Canis lupus hominis

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

14 Responses

1. on September 16, 2011 at 3:09 pm CM

   It’s not total hokey. The basis for this work is in Tellington Touch work for dogs and horses. Because dogs (and people for that matter) who are insecure tend to exist only in their heads by establishing a connecting between head and tail you can change behavior. We use a body rope technique in agility when teaching a puppy the teeter or the dog walk to reconnect the brain and the butt. Call me looney but it does work.

   
   
   • on September 16, 2011 at 3:20 pm retrieverman

     Look at the vizsla’s body language.

     Does it look like it’s no longer afraid when he has the tail up?

     
     
2. on September 16, 2011 at 3:58 pm pekingeseman

   Caesar rulz!

   
   
3. on September 16, 2011 at 10:33 pm Sarah Adams

   Well, there is some basis to believing that changing a physical manifestation of mood can actually change mood. He starts talking about “status” though, which has nothing to do with tail position, that part is pure nonsense. And I’m not convinced that tying the tail up is going to have the desired effect.

   I know I read at least one study to the effect of changing mood by changing indicators (I’m thinking it had to do with people who smile being happier even if the smile was caused by something other than happiness.) I decided to try the effect with a dog I have who I wanted to be faster and more enthusiastic in agility. This dog has a tendency to bark when particularly excited about something. Since I had already put the barking on cue, I started having her bark before her agility runs. She did run faster and more enthusiastically, and I considered the experiment a success.

   Tying the tail up really doesn’t appear to be affecting the Vizsla’s mood, though. I wonder if the dog was trained to hold it’s tail up, if that might do some good. It would be entirely possible, with shaping.

   
   
4. on September 18, 2011 at 1:23 pm cyborgsuzy

   By this logic, why stop with simply tying the tail up? Why not just implant a cybernetic motor at the base of the tail that constantly keeps it exactly where you want it? Carry a little remote control with you. Oh, my dog should be acting friendly toward this stranger now, press the ‘wag’ button.

   
   
   • on September 18, 2011 at 1:27 pm retrieverman

     Maybe he thinks they are like what was once believed about certain large dinosaurs: they have a second brain.

     The second brain is in the tail, and if activated, it controls the other brain.

     Genius!

     
     
5. on September 18, 2011 at 2:52 pm Peggy Richter

   the tail bit is based on the theory that physical actions can drive hormonal and mood responses. (ie, act as if you are happy or confident and it will make you more so ) –stuff like this:
   Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Volume 15, Issue 1, January 1979, Pages 35-47 doi:10.1016/0022-1031(79)90016-7 | How to Cite or Link Using DOI –Induced-compliance attitude change: Once more with feeling
   Frederick Rhodewalt, Ronald Comer Princeton University USA Available online 26 August 2004. or this one: http://www.psy.plymouth.ac.uk/research/ece/publications/pdf/keep-smiling.pdf
   But the application appears all wrong in Milan’s case. There’s never been a study indicating a tail being up artificially is a plus for a dog’s social behavior, or self confidence, yet he acts as if this is a documented fact.
   Peggy Richter

   
   
6. on September 18, 2011 at 11:36 pm Kate

   What I want to know is who bred this dog and are they properly embarrassed?

   
   
7. on September 19, 2011 at 4:55 am boxers

   Kate, maybe (only maybe) the breeders of this dog did everything correctly and still the dog turned out overly anxious. Or perhaps the new owner did not socialize the puppy properly during the first few months.

   
   
   • on September 19, 2011 at 9:32 am retrieverman

     I’ve seen the episode. This dog was bred in the country. My guess is the person who was raising these vizslas was trying to produce field dogs– and was raising them in kennels and not taking them into town, etc.

     It’s really not that unusual.

     Vizslas can be very sensitive dogs.

     
     
     • on September 19, 2011 at 12:19 pm Kate

       I saw the episode too. I don’t think I have ever seen a more temperamentally unsound dog in my life. I would be ashamed to have bred it, personally. If all vizslas are like that to some extent, then I don’t know what to say.

       The tail lifting technique struck me as a bit weird but why not try it? It either works or it doesn’t, and either way it does no harm to the dog. And maybe, the feeling of something being on its tail would in some sense distract it from its terror? Kind of like wearing a backpack–it would give the dog something else to focus on rather than being able to devote all its energy to being terrified.

       
       
8. on September 19, 2011 at 5:59 pm calmassertive

   People who actually watch the Entire episode see how in a brief span the dog converts to an energetic, confident runner zipping down the sidewalk at full throttle with Cesar in tow. They also see at the end the owner rollerblading with the dog running full tilt and the owner expressing his gratitude for having learned how to unlock the free spirit in his longtime companion. Kudos to Cesar. Shame on this blog’s author.

   
   
   • on September 19, 2011 at 6:10 pm retrieverman

     The idea that I have not seen this whole episode is ridiculous.

     I’ve seen just about every episode of the Dog Choker.

     The man is full of shit.

     He comes up with ad hoc explanations for dog behavior, and then drags us into some kind of woo called “calm, assertive energy.”

     I wasn’t born yesterday.

     You people are ruining dogs left and right. People are full of this bizarre dominance meme, which they spout ad nauseum. What they don’t know is there is no evidence for this so-called dominance or pack model– though it was postulated from largely falsified and poorly performed studies on captive wolves.

     This poor dog need counter conditioning. I know that’s a big word, and Cesar doesn’t use it, so it must be for wusses. But it’s the most effective way for dealing with dogs with fears.

     Flooding a dog, which is what this loser is doing, does not help it. Anyone will tell you that you don’t take a frightened dog all the way into panic mode to teach it not to fear. Anyone who actually took a class in dog behavior, that is. You take the dog up to the thresh-hold, and then you provide a reinforcer to change the dog’s reaction. I broke a dog of thunder phobia using this method.

     But ol’ Cesar would probably have her stand out in a thunderstorm. That’ll learn ‘er.

     You people are worthy of ridicule– just like creationists. I will keep doing so. If you don’t like it– tough shit.

     
     
9. on September 20, 2011 at 1:33 am margot

   great … that gives a dog with illogical bodylanguage because dog is more than his tail … at the latest on next meeting with another dog it will give “nice” problemes …

   and than “guru milan“ has a new problem to solve …

   
   

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