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THANK you. Someone said it.
"Naturally aggressive", give me a break - Cotton was CLEARLY just crated WAY too long and gave CLEAR signals of wanting to play that he completely misread. Dogs bark and growl when they are EXCITED (try watching puppies at play). If they are being aggressive you will see all their teeth and tail stiff and ears flat on their head. Being crated all the time causes frustration and frustration causes aggressive behavior. He was RIGHT with the slow opening of the crate door but if he patiently kept at JUST THAT eventually the dog would sit and wait for it to be opened. He didn't NEED to jump to an aggressive dominant gesture making what is a friendly but frustrated dog FEARFUL and so uncertain what was wanted. I guarantee the dog went right back to that behavior after he left because all it learned was that it's crate was a BAD PLACE where it was not only caged too much but forced now into a submissive position in. My dogs are APPROPRIATELY crate trained and view it as a safe place to go to get AWAY from things that scare them. He did the opposite making it an even scarier place and I guarantee he's going to bite the next person to callously shove him in it out of fear.
Can anyone else see what he seveeerely misinterpreted once he got the dog out? A certain lil paw? Lifting a paw is NOT a gesture of going AFTER someone and never has been and never will be. The ONLY time i'd ever seen a dog do so was a gesture of "please", heck. My girl does it juuust before she flops over to give me her belly. Hell if she was going to go after someone shed PICK one STARE at them raise her hackles and pull at the lead. None of which it was doing it was just... scared and confused and SO not used to being walked on a lead even.
As an added note WOLVES ARE NOT DOGS AND DOGS ARE NOT WOLVES. Not only do wolves RARELY do this crap to pack members but wolves SEEKING to be alpha will kill the "old" alpha to take over sometimes (There was a pack where a female killed her own father to take over the role of alpha). Wolves are WILD ANIMALS. Your dog, is not and even THEN wolves do LESS harassing of pack members than Caesar demonstrates on his show. This is like using lions for determining how exactly to treat a house cat. Dogs are domesticated animals bred for centuries NOT to require a heavy hand. They are in environments NOTHING like where wolves are and are being watched over and raised by humans - not wolves. Quit using wolves as a reason to bully a dog. My theory is Caesar is just for show because I have seen what that "training" does to dogs and I guarantee most of them are dead now after being too aggressive as aggression is what they learned. Hell, there was one family that tried to sue the show I recall for mis-representing(exaggerating) their case and not even HELPING in the end. It was the episode where he rolled the small muzzled dog on its back and pinned it for about 10 mins despite the owners repeatedly telling Caesar the last trainer they used did the SAME THING and it didn't help in the BG. Sure the owners were happy at the end of the episode but the dog was just as bad after the crew got what they wanted and left.
I love Victoria. She teaches a more humane way and has the SAME "duh" tips such as exercise and she gets some of the dumbest owners - ones that feed their dogs TEA and sweets, crate them all day and wonder why they are so crazed. BUT she still teaches not just NILIF but how to REDIRECT bad behaviors without abuse. She even points out where the owners are going wrong and teaches them to be aware of it. Like one couple had a dog that they didn't want on the couch or bed or furniture... they weren't aware they were letting him on the couch with them sometimes. So the dog had no clue if it was or wasn't allowed as the owners gave mixed signals. In the end they decided no not allowed and the dog was not going back up. OH and she actually did episodes where she REVISITED these homes showing indeed her methods worked. Maybe not perfectly as the owners liked to slip up, but the stuff they STUCK WITH worked. But she still had an approach that was meant to build the owner and dogs confidence together. So simply dropping your dog off at a trainer that trains this way or even clicker training isn't going to cut it ever. If they aren't working - you should be there doing them with your dog so both of you have confidence in each other.
One final note Caesar is NOT a dog trainer. Victoria IS and she has awards to prove it. He has a warning on his show not to do what he does for a REASON. It might get you maimed or even killed doing the things he does. So yes, strong feelings here.