Dog Whispering: 2 Common Misconceptions
’Dog Whispering’ hit the media spotlight with the television series featuring Cesar Millan. Millan has astounded dog owners all over the United States and abroad, with his uncanny ability to solve all sorts of dog behavior problems. He has been profiled in the New Yorker and has twice appeared on Oprah.
With this sudden rise to fame has come a lot of confusion about what dog whispering actually is. A ‘Dog Whisperer’ could suggest many things: a disciple of Dr. Doolittle, a horse whisperer gone to the dogs, or a mystical ‘dog man’ from Mexico. It could be the name of a revolutionary new dog
training method, or a scrupulously clever marketing campaign. In actuality, it could be a little bit of all of the above.
We’ll attempt to demystify dog whispering for you and show you how you can apply it to training your dog.
Let's start by clearing up two misconceptions
Misconception #1
"Dog Whispering started with Cesar Millan"
Dog whispering did NOT start with Cesar Millan. Cesar Millan is ‘a’ dog whisperer, who has a show called ‘The Dog Whisperer.’’ Others have adopted or been given the tag of Dog Whisperer and written books under that term including Paul Owens, John Richardson, and the late Steve Fryer.
What exactly is a dog whisperer then?
The tag ‘whisperer’ is a metaphor that suggests a ‘natural ability’ with something. It has been used to refer to a ‘natural’ ability to communicate with anything from a ferret to a V8 engine. The term ‘dog whisperer’ is borrowed from ‘horse whisperer,’ which is the name of Nicholas Evans’ 1995 novel and the Hollywood movie starring Robert Redford which was made from it in 1998. The story concerns a real life horse trainer, Irishman Daniel Sullivan who gained fame all over England in the early 1800’s, because of his uncanny ability to train and rehabilitate problem horses.
Like horse whispering, dog whispering relies heavily on understanding dogs from studying their behavior and responding to them with calm and firm guidance in a way that they can understand. It is a training philosophy that incorporates a lot of different methods and techniques. Many whisperers like Millan use training techniques that emphasize the importance of establishing yourself as a confident and dependable leader and his philosophy revolves around the principles of ‘exercise, discipline and affection.
Misconception #2
Dog Whispering is the best approach because it is the most gentle and humane
Dog whispering is humane. But the belief that dog whispering is the best way to train your dog ‘because it is the most gentle’ is not quite right. Much of the effectiveness of the method depends on establishing dominance and making your dog aware at all the right moments that you are comfortably in charge and in control as pack leader. Accomplishing this typically involves reminding your dog through firm, physical gestures.
Even though you use physical force to establish dominance, you never act in a way that is violent or aggressive or harmful to the animal. At the same time, dog whispering reminds us that dogs are not children and they feel more secure with a clear idea of a pack leader they can trust.
Dog whispering methods are gentle compared to hitting your dog with a shovel, but actually more forceful than getting your dog to do something by stuffing it full of hotdogs.
How does dog whispering apply to me and my dog?
The calm yet firm way a whisperer operates gives the impression that he or she has a bond with the animal that seems very natural, or even mystical. In reality it’s actually not that mysterious at all. By taking the time to learn about how dogs communicate, their social nature and their pack instincts, anyone can incorporate the philosophies of dog whispering into their training, you may have already been doing so and not even realizing! Our secrets to dog training manual also discusses incorporating dog whispering philosophy so have another flip through for some more ideas.
All in all, even though it takes a healthy investment of your time, the ideas of dog whispering are well worth considering. If you treat dogs with the respect and dignity they deserve, they will enjoy behaving for you.
All the best,
Daniel Stevens and the Secrets to Dog Training Team
"Secrets to Dog Training - STOP Dog Behavior Problems!"
http://www.kingdomofpets.com/dogobediencetraining/
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