132 replies to this topic

[Sumik]

I've really been enjoying this show on Animal Planet.

So far, I think my favorite episodes are the OCD Gordon Setter, the dictatorial Yorkie and the bossy miniature dachshund.

[Honey Dew]

hee! That yorkie was a trip....eating from a fork while standing on the dining room table. I really like Victoria, with her black boot-wearing, convertible-driving self.

[plk]

I love this show! It's so nice to see someone shape behavior positively rather than through domination. So far I've seen the one with the biting husky, the obsessive gordon setter, and the two crazy labs.

[Arania]

I am so glad someone started a thread for this show.

Victoria is HOT, with those black clothes and the hair and the boots. She's like a dog-training dominatrix!

[Sumik]

Oh, I'd forgotten the biting huskie!

I was so appalled that the bf seemed to not believe how dangerous that dog was.

[Peanutbuttercup]

I liked the episode with the bichon frise (Lily?). I thought it was sweet that the husband was originally embarrassed by the little white fluffy dog, but bonded with her when he saw how smart she is.

[tres francaise]

Gad! Those two Old English sheepdogs were unbelievable, as were the women who'd allowed the dogs to utterly run (& ruin) their lives. Are there really people out there who let their dogs do that? OTOH, the thought of only one 'cuddle' a day per person per dog isn't much. Maybe that's just Victoria's rule for alpha-type canines.

[Circus Poodle]

I'm not sure how many episodes have aired in the U.S., but it's fairly low on my TiVo list and only one episode has taped.

It was the one with the dog who could climb up anywhere, and who could open almost anything too. He'd steal food from the oven as it cooked, (he must have hotpads for feet) and "wee'd" everywhere, including on the other dog's head, and on the bread box!

I couldn't help but laugh when the hidden camera showed him opening the oven door, standing on it, opening the drawer, standing on it and finally reaching his target: food on top of the toaster oven. My goodness that dog was clever.

Like with problem dogs in The Dog Whisperer, it seems often the dog is too much dog for the family. Also it almost always seems they are working dogs, who are way too intelligent to sit around while the family watches tv, or to be satisfied with a lifetime of cuddles and being dressed in doggy sweaters. Why don't some of these people adopt a different breed, or at least keep their dog occupied? If they are not high energy they should not have a high energy or highly intelligent dog, unless willing to find some way to work with it. Games, complex toys, time playing with the dog, agility training, anything. Otherwise the dog will make its own game, and the humans won't be pleased.

[ZoeMc]

I like this show also. I have four rescued dogs and have fostered many many puppies (and learned SO much just from seeing what works with them and what doesn't), and like someone else said, it's great to see a trainer give common sense advice and stress positive trainng methods. My biggest personal training revelation is the "active ignore" stance -- instantly turning my head up and away from the dog, crossing my arms over my chest -- when presented with undesireable behavior (paws on me, jumping up, barking). I can't believe how well it works, even with very young puppies.

I really liked how pleased she was with the Gordon Setter's progress, when she admitted she just wasn't sure if what she had suggested would work given that with the obsessive types a lot of it is trial and error and in the end some of their problems cannot be solved with mere training.

[Peanutbuttercup]

the hidden camera showed him opening the oven door, standing on it, opening the drawer, standing on it and finally reaching his target: food on top of the toaster oven. My goodness that dog was clever.

My dog did something very similar a couple of years back. She wen from a chair, to the stovetop, to a high shelf, to the top of the microwave (which sits on top of the fridge) in order to retrieve the Easter candy. I went into an absolute panic mode when I came home and discovered she'd eaten almost two pounds of chocolate. Luckily it was almost all milk chocolate, she's not a small dog, and it didn't even upset her stomach, but I was absolutely frantic at first. One of my friends thought I was lying about how the dog got into the chocolate, but she saw that episode of IMOTD and emailed me to say that she believes me now!

[Sumik]

Wow, what a smart dog -- talk about your problem solving. Give that dog a job!

I wish I'd seen that episode. Is this show still on the AP schedule?

