog Whisperer to Dog Town

[2/27/10] While googling Pat Miller [she has some books I might be interested in looking at], I came across her book review of Cesar's first book. That led to these articles at 4pawsuniversity, which is apparently anti-Cesar, glancing at a couple of the articles. I'm still a fan, but these articles seem to be written by "professionals" who seem to view Cesar as an an un-educated amateur.

[2/27/10] A partially broken link led to articles by Melissa Alexander who's a clicker trainer.

[1/30/07] Malcolm Gladwell's article

[6/9/10] Gladwell's article became the title of his newest book What The Dog Saw which are a collection of articles from the New Yorker. (Why why not just read them online for free?)

[12/17/12] What The Dog Saw available online from the Ukraine

[7/14/10] Mark Derr critique and some responses plus a long response by terrierman

[7/19/10] Terry Pride of dogbehaviorscience passes down this article quoting Stanley Coren, Jean Donaldson, Ian Dunbar all against Cesar. [Nothing new, just take a glance at beyondcesarmillan] For some reason, terry seems to have something personal against Cesar. I count 28 comments. Terry is the most recent. FWIW, counting up the comments I see 5 against Cesar and 17 for. (Put me in the for category. It's theory vs. common sense. Then again I believe in magic.)

Coincidentally terry's post was followed by this one "I just wanted to update those who when I was a member before said, "How's that going for you?" in how I handled my dog. Since I got physical with his punishment he hasn't bit anyone. Also, since then he went to bite my boyfriend while my boyfriend was disciplining him, and he stopped himself before he bit my boyfriend. So how is this working out for me? WONDERFULLY! He hasn't dared bite a person since."

[Obviously I'm not advocating punishment. And neither does Cesar for that matter.]

[10/24/05] Generations of children are familiar with "Lassie," but Cesar Millan, who grew up in Mexico, was particularly affected by reruns of the beloved TV series about the heroic collie and her human sidekick, Jeff. [Wasn't the boy named Timmy?]

[10/11/05 - article found 8/23/18] Dog Whisperer seminar at Hawaii Convention Center

[transplanted from my original blog 1/26/09]

How to Greet a Dog (and how not to)

How to greet a dog

How NOT to greet a dog

The Right Way to Pet a Dog, According to Veterinarians

Much like humans, dogs are complex creatures with a wide range of personalities, so it helps to know the basics of dog psychology and body language before approaching that adorable Golden Retriever in the park. The best way to initiate contact with a dog (after getting the owner’s permission, of course) is to reach out and let the dog sniff your hand.

Dogs live through their olfactory sense much more than their visual one,” Dr. Uri Burstyn, a veterinarian from Vancouver who also educates pet owners on YouTube, told Mental Floss in 2019. Be sure to keep your hands curled, as if you were chopping vegetables, just in case the dog feels threatened and lunges to bite your fingers.

If the dog seems pretty comfortable and doesn’t recoil from your hand, the best place to pet a dog is under the chin. The one thing you should never do is immediately start patting the dog’s head. This can be seen as a dominant, aggressive gesture because dogs generally keep their nose to the ground. If a dog feels something touching the top of his head, he might think it’s a bigger dog attacking him and react in a defensive manner. “There’s an old joke that dogs can’t look up," Dr. Burstyn said. "They can, but hardly ever do.”

Brandon McMillan

I actually became solely focused on dog training a little later in my career. My entire family were animal trainers so I was born into that environment, and when I was 19 I moved to California and started training animals.

I spent about 10 years training all sorts of animals for movies and TV, including the tiger in The Hangover. One of the companies I worked for mainly used breeder dogs. I lived next to a shelter and I started saying we should use more shelter dogs.

I convinced my boss and the first rescue dog was successfully trained, and then the next dog. Eventually all the dogs they worked with were rescue dogs. At that time, there were about 2 million dogs a year being euthanized because they weren't able to be re-homed. That number has gone down substantially, but it's still almost 700,000 per year.

When I realized the huge problem we have here in the U.S, I decided to quit the wild animal industry and started working only with dogs.

