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Location: East Midlands, UK
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,775
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mishflynn said: "
also i love that little dog, shes a gobby cow".
You could be talking about my Hal !! Why is it the ones that give us a hard time that we love the most?
Your thread took me back over the last few years to the pre-CM days where I wrestled (mentally, not physically!) with him ... particularly over the recall. I was absolutely determined that, despite what several husky breeders had told me, my dog was NOT going to be condemned to a life on the lead.
Anyway, I digress.
I believe that with your dogs you absolutely MUST be pack leader. Hal, as norty as he was, at the end of the day always viewed my husband as pack leader, with me a close second ... above Hal ... although he did challenge me rather frequently (my fault, I was too soft with him, which is why I will never be a very good dog handler, although should we get another dog, I will do my best!). I believe that your dogs will view your very noble attempts to be fair as a sign of weakness, and will at least attempt to manipulate you because of it ! Consistent is good, whatever method of training or rehabilitation you use, you must be consistent of course. But dogs don't do fair, they would regard fairness as you being weak and easily manipulated! Not true I am sure, but they would view it as that.
I truly believe that dogs see everything in black and white, unlike humans, which is why Cesar's method works so well. We can argue till the cows come home as to whether his method is RIGHT or not, cruel or kind, but no-one can argue with the facts. And the facts are that he is highly successful in a very short space of time. If quick fixes work, then how can they be wrong? The best ways are often the simplest. Although we haven't been able to get the Dog Whisperer on our tv recently because of the atmospheric conditions, so I missed the recent episode where someone said a dog had been choking, all the episodes I have ever seen, and I have seen hundreds, I have only seen 1 where the dog was clearly frightened.
And that was the Jindo, who was probably the most scarey dog I have ever seen.
He was a red zoner, totally out of control, etc. etc., and I did see fear in that dog's eyes. I should think there was in Cesar's too,
the dog was savage, but Cesar managed to rehabilitate him, but it looked to me that it was touch and go.
mishflynn, you can't use methods that you don't believe in and your heart isn't in. That's quite clear and good commonsense. You were right to not continue with something your heart is not in. Dogs pick up on negative emotions as well as positive. By the way, CM's methods are not intended to change a dog's personality, why would you want to do that? That's what I loved about using Cesar's Way on Hal, it DIDNT change his personality, he was still the arsey git he had always been, just a more obedient arsey git !!
His recall, though meandery, was a recall, his walk to heel was excellent, he sat on command with less sulkiness (I know these are all basic things that he should have learned years ago, but you didn't know Hal !!) No-one should want to change their dog's personality, only their behaviour if it is aggressive or whatever.
This is a bit muddled, but I hope it helps !