[Circus Poodle]

I wish I'd seen that episode. Is this show still on the AP schedule?

Yes. It looks like the "Buster and Morgan" episode will air again on Sept. 7. (Buster is the clever climber who "wees for England" as his owner puts it.)

[cstad]

Bumping the thread to see if anyone caught the "fat dogs" episode that ran this weekend. It featured three extremely overweight dogs: a chiuaua (chiauau?), a beagle and a dauchsund. I was equally laughing and cringing as I watched, since my cat can only be described as "rotund" and, possibly, "pillow-like."

I laughed and laughed that the little chiu..chiau... little Mexican dog was described as a "fat, white sausage" by Victoria, because that poor dog really looked like a sausage. Victoria displaying just how much food the dauchsund was being fed was quite amazing. I think it really made quite an impression on the owner.

I was very impressed by the progress of all three dogs, but the change in the beagle was amazing. It really illustrated how owners so affect their dogs' attitudes. The beagle went from lazy and fat to energetic and somewhat trim thanks to the "fat farm." And they really didn't do very much, other than give her exercise and cut back on the food.

[EdithPrickley]

I LOVE this show! Victoria is so wonderfully appalled (and rightfully so) at the dogs, then so happy when they make progress.

The positive reinforcement/positive "takeaway" approach is so good. I say 'positive takeaway' because I can't think of the proper term, but it's the taking away of something the dog wants, like your attention. The example that someone posted above of turning away when the dog is jumping on you is a great example. It works!

[Ima Pilgrim]

I was very impressed by the progress of all three dogs, but the change in the beagle was amazing. It really illustrated how owners so affect their dogs' attitudes. The beagle went from lazy and fat to energetic and somewhat trim thanks to the "fat farm." And they really didn't do very much, other than give her exercise and cut back on the food.

I saw it, I actually found it sickening that the people put the dog's health at the bottom of the priority list and insisted on overfeeding, despite the health problems it was creating. There was a show on after that, I think, about obese dogs, and the one woman with the Rotty who was double his normal size, and she still insisted there was nothing wrong with him, was pathetic, she was a total head case. Couldn't even see how her dog was suffering, self centered old cow.

[Vetasimmons]

Oh, brother, I caught this show tonight. I saw one about an aggressive dog they referred to as an "American Bull Dog" which seemed to be sort of a tall pit bull, but the face wasn't exactly like a pit bull, a little more like an English bull. Anyway, it had aggression problems, mainly whenever the couple had guests in the house, it would attack them. It wasn't animal aggressive. It was possessive of the wife also. But this dog training chick, Victoria, made this huge case that once a dog is aggressive you cannot ever, ever trust it no matter what. It might have to be put down some day. Even though they did all extensive training, plus it turned out the dog had medical issues that they were correcting. And she said the the aggression was fear-based, and the dog was very insecure, easily stressed and "nervous. She seemed to be doing six different methods with the dog. It was very scattered. Some clicker and reward, some distraction, games, affection, putting him behind a gate to "soothe" him.

I would really like to have seen what Cesar Millan would have done with this dog. I think Victoria might better stick with dogs that chew the sofa or pull on the leash.

[plk]

That was definitely an American bulldog, not an English bulldog or pit bull. All three of those have distinctly different looks. The English bulldog is really short and round, with kind of a squished face. A pit bull is bigger than the English bulldog and smaller than the American bulldog and doesn't usually have the floppy skin on the side of the mouth that American bulldogs do.

Anyway, I was glad to see her apply the behaviorist model to an aggressive dog. Using desensitization and counter-conditioning is absolutely a smarter approach than trying to intimidate or correct a dog out of being aggressive. It didn't look scattered at all to me. It just looked like they were working on desensitizing the dog but also practically managing the situation by keeping him from getting into situations that he can't yet handle without getting worked up. Any behaviorist that works with aggressive dogs would do the same thing.

[Cattykit]

And she said the the aggression was fear-based, and the dog was very insecure, easily stressed and "nervous. She seemed to be doing six different methods with the dog. It was very scattered. Some clicker and reward, some distraction, games, affection, putting him behind a gate to "soothe" him.

