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Cesar Millan, Dog Whisperer: An Alternative Approach
copyright © 2007 Jo Jacques
Cesar Millan and his television show have become very popular among the dog-owning public. Millan seems to have been made for the screen, with a charisma that makes some folks call him the ‘Dr.Phil of Dogs’. However, there IS a disclaimer at the beginning of his show, warning those at home not to try the same methods – have you ever wondered why?

“To call his operation a psychology center is a total paradox,” says veterinary behaviorist Nicholas Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and author of “Dogs Behaving Badly”. “I think, like a bullfighter, he understands how to approach and work around a dog, but thereafter he stops. He doesn’t understand separation anxiety. I doubt he knows what obsessive-compulsive behavior is. Basically, with a smile, he’s going to war with these dogs. Imagine if there was a new Dr. Phil for children, and he said, ‘If your kid is playing too many video games, get a big paddle and whack him on the head.’ People would be incensed!”

Millan’s methods rely on a theory built around short-term studies of captive wolf packs in the 1940’s – the Alpha/Dominance theory. There were a lot of serious flaws in that theory. First of all, it drew all of its information about behavior from a very small portion of wolf life – then basically took this tiny portion as gospel. A lot of the behaviors and rituals were wildly misinterpreted, and for some reason, the researchers decided that that these rituals and behaviors were totally valid across species (i.e. dog-dog and dog-human). But, as Dr. Ian Dunbar, veterinarian and author, states, “Saying ‘I want to learn how to interact with my dog so I’ll learn from the wolves’ makes about as much sense as saying, ‘I want to improve my parenting — let’s see how the chimps do it!’ ”

Fast-forward – researchers at Yale and UC Berkeley spent 30 years observing dog packs and their hierarchy. This research showed something very different: mainly, ‘alpha’ does NOT have anything to do with physical dominance – it has to do with control of resources, and does not include physical displays of strength. Let’s take the so-called ‘alpha roll’ – which, by the way, is not a forced thing among either dogs or wolves. A lower ranking dog may roll over an show his belly as a sign of submission; but, in a wolf pack, a forced roll is only done to another animal if the intent is to kill it. Guess how that makes our dogs feel when we try an alpha roll? Now, guess how many people have ended up in the emergency room with multiple bites to their faces after attempting one too many alpha rolls…

So what are the alternatives to traditional training methods? According to recent research on the efficacy of various dog training methods, positive reinforcement-based training results in faster learning, and longer retention of learned behaviors (without the need for ‘retraining’ on a regular basis) than either traditional force-based methods OR a combination of traditional and reinforcement-based. Plus, it strengthens the bond you have with your dog. You really can’t argue with statistics like that!

Many people are under the impression that ‘positive’ means ‘permissive’ when it comes to positive reinforcement training – it doesn’t. A good positive-reinforcement trainer uses two portions of the learning quadrant: positive reinforcement – when you reward the dog for doing what you like, in order to increase the chance of the behavior repeating and negative punishment – when you take away a good thing, usually your attention or the chance for a reward, in order to reduce the chance of a behavior happening. A positive reinforcement trainer isn’t just a ‘cookie pusher’ either – while they may use food rewards in order to train a particular behavior, they quickly phase out the food in favor of using ‘life rewards’ – physical things that the dog wants, like going outside, or being allowed to jump up on the sofa. In this way, you are acting as a benevolent leader – someone who controls the resources, which helps keep order and harmony in your ‘pack’. This combination of gentle leadership and reinforcement of wanted behaviors engages you and your dog in a training experience that’s fun for BOTH and helps to cement good behaviors on a daily basis with your dog.

Top Ten Dog Myths BUSTED!
copyright © 2007 Jo Jacques

Once you get a dog – or are even thinking of getting a dog — it starts: stories and advice from everyone you meet. Whether or not they’ve ever even had a dog, everyone has a a story to share about dog behavior or training. How do you separate truth from invention? I’m going to examine some of the more often-heard ‘myths’ in this article.

“Don’t play tug with your dog – it will make him aggressive!”

This is one of my favorites myths to bust! Contrary to popular belief, tug is 100% safe to play with your dog; as well, it’s a great way to burn energy on these rainy spring days. It’s such a popular myth that researchers in England decided to study whether or not tug games made dog act aggressively or ‘dominant’. Guess what? It doesn’t. As a matter of fact, after playing tug, dogs scored higher in obedient attentiveness, regardless of whether they won or lost at the tug game – and the games enhanced the bond between the dog and the owner. BUSTED.

“Don’t let your dog walk in front of you / go through doors before you / lean on you / eat before you do / get on the furniture – he’s trying to dominate you!”

Comments like these make one think that dogs are trying to take over the world, don’t they? <grin> Well, they aren’t – and these statements do more harm than good to the dog-human relationship. There is no evidence at all that these or other procedures prevent aggression or ‘dominance’ issues – because dogs aren’t trying to dominate us! Dogs know we aren’t dogs – dog hierarchies exist within groups of dogs only, and don’t really include us humans. As well, dogs don’t look at these procedures when deciding the social status of another dog; their social structures are far more fluid. BUSTED.