My first celebrity client was James Caan. Funnily enough, I often don't recognize the famous people whose dogs I train. I'd been talking with James Caan for an hour and a half discussing martial arts, which we're both interested in. Next thing I know, I'm leaving and he's arranging for me to start training his dog the following week. Only after I left did I realize who he was! I did the same thing with Ellen Degeneres, Rod Stewart and Don Cheadle, the list goes on really.

Whenever I train anyones dog I make sure it gets 100 percent of my focus. The first time I met Andy Cohen was when I appeared on Watch What Happens Live.

Andy talked with me afterwards and told me he had just adopted a great dog and wanted to make sure he received the best training possible. I worked with Wacha for about five years, every time I was in New York City.

I also trained Hugh Hefner's dogs at the Playboy Mansion. Hef's assistants called me up and said that his King Charles Spaniel, Charlie, was not coming when they called.

I went to the Playboy Mansion and they told me that the dog wasn't listening to a word they said. I checked Charlie and realized something was a little off. Charlie wandered off and I started calling him, but he wasn't listening. He'd been trained for recall so I decided to have a pause and let him sleep.

He took a nap and in the meantime, I asked where their music room was. They pulled me out some cymbals and I told them we would do a little test. Charlie was fast asleep, so I took the cymbals and I softly struck them together. He didn't wake up—their dog was deaf. So they then wanted me to test if their other puppy, Lady, was deaf too. I took the cymbals to where she was sleeping and tried the same trick, but even softer. Well, the puppy woke up!

When it comes to breeds celebrities like; French Bulldogs are very popular. But they are very difficult to train. I always say there are four variables when you train a dog: breed, age, history and imprinted DNA.

Border Collies and German Shepherds are really easy to train, but French Bulldogs and Pekingese dogs are extremely difficult to train. Because the first two types were bred for some type of work, and the latter two were not. Age is a big thing too, you can't train a dog too young. Five to six months is the sweet spot for training.

History is important, even if you have a rescue, because history has carved out your dog's personality. Finally, every animal has imprinted DNA. Some are born very high energy and some are born very calm. Some are outgoing and some are shy. And they are born like that, these are imprinted genetics.

What I find when it comes to celebrities and breeds is that celebrities are divided pretty much right down the middle. They either love their breeds, such as French Bulldogs and Chihuahuas, or they really believe in the shelter and rescue system.

But every dog can be trained to the same level of obedience with my "7 Common Commands", the response time will just be different. Whether it's the difference between breeds and even with rescue dogs.

I teach the "7 Common Commands"—such as sit, stay and down—because they are commands you will be using on a daily basis, but also because less is more in the dog world.

But if I could take one command of all the "7 Common Commands" I teach, the most vital would be "down". Control is the cornerstone of training and the "down" command is one of the most important control commands. It works because with "down" you don't need "sit". Your dog is already staying, it's controlled, you don't have to say "no" because it's already lying down. If you can teach your dog "down" then in a situation where someone comes to the door and you have a high energy dog, you just need to say "down."

It's the first command I really focus on with all my celebrity client's dogs.

Whether you are a celebrity or not, the reason people still hire me is because I have a reputation of restoring peace and order in a house that's chaotic. They might have people coming in and out. If their dogs are really high energy or untrained, the dogs need to learn that every time a new person comes into the house they have to be controlled.

The first step for training any dog is trust. I can gain the trust of some dogs in one session, and I've had other dogs that have taken weeks and months. It took my own Chihuahua years to trust me because she'd come from an abusive situation, but we got there.

I always say, dog training happens at the speed of life not the speed of light.

Brandon McMillan is an Emmy Award-winning master animal trainer and host of the CBS show "Lucky Dog". Brandon has collaborated with MasterClass for a new class on dog training, which covers skills from obedience to house training skills, building trust and executing common commands. His MasterClass joins the 85+ classes taught by world-renowned instructors on culinary arts, photography, writing, performance, and much more. Learn more about his class at MasterClass.com.

All views expressed in this piece are the writer's own.

As told to Jenny Haward.  [story featured on my Google Pixel 3aXL]

How to talk to your dog

Dogs are special. Every dog owner knows that. And most dog owners feel their dog understands every word they say and every move they make. Research over the last two decades shows dogs really can understand human communication in ways no other species can. But a new study confirms that if you want to train your new puppy, you should be speaking to it in a certain way to maximise the chances that it follows what you’re saying.

