Why does everyone think they are Cesar Milan??!!
Ok, so we just got back from our evening walk and I'm screaming mad! As we were approaching our house and Ryu was nice and relaxed, there were some visitors at our neighbor's house. I always thought we were fortunate because Ryu is never shy or fearful when it comes to strange men so he has no problem approaching them to lick their hands, etc. Well, this GUY who I've never met kneels down and grabs Ryu's head with his hands and keeps saying "Look here, look here." At the same time, his friend is saying to us "This guy is like Cesar Milan with dogs, yadda yadda yadda" At this point, Tim and I are literally pulling Ryu away from this maniac who has a death grip on Ryu's harness saying "If I had a choke collar, I could get your attention." WHAT THE F****???!?!?!?!?!?! We haven't ever corrected Ryu by jerking his neck or anything like this guy was trying to do, so he started to scream. I was so mad I was shaking!!! Not that this is a good thing but Ryu (who hasn't mastered the bite inhibition thing - we're working on it) turned his head and started to gnaw on the guy's arm and he finally let go. This all happened in about 4 seconds and I was in disbelief then entire time. Who thinks it's OK to lay your hands on someone else's dog in an attempt to "Cesar Milan" them?!?!!?? (Note : We don't use Cesar's methods on Ryu so it wasn't even in the same mode of training!!!!)
Comments
First of all, I think Cesar Milan is an uber macho asshole. This guy sounds like he should just drop dead.
Yeah if someone put there hands on either of my dogs it would be made abundantly clear that their hands come off my animals or their hands come off their wrists.
I would be beyond pissed.
"If I had a choke chain..." then you would be strangling a dog into paying attention. F--- him.
If I had a chock chain and that happened, I would tie it around that guys neck. If he had done that with Maui he would have been bit, and I would have laughed at him. I mean, that takes some pretty hard core ignorance to just do that to a dog you don't know.
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A guy at a Shiba meet up tried to "teach" me that stupid touch technique Cesar does with that retarded "shshsh" sound... It was after a Shiba had just started a fight with Ahi and Ahi had put the Shiba in its place. He was like, "you need to prevent that type of thing" (mind you, Ahi was attacked, not the other way around). Then he was like, I use Cesar's touch / poke technique on my dogs and it works well. You should try it... then he went and showed me on his poor little Shiba (this thing was shacking in fear the entire time we were at the meet, and it coward when he went over to "Cesar touch" it for no reason).
Anyway, I told him Ahi would kick my ass if I tried that (she is submissive to me but she will not think twice about defending herself from anyone). He was like, "No, its all about the energy and approach dude"... so I invited him to try it on Ahi...
He came over, went to "Cesar touch" her, Ahi turned her head, looked at his hand, looked at him in the eyes, showed her teeth and let out a very deep growl. He was like "oh, I see what you mean..." and backed away. lol. Then Ahi spazzed out and jumped on him and freaked out in her normal Ahi "Hello, I'm Ahi and I am a spaz! I can't control, my body" freak out. lol. I thought he was gonna pee himself... I was like "what happened to your energy, dude?".
It was neat tho because I could almost see Ahi's expression... it was like "What the f*ck, do you think you are doing right now?"... "You joking right?". lol
Thanks guys - I was up all night wondering if I was over-reacting. Normally, Tim and I are VERY laid-back and chill but when it comes to Ryu, I get very protective. I mean, you wouldn't go up to someone's child and start spanking them, would you?!! The thing I'm MOST worried about is whether this will send Ryu on a pattern of being fearful about strange men. He was doing so well in his socialization practice that I'm scared this will traumatize him. I'm going to work extra hard this week about bringing him around safe, well-meaning men. URG URG URG - why can't people keep their own views to THEMSELVES?
