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Do not attempt
the techniques you are
about to see without
consulting a professional.
On this episode of
the Dog Whisperer.
BONNIE: I walked up
to a customer's house.
She had a certified letter.
I was getting ready to
have her sign it and one
of her dogs bit me,
punctured the skin.
KATIE: They flip
out when we leave.
Wally just runs
around in circles,
throws himself at the
window, at the wall,
and he, he goes ballistic.
ROB: He's a scary dog.
A child is not going to know
that they can't walk up and,
you know grab him or
poke him or touch him
or want to pet him.
NARRATOR: When
good dogs go bad,
there's one man who's
their best friend,
Cesar Millan.
CESAR MILLAN: No dog is
too much for me to handle.
I rehabilitate dogs.
I train people.
I am the Dog Whisperer.
KATIE: I decided to get ***
after I graduated from college,
and I have always
wanted a Pomeranian.
CARLOS: And when I met Katie
*** was still a puppy.
I had an affinity
for Pomeranians,
so it's one of the
things that's told me,
"Oh this is a perfect first for
me, look she has Pomeranians."
KATIE: Well Carlos and I
decided to get another dog
because *** had major
separation anxiety.
When we would leave he would
bark and get very stressed out,
so we thought that if
we got another dog,
that that would help ***
with his separation anxiety.
CARLOS: Two years ago
we brought Wally home,
and as soon as he
walked in the door,
he was the king
of the roost.
KATIE: Wally just
immediately took on ***'s
negative behaviors,
and then ***'s got worse
and Wally's got worse,
so it's this
cycle of madness.
And we would
like some help with as to how to
solve this separation problem.
CARLOS: Okay, I got it.
Oh.
You see.
Look.
There it is.
A separation anxiety.
You see.
KATIE: It is hard to
leave them because they
flip out when we leave.
Wally turns into a
whirling dervish.
He just runs
around in circles,
throws himself at the
window, at the wall,
and he, he goes ballistic.
CARLOS: Driving in the car with
the two of them is embarrassing.
KATIE: Unless
we're just driving.
If we're just driving, and
everyone's in the car, and
calm, they're fine.
But as soon as, if Carlos
and I are in the car together,
and one of us gets out of
the car, they go ballistic.
CARLOS: Now that we
have a new baby, we're,
we're very concerned that
the barking is going to
make it impossible for
us to put him to sleep
because the barking
not only in and out,
but when somebody walks
by, it's non-stop.
KATIE: This barking's been
going on for over five years,
and it's incessant,
daily barking.
It was bothersome
before, and now I find
it completely intolerable.
My nerves are raw cause
I'm tired and you know,
we're worn out from
caring for a newborn,
and then the dogs barking
on top of that and with
the baby's crying and
the dogs are barking,
it's just a whole 'nother
level of stress that
I can't handle
at this point.
CARLOS: When Cesar comes,
I hope that he can help us
create calm, submissive dogs.
NARRATOR: Dog behavior
expert Cesar Millan
and his trusty
sidekick, Daddy,
arrive in Ohio
to restore some peace and
quiet to the Warner's lives.
KATIE: He's now become the
calmer, and he is nuts, Wally.
CARLOS: Right.
CESAR MILLAN: So you're
saying that he is worse?
KATIE: He is worse, yes.
CARLOS: Oh, yes.
CESAR MILLAN: Who starts
the whole barking?
KATIE: Yeah.
Wally starts it.
CARLOS: He does.
CESAR MILLAN: How many
dogs have you had before?
CARLOS: Well, we had,
we were cat people.
CESAR MILLAN: Cat people?
CARLOS: Cat people first.
CESAR MILLAN: I wonder you
know how to pet like a cat.
CARLOS: That's right.
We had.
CESAR MILLAN: That's very
typical with the cat people,
just do the whole
stroke like that.
So pretty much
no knowledge.
KATIE: Yes.
CARLOS: Not before we
started watching the show.
CESAR MILLAN: Oh
you, you have?
KATIE: Oh yeah.
CARLOS: Huge, huge
fans of the show.
Well it really has changed
a lot of our behaviors,
for example our walking was
a nightmare, before we
watched the show.
Now when we walk, they
walk pretty much in line.
KATIE: So, a lot of their bad
behaviors have gotten better,
but the barking we just can't
seem to stop the barking.
CESAR MILLAN: Oh
okay, all right,
so you just need to learn
how to discipline him,
discipline the dog
while he's barking,
or before he barks.
CARLOS: Yeah, I think
I become indifferent.
I just will kind of allow
them to bark, without,
without reacting to it.
KATIE: Whereas I get.
CARLOS: She gets angry.
KATIE: I get, I get, I
get very frustrated and
nervous and anxious,
the more they bark,
the more it grates
on my nerves,
so I'm sure that that
energy, you know,
and then the more I feel
that way the more they bark.