There is already quite a lot of research evidence showing that the way we communicate to dogs is different from the way we communicate to other humans. When we talk to dogs, we use what is called “dog directed speech”. This means we change the structure of our sentences, shortening and simplifying them. We also tend to speak with a higher pitch in our voices. We also do this when we are not sure we are understood or when talking to very young infants.

A new study has shown we use an even higher pitch when talking to puppies, and that this tactic really does help the animals to pay attention more. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, showed that talking to puppies using dog-directed speech makes them react and attend more to their human instructor than regular speech.

To test this, the researchers use so-called “play back” experiments. They made recordings of humans repeating the phrase “Hi! Hello cutie! Who’s a good boy? Come here! Good boy! Yes! Come here sweetie pie! What a good boy!”. Each time, the speaker was asked to look at photos of either puppies, adult dogs, old dogs or at no photos. Analysing the recordings showed the volunteers did change how they spoke to different aged dogs.

The researchers then played the recordings back to several puppies and adult dogs and recorded the animals’ behaviour in response. They found the puppies responded more strongly to the recordings made while the speakers looked at pictures of dogs (the dog-directed speech).

The study didn’t find the same effect applied for adult dogs. But other studies that recorded dogs’ reactions to the human voice in live interactions, including work I have done, have suggested dog-directed speech can be useful for communicating with canines of any age.

Following the point

It’s also been proven (and most dog-owners will tell you) that we can communicate with dogs through physical gestures. From puppy age on, dogs respond to human gestures, such as pointing, in ways other species can not. The test is very simple. Place two identical cups covering small pieces of food in front of your dog, making sure it cannot see the food and doesn’t have any information about the contents of the cups. Now point to one of the two cups while establishing eye contact with your dog. Your dog will follow your gesture to the cup you pointed to and explore the cup, expecting to find something underneath.

This is because your dog understands that your action is an attempt to communicate. This is fascinating because not even human’s closest living relatives, chimpanzees, seem to understand that humans communicate intent in this situation. Nor do wolves – dog’s closest living relatives – even if they are raised like dogs in a human environment.

[how to teach dogs to follow a finger point]

This has led to the idea that dogs’ skills and behaviours in this area are actually adaptations to the human environment. That means living in close contact with humans for over 30,000 years has led dogs to evolve communication skills that are effectively equal to those of human children.

But there are significant differences in how dogs understand our communication and how children do. The theory is that dogs, unlike children, view human pointing as some kind of mild command, telling them where to go, rather than a way of transferring information. When you point for a child, on the other hand, they will think you are informing them about something.

This ability of dogs to recognise “spatial directives” would be the perfect adaptation to life with humans. For example, dogs have been used for thousands of years as a kind of “social tool” to help with herding and hunting, when they had to be guided over a great distance by gestural instructions. The latest research affirms the idea that not only have dogs developed an ability to recognise gestures but also a special sensitivity to the human voice that helps them identify when they need to respond to what’s being said.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

It's Me or the Dog

[11/22/20] Victoria writes "How IMOTD Changed Me as a Dog Trainer"

[8/26/19] Victoria (or somebody) is now making available the early (pre-USA) episodes available on It's Me or the Dog youtube channel.  In addition to clips, they are also releasing full episodes.

So far I see 21 episodes available.  The first episode is Jimi & Duke.  The last episode (when I checked) was Dylan.

Wait, now I see more episodes have been released.  Zulu and Lotte.  And I missed the Baily (Crufts) episode.  So there's now a total of 24 episodes on the official full episode playlist.

The United States (aired on Animal Planet) episodes are available on Amazon Prime.  The first three seasons are available on Prime Video, but not the fourth season for some reason.  All four seasons are available on the Animal Planet app (apparently for free).  Season 1 is available on Pluto TV.

***

[4/5/07] With the success of the Dog Whisperer, I now see that a couple of new shows about correcting dog behavior have appeared on Animal Planet:

Divine Canine. Besides being monks, they train dogs. They have a book called How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend: The Classic Training Manual for Dog Owners.

