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I can only hope that you don't own any animals. Please don't take my defense of this animal as being an "animal rights activist" in any way! I definitely am not. I just don't believe they should be mistreated unless they are attacking you or they kill or maim someone.

I do own animals and have owned animals. But only as pets. Not as working animals expected to go out into the real world and work in a responsible way.

Have you seen "The Dog Whisperer". The guy is an expert trainer. He makes no mistake that dogs should be treated as people. They understand certain actions and certain mentalities. He often employs physical actions like jerking on their collars, or using his hand to "bite" them as a dominant dog would do to make them comply. Often the people who call him think that he is being "too mean" to their pets. But he's training them how to act and behave how they're expected to act and behave.

Now I'm not a dog trainer, but I did raise children and did employ spanking when necessary to reinforce the lessons that they shouldn't do things that could be harmful to themselves or others.

So it's ok to abuse a "working" dog, but not the family pet?! Is this "guy" mainstream when it comes to his training techniques? Yes, I agree, a trainer has to teach a dog just who is in the dominant position. I did it with my dog with a training manual and non-violent techniques and by watching a couple educational shows on TV.

I'm not saying that I've never swatted my dog with a newspaper to the butt once or twice. Maybe I'm crazy to see a clear difference between swatting a dog and kicking it.

The "Dog Whisperer" is a buffon, and is a pariah in the world of real dog trainers. He is unnecessarily cruel, and the techniques he uses are nothing short of psychological abuse. They are NOT training, and are more akin to the counter conditioning in "Clockwork Orange." You would be well advised to do some research before promoting someone like this as an expert dog trainer. Being on TV doesn't make one an expert...

National Geographic, by continuing to put his show on the air, is participating in the enabling of animal cruelty across the country, in the name of "training."