The Dog Whisperer

[willow]

Just a heads up. Cesar Milan is going to be on Oprah today. ;D

[Nicole]

I missed it!!

I use Cesar's sssssssssssssssssst with Sunny and am absolutely amazed at the reaction. It instantly stops him dead in his tracks even during a territorial barking fit at another passing dog. He immediately stops and looks at me and the best part is that he does not return to the behavior.

Today while walking he kept looking behind him which I cannot stand and I told him to knock it off with no response. Then I said sssssssssssssssssssst. Instantly he turned forward and looked at me and continued to look forward as we walked. It causes him to look at me instantly and stop what he is doing. I don't abuse it though. I just use it for certain important things.

What do you suppose is so magical about this sound. It is like a focus and don't do that command all wrapped in one that he inherently understands because I did not teach him to react to it. It distracts him away from very strong behaviors which is just amazing to me.

[willow]

It is amazing how that sound works to snap them out of what they are focusing on.

Cesar also reaches around behind and taps them with his foot to snap them out of it, when they are "in the zone", and fixated on another dog etc. He will also poke them on the side of the neck with 3 fingers. All 3 things work wonderfully. He also uses a leash correction with the Shhhhhhhhhhhht and has the collar up high on the neck, behind the ears.

Another thing Cesar does not do, is that when he goes to some ones house to help them...if the dog comes running up to him, either being friendly or barking...he does not look at, try to pet, or speak to the dog, just lets the dog come up and sniff him, but otherwise ignores it. This of course applies to any strange dog you meet on the street or at someone's house etc.

He says the first thing most people do is look at, speak to, or pet a dog that comes up to them, thinking this is what all dogs want, but that isn't what they want....they just want to smell the person, because that is "what dogs do".

He also only gives affection when a dog is calm and relaxed.

Scientific isn't it!?

As far as the Shhhhhhhhhhht sound, Nicki....I don't think you can "overdo" it as long as you are forceful and combine it, at least at first, with a leash correction, and/or one of the other touches to distract them, because the object is to teach the dog to ignore things they usually react to. In a few minutes Cesar has formerly aggressive dogs walking quietly by other dogs totally ignoring them. If they do start to glance at the other dog, he gives a leash correction and a shhhhhhhhhhht to remind them it is a "no-no" and to look straight ahead. He does not require the dog stare up into his face all the time, and be totally focused on him, as so many trainer's do today. He wants the dog to enjoy their walks, and gives them time to "be dogs", but he does not allow them to focus in on other dogs etc., unless he gives them the o.k., as I said, to just be a dog and sniff each other etc....once he knows the dog will not react in an aggressive way, of course.

[sibemom]

Yes I love the SSSSSSSSSSS instead of other verbals. I never really used NO that much, only in emergencies and then it was the tone not the word that always worked. The sound that we are talking about works so much better, although sometimes I still use the AH AH AH. Emily has completed reading Cesars book and she has been QUOTEING things out of to me ;D I am sooo very proud of her. She told me NOW she feels very ready to DO IT RIGHT They still have had no luck at the shelter or at the adoption fairs, so it looks like they might put a deposit down on a pup from an upcoming litter of White Sheppy's. They had seen the add in the paper and went to look at the Kennel, and they said this guy is a small breeder, but has very nice dogs only does 1 litter from each female every third heat, and also has Black and Tans beside the whites. Emily said that the adult dogs came right up to them waggin their tails asking for pets but were not pushy, and then she said NOW GET THIS "I DID NOT MAKE ANY EYE CONTACT WITH THEM I JUST STOOD VERY TALL AND ACTED LIKE I WAS NOT INTERSTED IN THEM" I thought that was so cute, so yes CESAR HAS MADE A BIG IMPACT ON HER DOG TRAINING FUTURE

[Nicole]

Ann That is is great that she is getting it. I think that she is going to do really well with a dog.

Loey, I know you are so right about not thinking that I would over do it. It is just when something works so incredibly I get scared that it will stop working. But in my brain I know you are right. ;D The amazing thing is that he responds to this without a correction. That is the crazy part. So he hasn't connected it with a correction to make him stop. It just stops him on its own. And I think maybe because he has never heard it so he is wondering what the heck his crazy mom is saying!!!

In fact I will tell you that since yesterday it has lost some of its power and I am glad you pointed that out about needing to couple it with a correction because while he still stops the behavior, now he is going back to the behavior.

The issue that I am dealing with still is the barking at passing male dogs. Now that summer is here and my doors are open and I have floor to ceiling windows and there are A LOT of dogs around here now, it is a huge problem and one I am quickly losing control over.

So we are back to boot camp and he is dragging a leash. I have discovered that when you are lax in training it doesn't show itself slowly. All of a sudden things are out of control. So Sunny is now in extreme boot camp. And it is my fault completely for not keeping him refreshed because everything was so fine. Although the barking is the only issue, it really isn't because he keeps doing it. The corrections are not meaningful obviously.

