The Dish by Darcy

Dear Darcy, I had to call you today (Yes, I have her private cell number!) to tell you what I’ve done. I talked to you at the dog expo last week and you showed surprise that I was using a prong collar on my girl. You hugged me and smiled and you were very nice about it but you told me that you were surprised to see me using a prong collar because you know I bought this book from you a few years ago. I admitted that I bought it, took it home and put it on the shelf. You shamed me gently into actually finally reading the book.

When I got home from the expo, I took the prong collar off and started reading. Then we started using the training from the book, My Dog Pulls What Do I Do? OMG! Within minutes of starting the training she isn’t pulling any more! Even my granddaughter can walk her.

Sunday morning, I pulled the prong collar off the shelf to put it on and she sat and looked at me, then she shook her whole body as if to say, “What! Have you gone mad again?!” That made me remember that we didn’t use that nasty old prong collar any more and off we went with her on the cat’s leash, threading it through the handle. On the cat leash!!

I’ll get a pretty new soft dog collar for her and of course it will be from SitStay!

I still can’t believe the change in her, that fast change is hard for me to realize. She’s more cuddly and she’s sitting politely to go out when it’s time. I wonder if that has anything to do with me being smarter than I was last week! I’ll be in town on Monday, I’ll give you a call when I get there. – Beth

Oh Beth, I’m so glad! Yes, our dogs do know and respond differently when we aren’t hurting them any more. Metal hurts. And dogs who pull usually simply don’t know what we want instead. Open the lines of communication and you and your dog will live such a wonderful life together. It doesn’t take harsh training to make it so. You’re a good woman. Thanks for calling and letting me use this in The Dish. And thanks for letting me have some time with your girl, too, she looks so much like our old girl. See you Monday. – Darcy

Dear Darcy, I am a veterinarian. I want to personally give you this thank you letter. Your name keeps coming up at my office. My clients say they began reading your articles on dog training and the unnecessary use of shock collars and metal collars quite a few years ago and they began following your advice. We have seen a significant reduction of court ordered euthanizations for biting dogs, for inoperable injuries to the neck and spine, and impactions connected to white rawhide. Your name and the name of SitStay.com come up often while I am seeing a dog for a wellness check up. Your passion and your assurance that dogs can be taught without harm has made my life and my practice so much easier. My heart breaks every time I have to put a dog down for something that didn’t have to happen. It’s people like you who will save the world. Thank you. – Dr. Pitts and his grateful staff

Dear Dr. Pitts and Staff, Together you, my friends and customers, SitStay.com and it’s library of experts, and The Dish and I will make a dent in the number of dogs who die due directly to the senseless training methods and pain caused by heavy hands and poor choices. We just have to keep talking. Thank you so much for this letter. It means a great deal to me. I think I’ll go sit down and have a happy cry. – Darcy

Dear Darcy, Would you show this video to your readers, please? I’m one of those who have moved from Cesar Millan’s way to purely positive training. I was into kicking, jerking, and dominance over dogs, even the alpha roll. I know that I ruined a lot of dogs and yes, some had to be euthanized for biting. As you say we should, I have forgiven myself for all the bad things I did and I have moved forward with my family. My dogs have turned around completely with positive training and I am helping others understand that no matter how bad the dog’s behavior is, violence and forced submission is not the answer. Thanks. Allen and Family

Dear Readers,

A quick warning and caution before you watch this video. Please don’t do this to your dogs. If you don’t want to watch a dog being kicked to start biting behavior, then being choked and lifted by the neck, please turn away now.

Watch it soon, many of these videos are being pulled off of the Net. Who is pulling them down and why? We can only guess. My hope is it’s being done to save dogs lives. A change of heart and method can be a very good thing. Getting these videos offline and off TV might save a lot of dogs. Most of the videos are not linked to stories about why they can be dangerous to dog owners.

I’m showing you the video to explain what can happen if you use this method of behavior changing. The warnings are on the show for a really great reason. You can get hurt and you can hurt your dog, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. Submission does not clear a pathway to Heaven, it changes a brain, changes a mind and not in a good way. This dog gave up because he was not able to fight or flee, he does not trust the hand that choked him. He is not in submission to a higher energy as the handler would have you believe, he is in saving his life mode. Do your kids watch this show? Will they become dog behaviorists while you’re not looking? Are they going to fare as well as Cesar did in the video?