I didn't see Victoria's approach as scattered at all. Just that she recognized that controlling this dog was not going to be a matter of just one thing. It was good that she made it very clear that even if the dog seems to be under control, he will always have the potential to be aggressive and the owners will never be able to let their guard down. I've been generally impressed by the results she's had.

Every time I think I might want to break down and get a dog, I see an animal like this or watch a few of the dog-bite cases on People's Court and I remember why I only want cats...

[cheekymonkey]

I've been catching this show on weekend nights, and I like Victoria a lot. This morning I caught the show with the aggressive, possessive Chinese Crested, and I was impressed at how quickly (it seemed, thanks to editing, I guess) the dog learned to calm down and tolerate her owner's sister and stay focused and calm during walks in the shopping district. That was one mean little dog at the beginning and by the end she was behaving in a calmer, more relaxed manner. The girls originally got her to be their dress-up doll, purse puppy and I hate it when people treat toy dogs like they are literally toys. They're dogs, people! Granted, cute little dogs but they like sniffing butts and rolling in animal crap just like a big dog!

[sinderellagirl]

Love this show and Victoria.. just caught the episode with the 2 Pomeranians in Wales. The dogs were very protective of the wife who was encouraging/enjoying the attention she was receiving from them! The poor husband hadn't slept in his bed with his wife for 2 years. Everytime he tried to get in bed with his wife and dogs they would bite him!

Victoria determined the mother was suffering from empty nest syndrome (always the humans fault!) and the dogs suffered from role reversal i.e. thinking they were in charge! Cute episode.. Victoria got them to sleep in doggy beds in the hall, when she went back 2 weeks later the mom had moved the doggy beds back in her bedroom but had not let the dogs back on her bed with her and her husband! Always a positive outcome, I cannot believe how smart some of these dogs are!

[galysa]

I love this show and can't wait for new episodes. I can't believe the way some of these people are living because their dogs have taken over their lives.

[Psychrometrics]

I am so glad that I actually found the thread for this show. I have to say that I am ca-razy about Victoria Stillwell. Honestly, I think that this woman deserves a Congressional Medal of Honor with the way that she retrains some of these dogs. One of the more interesting episodes for me was the episode about Teo and the two roommates living together. I just could not get over the fact that Teo ate his own poo and would then go up and steal the roommates's food. If I were the guy, I still would have moved out based upon the simple fact that Victoria found E. Coli lurking in the house.

Are there really new episodes coming out soon?? If so, then I cannot WAIT for Victoria to do what she does best.

I wonder if Victoria has a website on the steps showing how to retrain certain types of dogs? I know some people who could definitely use some of Victoria's skill and expertise on training their dogs.

ETA: The dog's name was Teo, not Pongo. Pongo was a dog from another episode.

Edited by Psychrometrics, Jun 5, 2008 @ 1:42 PM.

[shemustbefunny]

I think this is a great show. My dog is pretty well-behaved, but I've taken a lot of advice from Victoria. It never occurred to me that the dog could sense my tension and feed off it, or that if I associate the mailman coming to the door with a treat, she'll enjoy and look forward to it.

One thing I am dying to get is the bubble machine--I know I saw her use it in at least one episode. They set it up in the backyard and the dogs barked and jumped at it for hours. I suppose I could Google it and find it in a minute. Again, never would have had that idea.

I find that sometimes the show does resort to sort of theatrical techniques to get their point across. Particularly in the Fat Pets special, when they digitally fattened up pictures of that one woman's daughters to make her understand how overweight the dog was. (It was criminal the way they were neglecting that dog's health, though.)

Anyway, love it!

[NoLoContendere]

Love this show and flove Victoria. I think a session with Victoria should be mandatory before anyone is allowed to get a dog.