“An all-meat or raw food diet makes dogs aggressive.”

Although dogs are not true carnivores, there is no evidence that a raw or all-meat diet makes a particular dog any more or less prone to aggression. However, a raw or all meat diet is not necessarily the best choice for every dog, so before making changes in your dog’s diet, do your research – there are some great books for owners about canine nutrition by Dr. Pitcairn, Volhard, etc. that can help you make an educated decision on what’s best for YOUR dog. BUSTED.

“Puppies should leave the litter at 49 days or else they won’t bond with humans.”

In the 1950’s, researchers Scott and Fuller produced a landmark study that outlined all of the critical periods of development of dogs. The discovered that dogs were most open to learning about humans around the 49th day (or between 7-8 weeks). They also discovered that the period between 8-12 weeks was when puppies learned two very important things: dog language and bite inhibition. They also discovered that if dogs were taken from their mom and litter-mates before they had a chance to learn these two things, it was more difficult for these pups to learn how to communicate safely with other dogs. These pups were also much ‘mouthier’ than other pups, and nipped harder. Now, neither of these issues are ‘written in stone’ – but they do require far more socialization of these pups in order to reduce the incidence of behavior issues later in life (such as dog aggression and ‘nippiness’). BUSTED.

“If a dog food is expensive, and sold by my vet, it must be good!”

Not necessarily! While some vet clinics carry an excellent array of high-quality foods, they are few and far between. Even the ‘prescription’ diets may not be the best thing for your pets’ particular needs long-term, as they were designed to be used for acute symptoms. READ THE LABELS. Remember that dogs can’t metabolize corn products, and cannot derive any nutrients from them. if your dog has a particular health issue such as diabetes or uric crystals, do your research! There are some excellent sites affiliated with major vet schools that deal with pet diabetes or kidney issues, such as the Pets With Diabetes site, that have great information on the nutritional needs of pets with chronic illnesses. BUSTED.

“Positive (treat) trainers are nothing but cookie pushers!”

WRONG. Positive does NOT equal Permissive. Positive training refers to the use of two portions of the operant conditioning quadrant – positive reinforcement and negative punishment. Positive reinforcement means that you add (positive) something in order to increase (reinforce) a particular behavior (such as sit or down); negative punishment means that you take away (negative) something in order to reduce (punish) a particular behavior (such as when you turn away when a dog jumps on you – you take away your attention). Treats are NOT the only reinforcers you can use to train with – on the contrary, there are a zillion things that your dog finds reinforcing! Things like going out, taking a walk, playing, getting up on the sofa, being patted, etc. are all highly reinforcing to a dog, and taking these away can be quite effective in reducing or eliminating a behavior. Dogs do what works, and if something stops working, they stop doing it. Positive reinforcement and negative punishment work together to train quickly and effectively, without the fallout associated with traditional methods. A dog trained correctly with positive-based methods will learn quicker and retain what he’s learned for far longer, too. BUSTED.

“To teach my dog to stay close to me while walking, I should ‘choke up’ on the leash to show him he needs to stay by my side.”

This is an excellent way to teach your dog how to PULL on the leash even more! Dogs have a band of muscles around their necks and shoulders, and when you pull on the leash, you kick in a physiological event called the ‘opposition reflex’ – the pressure backwards on the dogs’ neck causes him to reflexively push forward against the collar. Folks who run sled teams teach a command called ‘line out’ which serves to keep the necklines taut and out of the way – but it also kicks in the opposition reflex and gets the dogs pumped up to pull and run. So, if you want to teach your dog how to pull you even harder, keep choking up on the leash! BUSTED.

“I don’t need to train my dog – once he gets out of adolescence, he’ll be better behaved because he’ll be an adult instead of a pup!”

WRONG. It’s much better to teach a puppy good basic manners from day one, in order to build strong habits that will last him through the trying times of adolescence and into adulthood. If you wait until the dog is past adolescence, he will have already developed very strong habits – and some will be habits you really don’t want! Once a habit is formed, it takes longer to retrain a new behavior to take it’s place. BUSTED.

“Don’t get into staring contests with your dog – he’ll bite you, because you’re challenging him!”

Under-socialized dogs will sometimes feel threatened by a hard stare from a human – but that occurs only in situations where the dog fears or does not ‘trust’ that person, for whatever reason he may have. Assuming that your dog has no reason to mistrust or fear you, there is no reason why calm eye contact can not be a rewardable experience – but if your dog is shy or under-socialized, you may need to work with building soft eye contact when training, as a part of teaching your dog to pay attention to you. BUSTED.

The Importance of Dog Socialization
copyright © 2007 Jo Jacques

“You’ve got to socialize your dog properly!” “Don’t fail to socialize your puppy!” As dog owners, we hear this constantly from vets, trainers and even other dog owners. But what does it really mean for our dogs – and for us?

The effects of socialization on dog behavior became apparent in the ’60s, following the release of a 30-year landmark study by researchers Scott and Fuller, who were attempting to find out if temperament was influenced by genetics as well as environment. This study was originally published as Dog Behavior: the Genetic Basis in 1965, and recently re-released as Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog. The study found out that genetics do have a lot of influence, but that something else could have even more: the critical periods of puppy development.