The statement made by Cesar Millan on this video that these types of dogs bite and let go, bite and let go is not accurate or true. These breeds of dogs and all dogs can and do become multiple biters when they are handled this way. A multiple bite can be several bites in one bite, causing more and more damage to the wound site and it only takes seconds to happen. It can take stitches and or plastic surgery to repair any bite but a multiple bite is by a dog who has gone on past biting simply to get away, they intend damage. It can happen so fast, it’s amazing the damage a dog’s teeth can do. If you’ve ever seen a multiple bite, you will never push a dog again.

Here’s the video, come back to read more when you’re done. This video loads slowly, be patient, it’s worth seeing. Note the kick that starts the biting: Cesar Millan gets Bitten

This video is somewhat more dramatic than some of the TV shows but only because the dog is bigger. Many of the old season shows show smaller dogs doing the exact same behavior and Cesar was bitten by the smaller dogs, too. This video shows clearly that the man and the dog have not reached an agreement to work together, the dog does not trust the man or think he’s worth following. A dog who does not agree to work with you will not change it’s behavior except to save it’s life or save itself pain and that is not a long lasting change. Who will be his next victim? When will he go off again? A dog who is pushed or forced to “agree” with you is not a dog that can be trusted.

I’m curious. How many of you could have handled this dog and taken the bites? How many would have kicked the dog in the first place which set the biting into action? According to the numbers of people who have contacted me, not many were capable of handling their dogs once their dogs went into overdrive. Their dogs are dead now or gone to rescue and euthanized there or adopted out to a new family who will have to deal with the same baggage, the same problems. Are they any more savy about dogs than the first owner? Not if they are the average dog owner getting their dog training from the television set.

Dogs are pretty smart cookies. Unless something has gone wrong in their brains causing dominant or aggressive behavior, they can be turned around without violence, abuse,  jerking, choking, lifting the dog off the ground, or anything like that. True positive training does not include any of these things. True positive training is making an agreement with the dog to learn to trust and be confident again. If a dog will not agree to work with you, no matter what you try to do or how many times you can get it to “submit” to you, you will not win. A dog who does not agree is a dog who will not work with you. Think about that for a second. The last time that someone yelled at or jerked you around and made you do something, did you take it as constructive criticism and change your ways or do you still harbor some ill will?

If you are having behavior problems with your dogs and you insist that TV be your informational medium, turn your TV set from Cesar Millan’s The Dog Whisperer to Victoria Stilwell’s It’s Me or the Dog or find yourself a professional positive dog trainer. If you have to watch Cesar’s show because you’re enthralled with him, heed the warnings, please don’t do this to your dogs!

The methods and tactics seen on the old version of the TV show and in this video are not necessary to turn a dog’s behavior around. How many more dogs are going to have to die because the arm chair trainer tried this stuff at home? There are 75 million dogs who live with us in our homes. It’s noteworthy that the percentages are high of those owners who might “try this at home” regardless of the warnings.

I am looking forward to the conference of positive dog trainers meeting with Cesar Millan in the mix. If they can turn him around to purely positive dog training, it will be something to see. With his following, millions of dogs will live out their lives happily beside their people instead of those people feeling guilt and heartbreak because their dogs are gone or dead.

Again, I usually have to say this so I don’t get hate mail from Cesar’s fans, I’m not against Cesar as a man who works with dogs, I am against the irresponsibility of the TV show sending millions of dog owners the message that with the right energy backed with force, submissions, flooding, kicking and jerking, their dogs will become trust worthy, well behaved, and happy. It’s not true.

Know, understand, read and listen to people who really understand dogs. Find out what makes dogs tick and show them a kind hand. If your dog is a behavior problem now, please seek professional help.

I know that Cesar Millan has massive numbers of fans, they love him. Will they stick with him if he changes over to purely positive training with no jerking and choking necessary? I sure hope they will. He probably said it best himself and I paraphrase, “I have a foreign accent. People love foreign accents, they think because I talk different than they do that I am smarter about dogs than they are.”

Are we so desiring of needing to see a miracle that we’ll bet our dogs’ lives on it? Turn off the TV and start making your own dog miracles. Start using purely positive training and enjoy the miracle of life and positive change. Do it for the dogs. – Darcy

(All of the authors in the SitStay.com Library are wonderful sources for learning what makes your dog tick, how to train, and how to get your dog to agree to work with you.)