Comments on: Fun Dog Activity – Chasing Bubbles

By: shibashake

shibashake — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:05:18 +0000

“On the other hand, I liked seeing that he can be a softy like the rest of us when it come to cute behaviors.”

I really liked that too. Nothing wrong with being soft sometimes 🙂

Must be a lot of fun to train a service dog. You should write about it – I would love to hear more about the whole process.

By: workingoncalm

workingoncalm — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:57:59 +0000

I have a service dog that goes everywhere with me. That includes the college classes I teach. I make sure that he gets exercise before classes and after. He looks pretty content to just me with me during the classes. He is a very laid back dog which is one of the reasons he is a service dog.
Cesar has taught me so much about what dogs need and even about how other people perceive us. Perhaps the little dog was doing something to earn the food Cesar gave him by sitting up. I’m sure that Cesar reviews what is put on the show very carefully. On the other hand, I liked seeing that he can be a softy like the rest of us when it come to cute behaviors.

By: calmassertiv

calmassertiv — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:38:57 +0000

I’m curious — in the case of a ‘service’ dog, which dotes on its owner, lying at the owner’s feet while in a restaurant for an hour, getting the mail and the slippers and the remote and the phone: do you think these dogs are unhappy? I’m not asking whether they are controlled, for they obviously are, or whether it is appropriate, which it obviously is, but simply do they seem Sad to you? Do these dogs not feel loved, not feel respected? Is a Canine Good Citizen award simply a prize for psychological abuse in your mind? Are the handlers at dog shows making their charges miserable when parading them in front of the judges? Are hunting dogs responding to their master’s whistles feeling depressed? Should agility trainers just let their dogs run around wherever they want on the course? Super Dog doesn’t control for control’s sake, it controls to reinforce in the dog’s mind that the owner is boss, a prerequisite for all other training. I’ll ask again — did you watch the videos?

By: shibashake

shibashake — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:10:15 +0000

Hahaha, if dogs don’t sit in an orderly fashion on their beds and only act when their owner tells them to, does that mean they are not trained or sad? If dogs walk on a loose leash, and only come into a heel position when they need to, does that mean they are not trained or sad? If dogs decide to play on their own rather than come and sit by their owner’s feet all day does that mean that they are not trained or sad?

Service dogs are different. What is required of them is much greater than most other dogs. What they get in return is the satisfaction of working for their owner, and also getting to be with their owner almost all of the time. As a result, *not all dogs* are good service dogs. Some dogs will be extremely sad if forced to be a service dog and that is why they only accept dogs that have the right temperament.

The same thing goes for the Canine Good Citizen awards, dog shows, and whatever else. Some dogs enjoy it – in which case – doing the job is a cooperative thing that both owner and dog do together and enjoy together. If you force a dog who does not enjoy these things to do them, then of course they are sad, and of course they will be miserable.

My breeder for example does not show all of her dogs. There are some dogs that just don’t enjoy going to shows and do not enjoy handling by the judges. She only shows the dogs that like being shown.

I watched one of the videos – the feeding one. All the other links did not work for me. The video did not reveal any new information.

The problem with this guy and many others similar to him is that they require an extremely rigid all or nothing control on their dogs. This is just not necessary. Some dogs would hate this kind of life – just like some dogs would hate being service dogs, blah blah blah.

A great example is the Baby Girl case that Cesar Millan dealt with. Doing this kind of rigid control on her would work in the sense that she would certainly follow the commands, but would she be happy? I do not think so. When Cesar Millan roller-blades, his dogs are ahead of him, does that suddenly make them his leader? No. When dogs pull sleds they are in front of their people, yet they are receiving and following commands from the driver, does that suddenly make them the leader just because they are in front? It is silly to require crazy rigid rules like those shown. And it is silly to expect your dogs to treat you like a God and only eat and shit when you tell them to and otherwise stay in a Down position.

Between total control and no control are a wide range of possibilities – those are not the only two options.

My dogs are my companions. I am only their boss *when I need to be* for their safety and happiness.