Scott and Fuller determined that there were specific periods during puppy development where they were more likely to develop unusual fears or strange habits depending on what they were exposed to during those periods. They named these times Critical Periods, as the experiences that the puppies had during those times seemed to stay with them, sometimes for life. For example, Scott and Fuller found that dogs who were not exposed to things like cars or teenagers or even sidewalks during the Critical Socialization period (6-12 weeks) developed a lifelong anxiety or even fear of these items later on in life. If the dogs were not carefully desensitized, these fears could become almost phobic if the dog happened to become severely frightened by the items during this period. This is when the term ’socialization’ came about, as a way of increasing the chances of raising a behaviorally healthy dog.

But when your vet or trainer tells you to “socialize your puppy”, what does that mean? It means that you should make sure that your pup is carefully exposed to as many types of people, places, stimuli, events, things and other animals while it is young, particularly during the first twelve weeks. If you obtained your pup from a reputable breeder, they may have followed a program called “The Puppy’s Rule of Twelve’s” while bringing up the litter.

The Rule of Twelve’s is a program that encourages behavioral health in pups by exposing them to the following by the time they are 12 weeks old (the end of the Critical Period of Socialization):

• Experienced 12 different surfaces: wood, wood chips, carpet, tile, cement, linoleum, grass, wet grass, dirt, mud, puddles, deep pea gravel, grates, uneven surfaces, on a table, on a chair, etc.

• Played with 12 different objects: fuzzy toys, big & small balls, hard toys, funny sounding toys, wooden items, paper or cardboard items, milk jugs, metal items, car keys, etc.

• Experienced 12 different locations: front yard, other people’s homes, school yard, lake, pond, river, boat, basement, elevator, car, moving car, garage, laundry room, kennel, veterinarian (just to say hi & visit, lots of cookies, no vaccinations), groomer (just to say hi), etc.

• Met and played with 12 new people (other than of family): include children, adults (mostly men), elderly adults, people in wheelchairs, walkers, people with canes, crutches, hats, sunglasses, etc.

• Exposed to 12 different noises (ALWAYS keep positive and watch puppy’s comfort level – we don’t want the puppy scared): garage door opening, doorbell, children playing, babies crying, big trucks, motorcycles, skateboards, washing machine, shopping carts, power tools, clapping, loud singing, pan dropping, horses neighing, vacuums, lawnmowers, birthday party, etc.

• Exposed to 12 fast moving objects (don’t allow to chase): skateboards, roller-skates, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, people running, cats running, scooters, vacuums, children running, children playing, squirrels, horses running, etc.

• Experienced 12 different challenges: climb on, in, off and around a box, go through a cardboard tunnel, climb up and down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide & seek, go in and out a doorway with a step up or down, exposed to an electric sliding door, umbrella, balloons, walk on a wobbly table (plank of wood with a small rock underneath), jump over a broom, climb over a log, bathtub (and bath) etc.

• Handled by owner (& family) 12 times a week: hold under arm (like a football), hold to chest, hold on floor near owner, hold in-between owner’s legs, hold head, look in ears, mouth, in-between toes, hold like a baby, trim toe nails, hold in lap, etc.

• Eaten from 12 different shaped containers: wobbly bowl, metal, cardboard box, paper, coffee cup, china, pie plate, plastic, frying pan, Kong, Treatball, Bustercube, spoon fed, paper bag, etc.

• Eaten in 12 different locations: back yard, front yard, crate, kitchen, basement, laundry room, bathroom, friend’s house, car, school yard, bathtub, up high (on work bench or table), under umbrella, etc.

• Played with 12 different puppies (or safe adult dogs).

• Left alone safely, away from family & other animals (5-45 minutes) 12 times a week.

• Experienced a leash and collar 12 different times in 12 different locations.

What if you got your dog after 12 weeks, but it was from a pet store or hobbyist who didn’t follow the Rule of Twelves? You have some catching up to do! However, be very careful – make sure that the dog is exposed to new stimuli in a way that he doesn’t become frightened or anxious, or this could set the stage for later behavior problems. Don’t force your pup into situations, let him investigate on his own, but make sure that you take him to as many places and into as many situations as you can.

What if you adopted an adult dog? You have no idea what kind of socialization experiences it’s had, but here’s a word of warning: the signs of under-socialization are VERY similar to what some people (including those in rescue) think are the signs of abuse. Things like shyness around men can mean that the dog wasn’t exposed to men often enough during the first few years. Hand shyness when you attempt to pat a dog can also mean that the dog was not exposed to enough humans touching him. Lunging and barking when a skateboard or a bike goes by can also mean that the dog was not exposed to those, as well. Take your cues from your dog – if he’s a little shy, let him warm up on his own so that he doesn’t become frightened.

Does this mean that you can stop socializing your dog after the age of 12 weeks? No way – when it comes to socialization, it’s a ‘use it or lose it’ type of deal. Make sure that you keep exposing your adolescent dog in the same careful manner throughout the first two years, then occasionally after that for the rest of his life.

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