ha ha heeeee! he is nice tho!!!!!!!!

must of missed your post, what have you wrote to the bbc?

Well once again you have lived up to being the best forum on the planet even though I do not read any of the others myself. I do get feed back to the office.

First the serious stuff:

What a week, I knew this was going to be a hard week because of the role, the edit does me no real favours as it was basically the guy with the camera that caused the dog to start biting again, coming in for close ups when I told him not to several times. We had just done several retrieves and I was explaining that when I was in Germany we used these dogs as gun dogs. (I was shouting at the crew not the dog) they moved back, the dog was ok then he bit me on the hand I pinned him in about a milli second then the dog that always runs away has never walked off the lead did both, I felt that if had let go he would have bitten again. And I did all that in about a milli second. Because that’s how quickly these things happen. Would I do it again in similar circumstances your damn right I would.
I can always tell when someone has read too many books they use words like fall-out obviously from that memorable masterpiece coercion and its fallout, I’ve got them all, even The Monks of New Skete. the phrase ashamed was also being used by the writer.
I have just returned from a short trip to Paris were I was asked to visit several pet shops there I saw large numbers of puppies in glass cages they moved backwards and forwards like goldfish, mixed breeds Akita boxers Dalmatians GSD GSP small breeds, critical periods of development they’ve never heard of it Imprinting not a chance. I took some secret photo’s and then said to my colleague, some people have called me cruel for pinning a biting dog he just laughed you English are so funny he said. This is something to be ashamed of. He is a campaigner for animal rights in France.
I agree in terms of training the two most powerful tools in the trainers armoury should always be +R and –P I use both on all the dogs I train. All mine are on collars all mine are trained with food or a toy, all mine are stimulated through sports. My end test is Obedience on the lead sit, stand, down a long down on the lead sit stay, recall, 15 questions, a grooming demo, agility or search or both a retrieve. You don’t see much of that on the old programme, because its boring its dog training using food and positive reinforcement, in 8 hours of training.
But never ever put me in the same group as that **** from Essex Police. The Police didn’t change their ways at all, we arrested charged and sentenced a ***** for abuse. And that has got ****-all to do with me, or what I do. Because if I had been there and that had happened to any of my dogs, he would have been more than pinned.
The same year as that happened I was in Florida at a Marine Mammal Institute learning positive reinforcement using a whistle, I then did a course in how to train an elephant to do the down, using just +P the trainer said the trouble with you lot(dog trainers) you rely to much on this (the lead)

Other Stuff:

I don’t think people give a damn about what I wear, the people on the programme didn’t, but a lot of the letters are focusing on clothing, might be a deal there for the next series. Do you think I could get a black piny and rollers
RE
I bet Mic is a sweetie really
after seeing him give that weim a massage, i thought he can give me one any day!

mmmm....or he can practice his press ups on me...not fussy really

Now Now Ladies you will have the Hard Man of Dog Training Blushing

WOW................

Now someone at the big house tells me there’s a new programme on Wednesday 29th March at 8pm BBC 3 “ You need a dog” apparently they are going to give a single mother with a deaf daughter a dog to see if it will get her to do more interacting, they have some “Top Dog Trainer” who uses mostly positive reinforcement, It sounds a bit lame compared with the Dog Borstal but it might make a few people happy. It’s on for 30 minutes. I will be watching and hopefully we can have a chat about that as well next week. Who knows he/she may come on here and we can compare notes.

Just to finish for this week

“HI YA” back at you Elaine’s daughter

Hi Mic,
Good to see you back and a great post. I do have one question though, did you choke the dog? I didn't hear gasping sounds, but a few on here have said they did and my OH also said he thought you had. Were you just pinning him down or did you choke him at all? I appreciate, as I'm sure everyone does, that you have to make split second decisions in a training situation, as we all do, particularly with an excitable, badly trained dog.
To be honest, I'm not sure how animal rights issues in France have got anything to do with it though? I think that's like saying you were in China with an animal rights activist wandering around watching dogs being skinned for their fur??? Different countries, just like different trainers and people have their own schedules/issues and priorities. I don't think they are comparable in this context.
I am genuinely interested in whether the dog was choked, not just pinned and only you can answer that Mic. Other than that one incident I thought you did a fantastic job with the dog and his owners and a few people on here have commented (including me) on the positive methods you use and they work! I still think you are the better trainer on the show.
By the way, perhaps you could do panto this year in your black pinny and rollers????? You could have a whole new career!!!!!!

Hi Mic
Thanks for the update on what you have been upto. It sounds like you had a rather interesting time in France. I can only imagine how those poor pups in glass cages are gonna turn out with no socialization. How sad. I hate seeing pups kept locked away from each other and people.
Have you had any updates on the Weim that bit you? I know it showed a little bit at the end of the programme but wondered if the owners kept in touch?
I'm now looking forward to watching again on Monday :0)
While you are here, can I pick your brains a bit please? My daughter Sarah would like to be a Police dog Handler when she is older and wondered if her dyslexia would hold her back from applying to the Police Force. She is only 14 just now but is already showing quite an aptitude with animals but especially dogs.
BTW you actually made a teenager smile by saying Hi back to her lol.
Cheers Mic
Elaine

This will make you laugh

Sky Channel 155 'E' 7pm Tonight Celebrity Soup
BBC 3 Monday 9pm Dog Borstal
ITV 2 Tuesday 11-15 Harry Hill TV Blurps
And don't forget
BBC 3 Wednesday 8pm ? You need a dog (The one with the so called Top Trainer)

Did noone watch it last night? Expeted to come on here this morning to read all your veiws

All 3 trainers did a great job imo, owners all went home happier with much improved dogs

I did - thought the owners of the yorkies were really good. Felt sorry for the lady with the Rhodesian Ridgeback, she really struggled but came through and did a good job. The white GSD was gorgeous, what a difference at the end!

Oh, and Mic of course! :smt058

Stay on topic Trish its far to early to be drooling on your keyboard

The Yorkies were little stars but felt that was down to the owners being so on the ball and really wanted to make the most of the few days training they got. The women with the Ridgeback got her life back and the beautiful GSD was so intellignt and picked stuff up really quickly. It didn't seem to take alot of effort to train any of them last night

OK well - my take on it is that the GSD was not disobedient but very stressed out and looking lots at the camera crew, also very undertrained. He was told off for doing things that he had done in training with his owner in his garden eg down following a sit, but because he didn't do exactly what he was supposed to, we were told he was dominant.

His training had not been generalised; also he was jerked around a lot so it's hardly surprising he was stressed and unable to concentrate. Intense training is quite hard for dogs as they tend to learn best in short bursts. After that is is genuinely hard for them to concentrate on learning.

The dog was totally gorgeous, a true white GSD and not cream

Rob was fab with the lady with Amber, very supportive - the first time we've really seen him use his people skills so well. Good one Rob!

I hope though that no-one will think they can take their dog with SA and shut it away in a kennel and that it will be ok; i don't think that came across in the programme though, so fingers crossed. In my view the last programme was much better than the previous one which to me was like going back in time, it was more of history lesson LOL.