Victoria's blog - Episode one - Cooper

Discussion of specific It's Me or the Dog episodes.

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Holldenwolf

agression and stress

Post by Holldenwolf »

I loved this episode. I learned alot. During childhood my family had terrier mongrel that was extremely aggressive. One day I stayed home from school due to acute bronchitis and while heading back to the sofa I got dizzy (vertigo) but my dog was sleeping on the sofa yet I really needed to sit down as I was growing weaker. I sat down and he lunged at my face and bit off a piece of my bottom lip and split my top lip in two. I wish I knew then what I know now. This is the reason I watch Victoria. I learn alot about dogs. I've educated myself in so many topics but never dog training. This episode helped me understand a dog's agression and what may be the underlying cause.

I am always amazed at how Victoria makes training seem so simple.

By the way, it's rare for someone as busy as Victoria to author a blog. This is nice. It's like a behind the scenes look at the underlying story. Thanks Victoria.

Holldenwolf
cassiesloveableowner
Posts: 36
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:14 pm
Location: Connecticut, USA

Post by cassiesloveableowner »

I agree holdenwolf. Victoria makes it look soooo easy and simple to train a dog. Its like shes magic!! I tried training my yellow lab cassie, and boy, let me tell you it was not that simple!!! :lol: All in all great job Victoria!!!!

cassiesloveableowner
Holldenwolf

ineffable beauty

Post by Holldenwolf »

Hi cassiesloveableowner,

If I were forced to choose one adjective to describe this Seraphim called Victoria Stilwell that adjective would be "ineffable," id est, unable to describe with words. I cannot believe how quickly she hypnotizes a dog. That is a sign of a great, nay Great, dog trainer. Vide supra dog attack: my doctor was a Great plastic surgeon. He repaired the damage and it's hardly noticeable outside the scars. Victoria is magical in this same manner but with dogs. wow! :shock: I just love everything about her and wish her well in every venture. May it be so.

She's also funny. I got my mom hooked on the show. lol. I plan on acquiring another dog sometime in the near future and like watching Victoria to learn how to be a better dog owner.

Sounds like Cassie is alot of fun! I love dogs. They are so cute and make better friends than majority of humans. lol. I hope that all is going well for you and Cassie in Connecticut. If you have any stories to tell I'd love to read them.

Have a pleasant day,
Holldenwolf
ckranz
Posts: 1028
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:18 pm
Location: San Diego CA

Post by ckranz »

Training is not only science it is an art form. I don't find the concepts behind training difficult to understand or even the theory. The difficulty comes in understanding timing. The science is the easy part, the art part takes work.

Understanding how to break complex behaviors down to simple components.

Understanding again how to break each of those individual tasks t something even simpler and practicing the timing to capture it.

Clicker games like 101 things to do with a [fill in the blank] is a great game to develop timing and observation skills to catch even the tiniest of behaviors from simple glances, to lifting paws.

Once you have these skills down training becomes much easier.

The other obstacle to training is expecting too much too fast, I am definitely more guilty of asking for too much too soon from my dogs. (That's one reason it took so long for Apollo to walk over a teeter...I rushed him and he got scared of it...now he's fine with it, in fact its one of his favorite obstacles).
Gershep1
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:06 am

Post by Gershep1 »

ckranz wrote:Clicker games like 101 things to do with a [fill in the blank] is a great game to develop timing and observation skills to catch even the tiniest of behaviors from simple glances, to lifting paws.
I think that's how the original TV Lassie was trained, minus the clicker but incredible timing with rewards. I saw a book about Lassie's training many, many years ago and couldn't believe the detailed behaviors.
ckranz
Posts: 1028
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:18 pm
Location: San Diego CA

Post by ckranz »

A couple of years ago I got to met Lassie's trainer, as well as getting a picture of Chloe with the current dog who plays Lassie. He was an amazing person. The current dog Laddie is actually a 7th generation dog from the original Lassie.
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