Chuffy
Posted : 2/14/2007 1:47:43 AM
IMO, just pulling the dog back into a prefwerred position or restraining him is different from an actual correction, which I believe must start with a loose lead and then jerk and release to the side.... Timing is CRUCIAL or you end up correcting for the wrong thing, or correcting too late when a behaviour sequence has already started and is tough to stop.
Anyways, back to topic, in all of his career I am sure there has been more than 2 dogs Caesar hasn't helped - when he first started working with dogs there were probbaly quite a few and then as he solidified his ideas and worked them into a method, gained more experience and skill, the curve levelled out. Perhaps those 2 are the only 2 he has not been able to help since he reached his current "level".
With the exposure he now has, anyone who truly believes he will not be able to help them (like Rats) won't even call him, so that means he is even less likely to "meet his match" and of itself is not an indicator of his level of skill. He also must get HUNDREDS of calls a day and cannot possibly help every single one because there simply isn't enough time. If I were in his position I would pick the ones I could definately help and the others I would refer to people I thought could handle the case. I wonder who takes CMs referrals.......?
His greatest skill, IMO, lies in working with the
people not the dogs, because it is the owners who must interact with their dogs day in day out and their success or failure that reflects on CM. I suspect at the start of his career this skill with people was not nearly so well-honed, which resulted him not being able to help a number of dogs which must have been enormously frustrating for him. Plus, he would definately meet his match if he came to my house - not in my dogs but in me! I believe I am impervious to his "charm".[

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I admire anyone who can turn around even the most dangerous animal with the lightest touch possible..... and this is where CM is still levelling up IMO. Someone else already noted that with some dogs he uses more force than with others and this (again only IMO) is a failure in itself.