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Absolutely true. We have been conditioned I believe with my whole heart by Dr. Spock and his BS. This has completely ruined our society, and it includes how we approach dogs especially, and pets generally, mostly in just the last 20 years. The coochy-coo methods DO NOT WORK, and they are laughable contradictions to any common sense. Cesar's approach says don't act like they're babies; they are NOT. Any dog over 1yo is an ADULT - treat him like 1 instead of baby-cooing and getting excited and all that nonsense.

Did you see the show last night at 10 EST? That woman with the MinPins was afraid of (big) dogs, pathetically afraid. Yet she made the stupid comment that Cesar didn't "pet" and "praise" the MinPins when they were being calm. Cesar's face and reaction were classic - "..What...?"

And this is the woman and family who ended up putting down the female MinPin, when as Cesar said they probably could've done more to help her. I'm no expert but I didn't see what was so terrible about them that the girl had to be killed.

Was Cesar illegal? I don't know. Either way, he's welcome here to me. The man shows that some societies still have some common sense. I remember his remark that never until he reached the US did he see so many out-of-control dogs. It's the CODDLING, stupid!

I missed the show last night, but I recall another show in which Cesar tried to get a woman to listen to his prescriptions and she just kept talking about how she wanted her pet to respond to what she did without changing her own behavior. After a few moments, Cesar walked out saying that he could not help because the woman would not listen. She was, of course, single and living alone.

In one show, Cesar stated that he came here as an illegal and then legalized through marriage. Nothing against Cesar, but I wish we could grow more sense domestically instead of having to import it; but it is surely better that we import it than we go without!

A lady in our agility club has a whole gang of MinPins . . . and they are yapping, nipping nuisances. I just don't see the point.

But I really don't care for the little yap dogs.

Which brings me to another issue I might as well ask you about (as it's not too big a departure from this thread.)

I have an opportunity to get a new Lab puppy as a 30th anniversary present . . . I've been poring over pedigrees, and I've decided on a puppy from a litter bred by Mary Howley up in Wisconsin (Candlewood). (Cross country trek in our future.)

She'll be a black female by FC/AFC The Man in Black ("Cash") (son of NFC/AFC Ebonstar Lean Mac), out of a female who is half show (but dual purpose show dogs - Franklin) and half a mix of field trial and performance (tracking and search and rescue) Labs - Kerrybrook. The dam has NFC/AFC Webshire Honest Abe and Abercrombie & Fitch MH back of her. The puppy should be around 65 pounds grown.

The trainer I'm working with says that Lean Mac dogs have lots of drive but are "dumb as dirt." Others in our club disagree -- strongly. Hopefully any tendency to dumb will be counteracted by all the smart dogs in the mother's line. And we'll go up and have a look at all the pups, I was the first one to speak for a pup from this litter, so I should be able to pick out a smart one.

Most folks want the pure field trial lines from Ms. Howley -- but I consulted with one of the big wheels in our club, who has taken dogs to the Super Retriever Series (and won it all three times), and he thought a pure field dog with solid FC/AFCs in the male line, and doubled-up Lean Mac or Super Tanker/Lean Mac breeding in the female line, would be too much dog for me.

What's your opinion?

And this is the woman and family who ended up putting down the female MinPin, when as Cesar said they probably could've done more to help her. I'm no expert but I didn't see what was so terrible about them that the girl had to be killed.

Cesar told the woman and that wimpy man what they needed to do, but that ditz was simply not going to change her way of relating to the dogs. So they likely went back to acting the way they always had.

Just as some people should not be parents, others (maybe the same people) should not own dogs.

Although there is a significant amount of overlap between techniques, I still favor these guys over Milan....

I have raised my 8-year old shepherd in rigid adherence with their techniques (indeed, his mother was a New Skete dog) and also applied their guidance when incorporating a second shepherd rescued from Hurricane Katrina into our pack.

Although I suppose their's something vaguely sacrilegious about it, I swear by the monks!