The never ending debate
This is Georgia, one of the rescued Michael Vick dogs. I fell in love with her when I watched her story on DogTown on the National Geographic channel. Yeah a good show (that showed POSITIVE training!!!) on the same channel that brings us (dun dun duhhh, music for dramatic effect) the "Dog Whisperer". (Tell me seriously, how can you not LOVE that face?)Check out a great post, and the resulting interesting discussion about this show and how it compares to their other "training" show.
http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/dogtown-versus-dog-whisperer
My opinion of the DW is this, he is very uneducated (which he himself admits in some of his books) and uses outdated and sometimes dangerous methods. His dog language reading skills could use some work. If they were better he wouldn't get bitten quite so often in my opinion. (of course if he didn't use such extreme tactics the dogs wouldn't feel the need to defend themselves either) He has taken a true method of training, called compulsion or traditional, and bastardized it to suit his own needs. If you find the need to use compulsion in training, PLEASE use the Monks version, at least they use it more fairly for the dogs. (Their updated version where they recanted the Alpha Roll since it was originally based on misinterpreted wolf behavior.) Compulsion training does have it uses and does work, but timing is everything. And suppression of behavior isn't changing behavior for the long term no matter what you call it. (Dog psychology? Why doesn't this guy have to meet the same standards as other canine behaviorists?) Also be aware that traditional training started back when they trained dogs for wartime situations and needed to weed out "soft" unsuitable dogs. So there are some dogs it just isn't good for. Real training is about communication, not domination. There end of rant. Back to our reguarly scheduled dog info.
And the update on the stars of the DogTown show for those that watched like me:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/dogtown/3684/Overview#tab-vick-dogs-update
Updates of my own: As I left the shelter today little miss Angelica was being walked by a potential adopter. She's gonna go fast. I'm so happy for her but do hope she stays local so I can see her around. I wuff her!
Jack LOVES the new food, I used to have to add stuff to his kibble to get him to eat. Not anymore! My only negative comment is that is has a very distinctive odor I do not find all that pleasant. But in the defense of the food, I am a HORRIBLY picky eater. My husband says I don't eat anything with real flavor. If in doubt of a new food I smell it before trying and if it doesn't smell good I pass. Yeah I know. Not good, but understandable considering I grew up on plain meat and potatos almost every night as a kid.
Missy and Jenny also love the new food but their vote counts considerably less considering they also love the taste of their own poo. Just saying.
*Note to Hannah* I keep forgetting to say, Congrats on your engagement!!! Are they gonna be in the wedding? Apollo would look great in bowtie and Jenna could carry the basket and be your flower girl. I want pics of course. :-)