It's Me or The Dog. Instead of a guy from Mexico, it's a lady from England (Victoria Stilwell). Her book, naturally enough, is called It's Me or the Dog.

Here's one I haven't seen yet, Barking Mad, which deals not only with dogs but other animals as well.

I don't see that on this week, but I do see Good Dog U.

[transplanted from original blog, 1/26/09]

[3/17/10] I see Victoria (not just Cesar) gets less than positive reviews too.

[10/9/12] some training videos on youtube

three tips for happier dogs

Three tips from my book, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy.

By Zazie Todd, PhD

When I was writing my book, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy, I wanted to make it as practical as possible. So I included a set of tips at the end of every chapter (except chapter one).

Three of those tips are shown in these graphics.

Tip no. 73 is: If your dog has a behavior problem, don't use punishment. It does not teach your dog what to do instead of the problem behavior, and it interfere's with the dog's feeling of safety.

Tip no 7 is: Give the puppy a choice, encourage (don't force) them, and protect a shy puppy. Remember that socialization means giving your dog happy, positive experiences.

As you can tell from the numbers, there are many such tips in the book!

Tip no 36 is: Understand that you're important to your dog. Your presence can give your dog the confidence to explore new things, and your dog will look to you for information when presented with a new or stressful item.

These tips have been very popular on social media.

At the end of the book, there is a checklist that will help dog owners see where they are already doing well. and maybe help them think about whether there is anything else they or their dog might like to try. If you've completed the checklist, I would love to know what you found out from it.

If you want to get a copy, you'll find more information about Wag here along with links to buy (including from your local indie).

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the best-selling author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy. She is the founder of the popular blog Companion Animal Psychology, where she writes about everything from training methods to the human-canine relationship. She also writes a column for Psychology Today and has received the prestigious Captain Haggerty Award for Best Training Article in 2017. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband and two cats.  [what no dogs?]

Playing with your dog

Many strong opinions exist about the “Do Nots” of playing with dogs. While I agree with some of these prohibitions, there are three common dog play “don’ts” that are myths. Before I get into the myths, I want to mention a few real worries that do exist.

Wrestle Play and Teasing: I do stand by the ban on rough-and-tumble wrestle play between dogs and humans and the teasing that often accompanies it. Though wrestle play betwen dogs and humans can be fun, the high emotional arousal that results often leads to a lack of inhibition, and that’s when trouble can happen, even to nice dogs and to nice people.

The play styles used in wrestle are also used in serious fights and predation. Rough play is typically okay for play between dogs but can create real danger with people. When you (or your nephew or the little girl who lives next door) are down on the ground with your face next to an excited predator with dangerous weapons in her mouth, bites can happen. Serious bites could happen, even if the dog has never bitten before. All too often, I’ve seen shocked and devastated families crying in my office, and I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.

Chasing Dogs: I’m also opposed to people chasing dogs, preferring to let dogs chase people instead. If you chase your dog, you risk teaching your dog that moving toward her means the game is afoot, making her more likely to run away even when you approach her for another reason. This can ruin your dog’s recall.

Chasing your dog can also lead to injury if your dog charges away from you into the street or other unsafe area. There’s no denying that letting a person chase a dog can be a great reinforcement for the dog, but I only approve this game for dogs who are so well-trained that the person can stop the game at any time and successfully call the dog to come.

Dog Play Myths

I disagree with the following advice on how to play with your dog:

Myth #1: Don’t mix Dog training and play.

Not true! It’s actually great to incorporate play into dog training sessions. The best dog training occurs when the dog views an activity as a game rather than a lesson. Using chase games to teach recalls, playing follow to build a base for heeling, using tug to practice “take it” and “drop it,” and practicing stays with “find it” games or hide-and-seek are all great ways to blend training and play. Additionally, play is reinforcing, so playing with your dog may be better than the best treat.

Myth #2: Only young dogs need to play.

Not true! A small percentage of animal species play at all, and even fewer play beyond childhood. Dogs and people remain playful into adulthood, which may partially explain why we’ve been best friends for thousands of years. Many older dogs stop playing only because they no longer have buddies to play with. Keep playing with your dog well into old age. It’s part of what makes them dogs and us human!

