Comments on: ‘Disarming’: Will blunted teeth make Cotton blend?

By: calmassertiv

calmassertiv — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:22:03 +0000

I watched the Dog Whisperer episode with Cotton and was left with two impressions. One, there is nothing wrong with the dog that simple training wouldn’t fix, as was impressively demonstrated by the visit from Cesar Millan. Two, these people are Remarkably dense, choosing to not listen to what Cesar showed them, choosing to not learn the lessons he has shown a hundred families over the years on his TV show, instead choosing to continue the psychological abuse that has taught this little fluffball the exact wrong behavior. The husband even has a degree from Harvard, which as Cesar pointed out prophetically in the show, does not mean that he has any idea how to control a dog. Harvard should be hugely embarrassed at this guy and his learning-disabled wife, and the dentist should get over his twisted desire to perform unnecessary procedures simply because the proud-to-be-stupid people are willing to pay him and he finds it technically interesting.

It would be a great ending to this twisted tale if Cesar would return to ‘rescue’ this dog from its miserable life with these close-minded people and then demonstrate for all the world to see that in their absence the cute little doggy’s behavior was quickly, easily and permanently rehabilitated.

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:07:05 +0000

May be folly, or maybe not. But unlike Michael Vick, the biting dog has no way to express him/herself EXCEPT via behavior. It is a disservice to that dog not to help him/her try to learn that some behaviors are unacceptable and must change in order to be able to successfully co-exist in this human society.

Sure - there will be some percentage of dogs that turn out to be truly incorrigible and for whom a behavioral intervention will not succeed. But is that any reason not to even try?

By: sue

sue — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:59:53 +0000

Why is every biting dog assumed to be “abused”?Is every predatory human doing it due to some sad story of early abuse or is it a genetic issue?perhaps a more primitive wild animal response not blunted by domestication??
That sociopaths are rehabbed by doing time or finding god (like Michael Vick) or human aggressive dogs can change with behaviorist intervention may be folly

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:17:40 +0000

And:

http://ccpdt.org/rstr/index.html

By: H. Houlahan

H. Houlahan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:41:30 +0000

http://www.nadoi.org

http://www.dogpro.org

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:34:45 +0000

Here are a couple of links to help you in your search:

http://www.avsabonline.org/avs.....038;qid=10

http://dacvb.org/about-us/diplomates/

Oh - and Gina Spadafori isn’t a vet - she was quoting a vet. I think you may have been confused.

By: Billjo

Billjo — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:17:16 +0000

Dr. Spadafori:

I will call my vet in the morning and ask for his assistance in locating a proper trainer. Thank you for your advice.

By: H. Houlahan

H. Houlahan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:24:38 +0000

I’ve heard enough from Billjo that I would be very comfortable testifying for the plaintiff in the inevitable lawsuit.

Which is very likely the reason why Billjo does not post under a real name.

Which is about what I’d expect from someone who, as Lis correctly notes, has spent years learning how to avoid being punished by his own little dog while rationalizing this submission to the dog’s demands.

I will not “agree to disagree” when a child’s face is at stake.

Not because of the dog’s predilections, but because of the owner’s insistence on enabling. This alone strongly suggests to me that the dog’s “problem” is a rather simple one, not a deep-seated psychological anything. A veterinary behaviorist might try to put a shine on it with lots of ten-dollar words; the best trainers I know would just call a spade a spade and tell the owner to cut out the bullshit.

“All that is reasonable” to do — except, you know, TRAIN THE DOG. The one thing that might have had an effect.

And don’t whine to me about how expensive it is. You can read about NILIF on the web, anywhere, and ironically, FOR FREE. There are excellent dog training books in the public library. A leash and COLLAR for a small dog can be had for a few dollars. You apparently already own a like-new muzzle. A small crate is ten bux on Craig’s list.

By: retrieverman

retrieverman — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:13:16 +0000

Can you imagine living in a place where compulsory “disarming” is law?

Well, there is a place.

It’s Greenland. The law focuses on the native sled dog, which had been involved in some fatal attacks on humans. The Inuit tradition held that sled dogs were released in the spring, where they formed packs. The dogs were not regularly fed and became dangerous to people. So Greenland passed laws requiring that the dogs be chained from the age of six months when not working as sled dogs. The dogs also had to be “disarmed.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1413223

I don’t know whether these laws are still in effect, but they were in existence the last time I looked.

By: Lis

Lis — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:03:20 +0000

Billjo, one further point: Because your dog is small, the risk is dramatically higher that any serious injury he inflicts will be on a child, not an adult. And that will have a far bigger emotional impact on the victim, the family, the police, Animal Control, lawyers, and the courts. Given your dog's history, you'll have zero chance of making the child the villian, and you'll pay a far higher price than if the victim were an adult.