T.B.H. - Trained By Hollywood

While taking a firearms course a few years back, I was first introduced to the concept of "Trained by Hollywood". It sounded funny. The concept is, that people in dangerous or stressful situations often revert to what they have seen hundreds of times in the movies, TV, etc. This has lead to many people, from police officers confronting violent suspects, homeowners who are forced to confront an intruder in the middle of the night, to the woman jogging who was mistaken as an easy target by a rapist, to make tactically stupid decisions, especially when it comes to their firearms. They were inadvertently trained by watching hundreds of repetitions of stupidity on cop shows and military movies. Its entertainment folks, not real life.

This concept never really had an impact on my dog training business till now. Enter Cesar Milan. With the blessing of Oprah, Cesar came into the average Americans household. Im convinced that if you owned a fence painting company, and Oprah endorsed you, youd quickly have the first International fence painting company. Lets face it; the woman has a lot of influence.

So I get asked at least several times a week what I think of the Dog Whisperer. My answer is From what I can see on TV, hes a 1950s dog trainer with a modern name and packaged for today. I can only base my opinion from what I have seen, and thats on TV. I havent met the man yet. I can tell you that there is a lot of missing footage on his show. Training, the nuts and bolts of it, is rarely an exciting, awe inspiring event. The results, or comparison, that training produces, can be. Cesar knows this, his producers certainly know it as well, and what you get to see is the hype and fluff that has made him so popular. What does this mean for you? Youve got a cool TV show to watch, but thats about it.

Personally, Im not a big fan of the whole alpha roll thing. We dont even teach the Alpha mindset because people spend so much time trying to be in charge of their dog, they dont just train the dog. I wont even go into the fact that if its done with the wrong dog, youre in for a nice trip to the hospital. Many people believe dogs shouldnt ever bite. Its just not realistic. Dogs bite, Cats scratch, and Horses kick. If you take an older dog who you either dont know or youve let get away with everything for the past year, an you directly challenge the dog(ex. Alpha roll), please expect a fight and dont blame the dog when you get bit.

If you teach AND enforce commands like Sit, Down, Heel, and place, youve established the Alpha position with your dog without battling him. Teaching isnt enough. Many trainers dont understand this. Teaching AND enforcing is whats needed. This can be done without beating up the dog mentally or physically 99% of the time.

The other problem is Is it transferable? Thats the question I ask trainers when ever they teach a great new technique. Can the single mother of two learn this, or can they enforce the situation once the trainer is gone. If the answer is sometimes, thats not good enough for me. Training often requires two things. 1) Getting the dog to understand what the owner wants, and 2) Training the owner enough so they can do it once youre gone. I dont know if Cesar does this with his clients. I do know that if you watched the show, youll have enough information to try some things, but wont have enough information to get yourself out of them if and when things go wrong. If Cesar, me or my staf can do it, but you cant its worthless to you.

Trained by Hollywood is quickly being turned into Trained by media. With the prevalence of books, videos, DVDs, TV show, movies, the internet, etc, many people try training on their own. Media cant cover all circumstances. Trainers help coach you through the tough times. If Cesar is your guy, call him, set up some training appointments and fly out to see the man. In person, one on one, Im sure he can help you. His or anyone elses TV showwell, it doesnt usually work out so well.

The next article will be on aggression and what most trainers dont understand.

Have a great week

Frank Bonomo

Copyright 2006, Best Friend's Dog Training Inc
[2006-11-01]