Myth #3: Don’t play tug with Your Dog.

Most importantly, I disagree with this prohibition (at least for most dogs). Many people advise against playing tug, which is a shame because so many dogs adore it. Tug is a great game, and dogs can learn a lot from playing it. Many trainers share this view and actually teach tug in puppy classes. The earlier dogs learn the lessons that tug has to offer such as impulse control, mouth control and cooperation as well as skills like “take it” and “drop it,” the safer and more fun the game becomes.

For a long time, experts advised against playing tug with dogs for fear that it would create or increase aggressiveness in dogs. Later, tug was considered fine for most dogs as long as they were not allowed to “win” by keeping the toy at the end. The concern was that it would have bad consequences for her to feel she had just triumphed over the person.

A scientific study by Rooney and Bradshaw addressed this issue. They found that “winning” the toy in a game of tug had no impact on the relationship of the human-dog pair. Based on their research, though, we should still be thoughtful about letting certain dogs keep the toy after a tug game. The most playful dogs in the study exhibited significantly higher amounts of playful attention-seeking behavior when they were allowed to “win.” Therefore, it may be better not to allow those dogs who become relentlessly pushy about seeking more play time to “win” at tug.

Of course, for a few dogs, tug is a bad idea. Dogs who are prone to aggression induced by high arousal are not good candidates for it. The same warning applies to dogs with poor bite inhibition or poor self-control as well as those who tend to creep up the toy with their mouths during tug. Additionally, it may exacerbate resource-guarding behavior in dogs who already exhibit it.

For most dogs though, tug has many benefits. It is interactive and requires cooperation between humans and dogs. It can give dogs exercise and help them stretch their bodies prior to other activities such as running or agility. Tug can effectively rev up an agility dog for maximum success on the course. It helps many dogs learn better mouth control in general.

With so many “Do nots” on how to play with dogs, the most important may be this: Do not spend so much time worrying about playing with your dog that you don’t have time to actually play with her.

Article first appeared in The Bark, Issue 60: Jun/Jul/Aug 2010

Three Forms of Dog Training

Lee Charles Kelley is still going at it with his latest blog post, Three Forms of Dog Training.

Most people think there are only two types of training for pet dogs, dominance training and positive reinforcement. But there is actually a third form called drive training, which is far more effective than the other two.

In the current dog training marketplace drive training is the least understood and the least used with pet dogs, and yet it’s the most effective of the three. Plus it’s the method most often used to train working dogs: drug and bomb detection dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, military dogs, and police dogs.

So what is drive training, exactly, how does it work, and why isn’t it being more widely used for training pet dogs?

Before we get into that, let’s take a look at how all three methods evolved.

[read on...]

Then, in 1992 a new form of drive training was developed based on the laws of physics rather than the unscientific concepts of dominance or the somewhat semi-science of operant conditioning. This new method was created by former police and drug-enforcement dog trainer Kevin Behan.* His model—which he called Natural Dog Training—was based on the principles of flow and thermodynamics (among other things). In other words, it was based on physics.

[hmm...]

Chaser the border collie

Many owners struggle to teach their dogs to sit, fetch or even bark on command, but John W. Pilley, a professor emeritus of psychology at Wofford College, taught his Border collie to understand more than 1,000 nouns, a feat that earned them both worldwide recognition.

For some time, Dr. Pilley had been conducting his own experiment teaching dogs the names of objects and was inspired by Border collie farmers to rethink his methods.

Dr. Pilley was given a black-and-white Border collie as a gift by his wife Sally.

[alternate paragraphs as printed in the Star Advertiser 7/28/19:

In 2004, Pilley started an experiment after reading about a dog named Rico who was taught to recognize over 200 items.

Pilley bought a black-and-white Border collie from a breeder near Spartanburg, S.C.  He named the female puppy Chaser.]

For three years, Dr. Pilley trained the dog, named Chaser, four to five hours a day: He showed her an object, said its name up to 40 times, then hid it and asked her to find it. He used 800 cloth animal toys, 116 balls, 26 Frisbees and an assortment of plastic items to ultimately teach Chaser 1,022 nouns.