Yesterday this HUGE dog walked by with testicles so big even Brian said OMG. They were like bowling ball testicles swaying and hanging to the ground. I am sorry to be so descriptive but I have not ever seen anything so huge like that. The dog had to have been twice as high as Sunny and just huge and muscular everywhere . I don''t think I have to tell you how Sunny reacted. Geesh. Out of control.

I don't know that I am going to be able to stop this behavior without an ecollar. I keep saying that and now I think I just have to buy one and get to work.

[willow]

I understand what you are saying, Nicki. Kara came to me with this "fence aggression" thing. In her previous life she was kept in a fenced yard 24/7 and would run the fence and bark at everything that went by on the other side. I have tried everything with her, even the e-collar, but I have to admit that with the e-collar I didn't always correct her every time, because as long as I was outside, and she had the collar on, she wouldn't do it.

We also know the experience I had with bark collars and why I quit trying to use one, but I wonder if that would work better than an actual e-collar on Sunny, because with the collar you control, you have to make sure you correct every time and that is hard to do. I couldn't do it.

I also question if "conditioning" the dog to the e-collar works with every dog, because I did that with Kara both with the underground fence (I went right by the book!) and with the e-collar, but she just KNEW what bit her, eventhough I made sure she was not looking at me and did not see the control, but when I put the fence collar on her or when I would put the e-collar on her, she will periodically shake her head...testing to see if she has it on! I know that is what she is doing, because she does not shake her head like this any other time!!!

The "trick" is to not let them out in the yard alone and correct them every time until the habit is broken, and I really tried to do this, but it was impossible for me.

I have done what Cesar did with a fence aggressive Mastiff, but even that only works when I am outside with Kara. When I am inside and she is outside...all bets are off!

[Nicole]

I agree with every single thing that you said. First though, the barking isn’t at the fence because he is not ever allowed in that portion of the yard ever. He is confined 100% in the back portion so he doesn’t bark because the boundary is back and I guess in his pea brain he doesn’t think the other dog is on his territory.

Where he is barking is in the house. Three walls are all glass and front the street. I would love to take them out and put walls in but I will not be so easily defeated. There is a sidewalk and we have at least 50 dogs walk by a day. Very huge dog traffic. He doesn’t bark at females or submissive males. He can smell it I guess. Dominant or intact males is my problem. But he will not bark if they quickly walk by. But the owners here are so inconsiderate they linger at the window let there dog pee in his face and well there you have it. This makes him go crazy. He will not do it if I am there. Only when I am in a back room.

So my mistake is that I was correcting too late into his reaction. Just now, he went to the window alert stiff tail up ready to go. I caught it at that moment and corrected. He stopped and left the window. The event was over. Then he alerted when he was away from the window...this is the first sign. I corrected him, he stopped. So.............I just have to not let him in that area unless I am watching and keep correcting before he goes into drive.

I have been hesitant to use an ecollar for exactly the reasons you point out. Plus I want him to bark when appropriate.

I just have to work on this. He isn’t even going near the window now. That should be the goal I guess. He isn’t allowed near the window ever. That may work instead of waiting for him to alert. He simply will get corrected each and every time he even thinks about the window. What do you think about that.

The other problem is I like to keep my front door open and he likes to sit there and look out. And the same dogs pass by there. I guess I will just have to stop that completely.

Now when we are out walking I have no issues. It is territorial. What a huge pain the neck.

[willow]

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. I thought he was barking both outside and inside and now I remember you saying he isn't barking at the fence, because he isn't allowed in that area anymore.

That would be awful to have floor to ceiling windows and inconsiderate neighbors who let their dogs stop and mark on what Sunny consider's his territory! He didn't always have this problem, did he? Do you think maybe the behavior began when you were at school and Brian at work and there wasn't anyone at home to correct him?

You are right too about the bark or e-collar stopping the dog from barking at all and like you, I too want Kara to alert me to people coming to the house etc., like you do Sunny, so I don't want her to not bark at all.

We don't have large windows like you do, so Kara can't see dogs etc. outside, but when she is in the house she barks at sounds! Noisy cars going by etc. It is odd I think, but thankfully she does not bark at other barking dogs whether she is outside or inside. She will only bark if she actually sees another dog. That would really drive me insane if she barked when other dogs bark, because there is always a dog or two or 6 barking around the neighborhood! At night when it is quiet you will hear one dog bark and pretty soon all the other outside dogs will chime in!

Very annoying in the middle of the night!

[Nicole]

The windows are obscured by natural landscaping. I don't want you to think everyone is staring in my house. But there are enough gaps for a keen eyed dog to see through.

We had a good day yesterday. Brian is also on board with this training and Sunny is consistently corrected for the behavior. By the end of the day he held in his barks. He made some awful guttural sound but no barks. ;D I give him an A for effort so far.

Sunny doesn't bark when other dogs bark either, thankfully. I know what you are saying. That would be a nightmare.

We never had so many dogs here but they have built two large apartment dog friendly buildings and everyone seems to have a dog. In one way it is a good training tool, because he is getting used to the dog parade. But he is still triggered by the big intact males who mark in front of his face. We are working on that now.