This is actually a good way to ask my next question - Ryu will be finishing his first level of obedience classes next week and I'm considering signing him up for the next set. We enrolled him in a positive motivation class which I think has been great. There is no correcting, yelling or pulling - only motivational practices and tons of praise/treats. Is this something that we should be continuing for this specific breed? I read somewhere that they respond more to motivation than correction but I wanted to get a feel from you guys and your experiences. It's actually been very funny because I can almost see the wheels turning in his head thinking with each new trick. It's like he's thinking "Treat or no treat? I think I'll go with the treat!"
Anyway, just wanted to see if any of you had better experiences with positive motivation or correction?
Positive motivation is absolutely the way to keep going. A level two obedience class sounds great. Shibas are very smart and very sensetive, they would much rather work with you and earn a treat than be harshly or phsyicaly corrected. Then again I wouldn't recommend training that involves physical correction for any dog. Corrections can be given with a simple "no" and then working towards the response you are looking for, after the proper response they get a treat.
Glad to hear you are getting out there and getting Ryu around some good people to balance out what was probably a traumatic experience. I'm sure he will be fine though.
If that guy is supposedly just like "Cesar Millan" and has worked with dogs before, you would think he would have the common courtesy to ASK the DOG OWNER before doing anything. Thats just flat out RUDE. Even little kids I meet, ALWAYS ASK "Can i pet your puppy?" Its always the adults that don't ask and scare the shit out of my pups by charging them fast trying to cuddle them. I would have just said "Excuse me, can you not touch my dog?" if he gives you shit for it just say "How would you like it if I walked up to you and grabbed your neck and started shaking you for no reason?" Idiot. I am super mad just hearing that someone actually did that to Ryu. No one in their right mind would try to discipline a dog that they just met for the first time and doesn't know the dog's background. What was the point of him trying to get Ryu's attention? Trying to show off to his friend that he has Cesar skills? Some people are seriously just idiots.
I think you hit the nail on the head Romi. We decided that he was trying to show off to his friends. The bigger issue I think is that Tim and I need to feel more comfortable standing up for our family. We're so used to letting things roll off our backs that we need to be a lot more assertive when it comes to Ryu. We keep forgetting that he is still a "toddler" in doggie years and certain situations can really affect him negatively. I've been thinking over and over again about what I SHOULD have said/done and I know the next time something like this happens, I won't let it get that far. It's amazing how much things change when you go from a couple to a family
P.S. So true about the kids asking "Can I pet your puppy?"! The kids are way more intuitive and the adults around here could give a rat's ass.
Kids tend to be afraid of our dogs, but those who aren't do ask for the most part. Adult's tend to walk across the street or stare and say 'Beautiful Dogs'. VERY few adults want to pet our dogs. Some ask if they're friendly, but are still too afraid. Which, of course, drives Mika nutso. She just wants some love and they just look at her! LOL.
PS. It's 6:52am. I've been awake for 2 hours and I went to bed around 1am.
Someone added a comment to one of my videos on YouTube that reminded me of this thread:
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=t0b9siCAXmo
Everyone is an expert, ya know?
Totally! I considered commenting back, but there is no need - I mean that person didn't mean any harm... Just kinda annoying.
Can't really blame them (people like that), I mean, they are just being a sheep after all.
i love that video! Hilo seems like such a goofball! My dogs are constantly instigating by nipping at the others ass parts! Is that just how Japanese spitz types play? We had foster boston terriers and basset hounds that never did that.
Cesar Millan is very entertaining, i'll give him that. He is right when he says that humans need a calm assertive energy to deal with dogs but thats as far as i go with following anything he says. If i didn't have liver treats in every corner of my house, i don't think i could have trained my shibas at all! And I've taught training courses! They are just a seperate entity all together!
Ryu - that man had no respect whatsoever for your dog as a living creature. What a macho jerk.
Wow. It's quite interesting how people are so quick to judge.
I can't even begin to comment. Brandon has witnessed some of my feuds with morons on other forums. i.e. the girl who said that buys a dog from a pet store is how you save them from puppy mills. (my blood boiled just typing that)
MORONS! The lot of 'em!