In 2013, Dr. Pilley published his findings that explained that Chaser was taught to understand sentences containing a prepositional object, verb and direct object.

Chaser died on Tuesday at 15. She had been living with Dr. Pilley’s wife and their daughter Robin in Spartanburg. Dr. Pilley died last year at 89.

Another daughter, Pilley Bianchi, said on Saturday that Chaser had been in declining health in recent weeks. “The vet really determined that she died of natural causes,” Ms. Bianchi said. “She went down very quickly.”

Ms. Bianchi, who helped her father train Chaser, said the dog had been undergoing acupuncture for arthritis but had no other known illnesses.

Ms. Bianchi said Chaser was buried in the backyard with the family’s other beloved dogs and with some of her father’s ashes.

“What we would really like people to understand about Chaser is that she is not unique,” Ms. Bianchi said. “It’s the way she was taught that is unique. We believed that my father tapped into something that was very simple: He taught Chaser a concept which he believed worked infinitely greater than learning a hundred behaviors.”

Ms. Bianchi said that her father’s experiment was “uncharted territory” in animal cognition research, pointing to news media coverage calling Chaser “the world’s smartest dog.”

“Her language learning is very high-level, powerful science,” she said.

Chaser understood that words have independent meaning and understood common nouns as well as proper nouns, Ms. Bianchi said.

If Chaser had 30 balls, Ms. Bianchi said, she would be able to understand each one by its proper-noun name and also as a part of a group of objects. “She learned the theory of one to many and many to one, which is learning one object could have many names and many names can apply to one object or one person,” she said.

Greg Nelson, a veterinarian at Central Veterinary Associates in Valley Stream, N.Y., said humans were learning that animals have a deeper understanding of the world around them.

“People have always been under the belief that animals respond to commands based on a rewards system,” he said. “Learn limited commands and tricks, then get a treat.”

But “they do have a language among themselves, spoken and unspoken,” he added. “And it’s apparent that they can understand the human language probably in much the same way as we learn a foreign language.”

Ms. Bianchi said that Hub City Animal Project, an organization dedicated to animal homelessness, sponsored a bronze statue of Chaser that will be placed outside the Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Spartanburg next year.

Dr. Pilley’s footprints, also in bronze, will be placed beside the statue of Chaser, and a portion of a street near the museum will be renamed Chaser the Border Collie Boulevard, according to Ms. Bianchi.

Dr. Pilley told The New York Times in 2014 that “the big lesson is to recognize that dogs are smarter than we think, and given time, patience and enough enjoyable reinforcement, we can teach them just about anything.”

Correction: July 28, 2019

An earlier version of this article misidentified John W. Pilley’s occupation when he got Chaser, the Border collie. Dr. Pilley was a professor emeritus of psychology at Wofford College, not a retired psychiatrist. The article also misstated the name of the street near the museum that will be renamed. It will be called Chaser the Border Collie Boulevard, not Border Collie Avenue.

Ian Dunbar webinar

responded to a couple of emails for a free webinar solving dog behavior problems

Yes, it was informative but it was essentially a 2 hour infomercial featuring Ian Dunbar and his son.

At the end, you are invited to get in a deal to buy more materials (at a discount of course.

Here's the link from last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckQQ6JmIe3M

And here's the current link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIck6xh71LY

Glancing at the beginning, it looks like the videos are similar but not identical.

how kids should (and should not) interact with dogs

should (twitter)

and

should not (twitter)

from Dr. Sophia Yin.com

Dr. Jo Righetti

Top 10 pet problems

1.  Barking Buddy
2.  Piddling Precious
3.  Hyperactive Henry
4.  Terminator Terror
5.  Antisocial Angus
6.  Clawing Cuddles
7.  Angry Apollo
8.  Frightened Freddy
9.  Anxious Amber
10.  Humble Human

Cesar under investigation for cruelty to pigs

Cesar Millan, the animal psychologist famously known as the "Dog Whisperer," is under investigation for an animal cruelty complaint authorities received after a recent episode of his TV show, "Cesar 911," on National Geographic, authorities confirmed to Patch.

In the show, Millan was rehabilitating an aggressive french bulldog named Simon, which had recently attacked some pet pigs, at his "Dog Psychology Center." When Millan brought new pigs to a "training session" with Simon, the dog attacked one of the pigs, biting its ear and drawing blood.