By: calmassertiv

calmassertiv — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:19:32 +0000

I remember that little beggar as well, and was surprised when Cesar fed him. I expected a lesson into the camera about why one should not encourage this begging behavior by giving food and Behold, food. I think Cesar was distracted from his normal routine by the other dog’s unwillingness to take food, something he said he had never encountered. I imagine there are not many things at this point that he has not encountered, and it’s those situations that provide him with the mental challenge that makes him not just want to go home and count his money. My second big surprise was that ultimately he never did figure out how to get the dog to relax around food and eat like a normal dog. The ending came as the third big surprise, and made me wonder if perhaps the vet failed to diagnose a gastrointestinal problem that later they called bone cancer but which may have only been a bone metastasis from a g.i. primary. It would be rare to do a bone biopsy on the dog while living, and just as rare to do a pathology study and necropsy, as all of these things are quite expensive. For all we know the stomach was full of rocks, since they never showed the dog even getting an x-ray, just some quick labwork from a mobile vet.

I am truly amazed you didn’t like the Super Dog guy. Did you watch the videos? Those dogs seem perfectly happy to me, and there were no leashes or collars in sight. I thought for sure you would love it.

By: shibashake

shibashake — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:38:36 +0000

Super Dog guy is a control-freak as far as I can tell. Actually I had seen his pages earlier when I first got my Shiba Inu and was frantically looking around for a trainer. It looked pretty interesting at first, but when you carefully check out the details of his text – it becomes clear that he is just another traditional trainer, who is also mad about control. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he is like another Brad Pattison. Here is an excerpt –

“Forget about behavior problem solving if your dog will not “Down,” and “Stay” for 30 minutes to an hour and will not walk behind you or go away if you say “Go On”–basic fundamentals of dog training and obedience.”

OMG – I really do not need to subject my dogs to these things. What practical real world situations would require that my dog Stay for 1 hour or 30 minutes. This is just control for control’s sake. Even Cesar does not feel the need for this type of crazy control.

By: shibashake

shibashake — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:25:19 +0000

lol – I don’t know what to say. For me, this guy encapsulates most of what is wrong with dog training. I would pick Cesar Millan any day over this guy.

Talking about Cesar Millan, I just watched the new Dog Whisperer episode yesterday. I really like the general approach that Cesar took with Baby Girl. She was a fearful dog, and Cesar socialized her to a variety of new experiences, making sure that they were all positive experiences. I liked the greyhound rescue visit, the new psychology center visit, and even the pool exercise.

The only thing I disagreed with is the flooding in the VR room. It was unnecessary and I think set back the rehabilitation of the dog.

There were two other instances in the show that I truly enjoyed –
1. The little dog that was begging Cesar for food – and Cesar gave it to him – lol. Sometimes it is fine to indulge our dogs 🙂
2. I also really enjoyed how Cesar tried so hard to get the dog to eat. He really pulled out all the stops and was very flexible about his normal rules. I think this highlights a very important lesson which is that there is no one-rule that fits all. We should always be flexible and tailor our training to suit an individual dog’s needs.

It was sad at the end, but I think it is a good Dog Whisperer episode.

By: calmassertiv

calmassertiv — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:49:55 +0000

Here's a link to a guy who looks like he knows what he's doing. Lots of pictures, well-written text, and a few videos of him and his dogs. One never gets to see him actually doing the training, and one never gets to see what he does when a dog doesn't want to be trained, but what you do get to see, and read, is pretty impressive. http://www.doganswers.com/method.htm

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:10:08 +0000

hehe- yes, Lupin likes to chase stray kitties, but I don’t think he’d eat them.

I saw something about this one time — they were making flavors for “bertie botts every flavor beans” (like in Harry Potter) you just need to find out what chemicals in the cat or squirrel make it taste like it does, then use those chemicals to make the bubble mixture.

By: calmassertiv

calmassertiv — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:59:40 +0000

I sense a market opportunity here. Anyone know how to make cat-flavored bubbles? Or squirrel-flavored? Huge potential. Huge. 🙂