I loved the episode I saw earlier this week where a terrier of some sort was driving its male owner batty with its digging and hunting (did I mention it was a terrier?). Anway, he was ready to get rid of the dog but by the end he loved it so much his wife said "you've stolen my dog from me." I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

Oh, brother, I caught this show tonight. I saw one about an aggressive dog they referred to as an "American Bull Dog" which seemed to be sort of a tall pit bull, but the face wasn't exactly like a pit bull, a little more like an English bull. Anyway, it had aggression problems, mainly whenever the couple had guests in the house, it would attack them. It wasn't animal aggressive. It was possessive of the wife also. But this dog training chick, Victoria, made this huge case that once a dog is aggressive you cannot ever, ever trust it no matter what. It might have to be put down some day. Even though they did all extensive training, plus it turned out the dog had medical issues that they were correcting. And she said the the aggression was fear-based, and the dog was very insecure, easily stressed and "nervous. She seemed to be doing six different methods with the dog. It was very scattered. Some clicker and reward, some distraction, games, affection, putting him behind a gate to "soothe" him.

Your lack of dog knowledge is showing. The dog was an American Bull Dog, which is a real breed. And, if a dog is aggressive, you cannot ever trust it. Doesn't mean you can't have a wonderful relationship with the dog, but you cannot ever forget it is aggressive unless you want to take the chance that you will be dealing with massive guilt and a lawsuit down the road. Just a fact of life.

Edited by NoLoContendere, Jun 4, 2008 @ 1:34 PM.

[SpchProf]

I've just discovered this show (and this thread!) and I watch it whenever it's on. I like Victoria, but honestly, at times I just want her to say to the owners that they have done a terrible job with their dog. The main problem is usually owners who treat their dogs like humans rather than animals. Sometimes we see her do this in the car on the way there, I'd like to see her make an owner cry with her honesty!

The dogs were very protective of the wife who was encouraging/enjoying the attention she was receiving from them! The poor husband hadn't slept in his bed with his wife for 2 years. Everytime he tried to get in bed with his wife and dogs they would bite him!

Yeah, this was on last night and that husband was way too nice. When they had the meeting about putting the dogs in the utility room with their own beds, the wife snarked to the husband "looks like you won that one." Seriously, that was messed up. If she can't realize the husband deserves to sleep in his bed maybe she needed to bunk up in the utility room.

[Psychrometrics]

I just want her to say to the owners that they have done a terrible job with their dog. The main problem is usually owners who treat their dogs like humans rather than animals. Sometimes we see her do this in the car on the way there, I'd like to see her make an owner cry with her honesty!

She has come close to telling some of the owners that they have done a terrible job, but usually the owners just admit it right before she has the chance to say it. Like there was one episode where this lady told Victoria that she treats her dog as if it were an actual baby because she can't have babies right before Victoria said that the lady was being a terrible leader and anthropomorphizing the dog is very unhealthy for the dog and for the owners.

[lmwilker]

The main problem is usually owners who treat their dogs like humans rather than animals.

Did you see the one with the lady who thought dogs were just like cats? She had always had cats and when her last one died at age 17 or something she couldn't bear to get another one so she bought a Chihuahua dog who turned out to be a raging hellbeast? She told Victoria that at first she thought something was wrong with it because it didn't groom itself like her cat did. Anyway, the main problem in that case was not the woman treating her dog like a person, it was her treating the dog like a cat. Seriously messed up.

[alphakitty]

I love this show. I recently acquired my 1st dog ever. She is a rescued 2 1/2 yr. old Chorkie (1/2 Chihuahua & 1/2 Yorkie) and I have learned so many things about how to take care of her from this show. I think Victoria is great.

[Catronia]

Every time I think I might want to break down and get a dog, I see an animal like this or watch a few of the dog-bite cases on People's Court and I remember why I only want cats...

Oh, CattyKit, please don't be intimidated by all that. I grew up in a family with cats, cats, cats, and I loved our kitties, and, of course, once I had a home of my own, I got a shelter cat who was a wonderful pet, and I loved her very much. But.... my sister by that time had not only cats, but dogs, horses, ducks and other nice creatures, and she very carefully bred her beautiful female black Lab from a show line with a strictly selected chocolate Lab from a field line. Six pups ensued, all black, which she sold to people based on a very strict interrogation as to the life they would give the dog. Any whiff of a puppy mill (or even of hunting, which I actually think some of these pups, including mine, would have been extraordinarily talented at), and she said no. I wasn't off the hook as a family member -- she wanted a thorough explanation of how I'd raise a pup in Manhattan and hand selected the one she thought most suited for apartment life.