A Change.org petition claims that Simon was a "known pig killer" and had more than 9,000 signatures Friday morning.

Investigators visited Millan's center in Santa Clarita, California, on Thursday evening, but Millan was not there, so they spoke with his son instead, according to Aaron Reyes, deputy director of the County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control.

The department posted a 24-hour notice for Millan to contact authorities, and a couple hours later an investigator heard from a "key staff member" of Millan's show, Reyes told Patch. The staff member said Millan was aware of the investigation and will fully cooperate with it, Reyes said.

Investigators want to know how badly pig was harmed, why Millan chose that method of rehabilitation and anything different he could have done, Reyes said, adding that at this point, all they've seen is the video.

"You’re looking at the key piece of evidence we’re looking at," Reyes said.

National Geographic did not immediately return requests from Patch for comment but in a statement to multiple media outlets, National Geographic said the clip only showed Simon, "chasing a pig and nipping its ear, causing the ear to bleed."

The statement continued: "It is important to clarify that Cesar took precautions, such as putting Simon on a long leash to assess his behavior, before making initial corrections and removing the leash. The pig that was nipped by Simon was tended to immediately afterward, healed quickly and showed no lasting signs of distress."

Following the controversy surrounding the dog-bites-pig incident, National Geographic released an extended clip to media, showing the troubled dog coming full circle.

In the clip, Simon is brought back into a pen with more pigs, and Millan works his magic on the dog. Eventually, Millan ties a leash from one of the pigs to Simon, and has the pig take Simon for "a walk" around the pen.

The two animals appear to be thick as thieves by the time it's all said and done.

"As the additional clip reveals, Cesar and his animal pack effectively helped Simon to overcome his aggressive behavior toward other animals," the National Geographic statement said. "As a result, Simon did not have to be separated from his owner or euthanized."

***

no comments to this story, but some on the Psychology Today article.

and more mainstream comments here.

Jill Breitner the originator of the petition has a youtube channel and has an app called Dog Decoder.  She currently has 101 subscribers.  Maybe it'll jump up after this.

***

Pro-Cesar comments on facebook

A statement from Simon's owner

Cesar speaks with people.com about the incident.

The episode is online (and on the Nat Geo app), but only available to cable subscribers to Nat Geo Wild.  Non-subscribers can purchase Cesar 911 episodes on Amazon.com, iTunes, vudu, MGo.

Season 3 episodes will supposedly be made available on Hulu 30 days after the original air date.  Season 2 episodes are currently available on Hulu.  Season 1 episodes are available on Netflx.

*** [4/11/16]

We have been informed by Los Angeles County Animal Control that their investigation into the farm pig incident is over and they have found that we did nothing wrong and no charges will be brought against me or my team. I am pleased but not surprised by this news. My team and I are 100% dedicated to the proper care of all animals and our animal handling procedures are safe and humane. We will continue to  rescue and rehabilitate even the most difficult problem dogs. Our work  has saved the lives of thousands of animals that otherwise would have been euthanized.

15 Things You Do That Are Unintentionally Breaking Your Dog’s Heart

There are several things we as puppy parents unintentionally do that mess with our dogs’ emotions. No matter how hard we try in our effort to be perfect, some of our human ways can lead to one confused pup. And sending mixed signals to our pups will make them more likely to misbehave. But is it really bad behavior, or bad communication?

Here are fifteen common puppy-parenting missteps you can easily avoid.

[via facebook]

come when called (recall)

This costs $19.99 from the Amazing Dog Training Man (well, this is free)

What else is out there (preferably for free)?

ASPCA

Zak George (video)
Training Positive (video)
kikopup (video)
kikopup (adding distractions, video)
expertvillage (video)

wikihow
wikihow (5 steps with pictures)
petfinder
Perfect Paws
Ian Dunbar
The Humane Society
American Humane Association
QuickandDirtyTips
DogsNSW
Dog Owners Guide
WebMD
For Dummies (video)

OK, that's enough for now

[6/25/15] Eric Letendre (well, I guess he started off this post in the first place)
One more from Eric