The Dog Whisperer and dog aggression

I watched his show a couple times and it seems like his methods really work.. my question to yall is.. I hear from time totime that you cannot train dog aggression out of a dog.. but he did it or appeared to have done it with a Rotty.. i jus want to know some of your thoughts on this

 

I know of about 3 or 4 Dog Whisperers so Im not sure which one your talking about. Me, Im just a trainer and I dont whisper but I can tell you about a dog I worked with last year.
A 7 year old female Akita, court ordered to be euthanized for attacking people and a last minute 'stay of execution' on the grounds she went to one more trainer....she'd already gone through 2, one of whom she attacked. She couldnt walk past or near a dog or a human without trying to attack. The first time I met her, all I can say is Im really glad there was a 12 foot fence between us as I have no doubt that she wanted to rip my throat out. She was hard work but by the end of the month I was walking her around large pets stores, busy shopping areas, she stayed calm, not one sign of aggression. The training was intense but in no way abusive to her. So do I believe this is possible, yes...to a point, with the right trainers.
Will the dog revert back to its aggression once its back with the owner (unless the owner is the trainer), probably, if the owner doesnt follow instructions and pay close attention to the trainer.
Just my opinion but I never say never, would I ever trust this dog with small children and other dogs, not if unsupervised. The last update on the Akita after 6 months was that she was doing great, no attempted attacks at all. At the very least most dogs can be trained to where dog-human aggression is greatly reduced and often eliminated altogether, although dog-dog aggression....given the chance the dog probably will attack again.
Again this is just my opinion based on my own experience and what Ive seen other trainers do.

 

Im talkin about the guy thats on National Geographic Explorer.. i didnt know there was more than 1

 

I'll look out for him, it would be interesting to see him working....I know of one Dog Whisperer in the High Desert area outside LA, one in LA, although it was a newspaper that gave him the title, he hates it....and I know of one in UK.

 

Awsome. Can I ask how you did this? I work with a lot of shelter pit bulls that have dog aggression. I try to get them to focus on me and once I have that mastered (which does take a lot of time) then I gradulally add in minor distractions) Did you train the dog to focus on you and anticipate her next move, getting ready to get her to re-focus when you walked by another dog?
Sounds like one could learn a lot from your training skills!
Congratulations!
Sue

 

Im interested now, I gotta see this show...!

 

Just wondering if this Dog Whisper's name is Cesar ??? (cant remember his last name) Ive read a little about him....interesting.

Susan.
Like I said dog-dog aggression, in my opinion is never really eliminated but it can be controlled to a point. Your right in getting the focus on you. The dog was put through a basic obedience course (lasted 5 weeks and at a facility, not at her home), shed already done this twice but we went back to basics with her, the first week was spent confined with no distractions like you said, we'd add them gradually and not move on until we were comfortable with each level. Anticipation of her every move was essential and its important to stay completely calm and in control, there have been times when Ive had a dog out in training and seen a stray running towards us and my first reaction is 'a little panic', I dont want a dog fight but the dog will pick up on any anxiety that you have and react to it which can make 'your' dog more defensive and ready to fight, so your not just concentrating on the dog that you have on the leash your also concentrating on keeping yourself calm.
I use a choke chain and this was one of the few dogs that on her first day out in public we did use a prong collar.
It took a lot of work, she was probably getting at least 5 workouts a day, took a lot of patience and consistency and we didnt let her get away with anything. Most dogs will get to a point where theyve 'had enough' and I will let them take a break and goof off a little, I like to make it fun for them too but becuase this was a 'last chance' for her it was all work, dont get me wrong, once she was back in her run we played ball and Id stay and keep her company for a while just petting her, talking to her but when the collar went on she was working.
I do have to say though that at 7 years old I think a lot of her human-aggression was habit, she'd got away with it for a long time and I know that a lot of dogs will try intimadation first to 'see how far the can go' all it takes is for someone to back down once and there confidence will increase, as bad as she was with me the first day I met her it only took about 2 days before she would roll over and let me scratch her belly...watching me closely of course and I was careful but Im certainly no 'doggie wonder woman'.
We also use something called Dog Stopper which is based on the old shaker can BUT there is a training method used with it so its a lot more than just making a noise to distract the dog from what its doing.
My own dog...extreme aggression with people and dogs, we had 2 Boxers on one side of the yard and 2 GSD's on the other side, she would go all out to attack any of them and there were a few close calls, I put her through a quick session with Dog Stopper and from day 1 she stopped going at the other dogs...however that said, without me being there she would probably still go after them.
Hope this helps.

 

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/channel/dogwhisperer/

yeah his name is cesar