The upshot, for me, is that cats are very nice and generally effort-free pets. Dogs require a lot more effort -- housetraining, obedience training, with a lot of breeds more attention -- but offer a lot more back in exchange. They communicate in a way that cats just don't. My dog understands and responds to more words than I can count, and many complete sentences. She also has learned to tell me what she wants -- to play, go out, to sleep (she hates it when I stay up late because she wants us to go to bed at the same time), to have space on the couch, etc.

I live in a small Manhattan apartment, but it's close to off-leash dog parks. When I got little (now very big) Bea, I committed myself to the idea that she would have at least five days a week exercise off-leash, plus additional on-leash walks. I loved her from the minute I saw her, and all the shoe-eating in the world (and she did plenty) would never make me want to trade her in for anything. It's a big commitment of time and/or money, depending on where you live and how many hours you work, plus, with an active and wily breed like a sporting dog, they MUST BE TRAINED or they will be bored and a big pulling exhausting mess on your leash. But, at least with Labs, it only takes a few months of group training and careful reinforcement at home (that can be fun -- like "give me your paw" before giving a treat, or even better, hiding treats around the house and starting a "find it" hunt), to get them to settle down.

(Incidentally, I find the habit here to leave small dogs totally untrained, and then find it funny when they are walked on an extension leash and permitted to attack any other dog walking by, appalling. I am expected to keep my 85 lb. dog under complete control while some 20 lb. dog is actually attacking her, and the small dog owner isn't even trying to leash the dog in, let alone properly socializing the dog. Ridiculous. My dog is carefully trained never to engage, but sometimes I wish she'd just snarf up one of those brats to show the owner that no matter the size, the dog should be trained and controlled.)

Sorry. Rant done.

My sister also acquired a retired racing greyhound, who my sister amusingly got jealous about, because after a cross-country trip where the greyhound traveled with me while my sister's two Labs traveled with her, the greyhound loved me just as much, though my sister thought she was way more "nurturing" than me. Here's the thing -- I was always kind and loving to the greyhound, and made sure her needs were met, but I was also firm with her and provided a structure to her days, even if it meant that I had to tell her that it was time to eat, so she would eat, or it was time to get in the truck, so she would get in the truck. Dogs appreciate kind firmness -- domestic dogs don't want to make decisions, and like structure. On the other hand, they don't like being yelled at, yanked around or smacked. There is a medium where you brook no nonsense, but understand their needs.

This was way longer than intended!

[Paula in Playa]

I love Victoria, too.

So far, I think my favorite episodes are the OCD Gordon Setter, the dictatorial Yorkie and the bossy miniature dachshund.

Heh, my sister and I have two tweenie rescue dachshunds, and they are bossy, indeed. I love that episode, because Rufus is such a typical doxie.

she hates it when I stay up late because she wants us to go to bed at the same time

Our female doxie is this way. Alpha female all the way!

ETA: this show is also a good example of why it's important to research breeds before deciding on the kind of dog you want. Dachshunds are bossy, because they were bred to be. Dachshund means "Badger Dog" in German, because they hunted badgers and the breed was developed in Germany. The nature of hunting badgers meant that the dog would be underground in the burrow where the hunter couldn't easily communicate with the dog. It had to make a lot of its own decisions.

That's why today when I'm walking my bitch, er, sweet little doxie, we'll get to a corner, and she'll decide which way we're going ... or try to. And she's amazingly strong. She's only 14 lbs, but its 14 lbs of solid muscle. When she puts on the brakes and throws her body weight backwards she nearly pulls me off my feet!

Edited by Paula in Playa, Jun 23, 2008 @ 3:04 PM.