CESAR MILLAN: So one gives
up, and the other one,
it's just frustrating.
KATIE: Right.
And I go no, no, and yell.
CESAR MILLAN: Both of
them are bad energy.
And that's why it's
not going to work.
If you go, it has
to create balance.
You can't give up
until you accomplish.
Simple as that.
NARRATOR: After
observing Katie's nervous
energy at the door,
Cesar decides to
let Daddy and Coco from
his pack act as calm,
assertive role models.
CESAR MILLAN: So in this
case I brought Daddy not
to help the dogs, it's
more to show Katie and
Carlos how a dog will
control situation when
he's in front of
unstable dogs.
What is the energy?
How's he going to deal
with the behavior,
how's he going to claim
that little space,
even though he's being
bothered by this energy?
Look how he's controlling the
situation, you know what I mean?
KATIE: Yeah, yeah.
CESAR MILLAN: He's not, I
mean, everyone says you know,
pit bulls will
kill your little dog, but
right now he's a Pomeranian
misbehaving and trying to
act a little tough about it,
but see when
a dog is balanced,
they know how to how to control
situation without aggression.
So it's not the breed,
it's who's behind the dog.
So because Daddy didn't
give any negative energy
back to ***, and then
*** has now become more
submissive so now
he's going to, oh,
let me smell you then.
That's what
social dogs do.
That's what
balanced dogs do.
They don't go into they
want to, what's your name?
So we stopped the loud
one, we put a leash on it.
And
it's not that you using a lot
of, you know, physical power.
KATIE: So if we walk in
and they're jumping up on us,
we just go toward them and
correct their behavior, and?
CESAR MILLAN: Well you move
towards them until they move,
then you walk away.
That's, that
means, that means you corrected
the behavior, right there.
KATIE: Okay.
CESAR MILLAN: But you
gotta ask for your space.
You gotta move as
you want that space.
That's the communication.
Right there.
There we go.
Instead of him
running away,
he have to
surrender, right.
Ah, this is good.
Very good.
Typical stuff.
The pinning part.
The frantic behavior he
just did right there,
well he would have used it
by running away from situations.
But because we didn't
let him run away from
situation, that that
sound is very typical,
so we saying, "Don't run
away from situations,
surrender to situations.
That makes you a social dog."
KATIE: And he'll run away
from us so should we keep him
on a leash or chase him
or just leave him alone?
CESAR MILLAN: Well
yeah, don't chase him,
just go to where
he is, like,
he's not ready to be let go.
The more they wiggle, he's
not surrendered, there he goes.
Yeah.
Don't chase him, just
go to where they are,
bring them back, and bring
it back to the area where
they misbehaved so they can
put two and two together.
The reason why I'm being
in this position is for
what I did here, but you only
have like ten seconds to do it.
Now you can't practice this
if you don't have control,
or you don't trust the
rest of the dogs around,
because if you do
this around other dogs
that you have no control,
he can get attacked.
What I'm looking
for him, very good.
To stay in that position.
That means he surrendered.
So the exercise becomes
a healthy exercise.
Then he gets up.
See how he walks?
NARRATOR:
Next, Cesar puts Carlos in
the role of pack leader.
CESAR MILLAN: This is team
work, so you can also help.
Right.
Now, let me just explain
something, right.
Cause when you walk,
we want you to see.
Over here.
Even if they bark, just
walk as it's going to happen.
You walk.
Shh.
Otherwise, see look
at the shoulders.
Right?
So this is a conversation,
even though he's a tall guy,
he looks small.
CARLOS: Right.
I felt it right away.
I did.
I, even small
things when he's kind of at
my shoulders, from here to here.
There's something like
that and you can feel the
energy change inside of you and
it goes straight down to them.
CESAR MILLAN:
Nice, nice, nice.
See, we, we are targeting
the one who creates the
bad ripple effect,
that's my friend here.
He stops, he stops.
See that, that's the
assertive side of Carlitos.
KATIE: See you later.
CESAR MILLAN: Bye, guys.
So as you see, that's
more mild than this one,
but he needs his energy to
keep going to that stage,
see this is better.
So eventually what happens
is that when people come
to the door, instead of
barking they go and sit down
and sit down and tell you
people is coming at the door.
So they're communicating
in a quiet way,
versus in a neurotic
way but have conditioned
them how to greet people.
It's not that you don't
want them to be by the door,
you just telling them,
"Be this way by the door."
CARLOS: In the span
of a half hour,
we went from the horrible
experience of literally,
me walking around and
leaving madness behind
to them sitting there
and behaving.
CESAR MILLAN: Once we went
into the car, I told them,
look before they
go into the car,
they have
to become submissive so they
can be invited into the car.
The most important part is how
you put them inside the car.
Most of the time, when
they're familiar to the car,
they get excited and they
pull humans to the car?
Then start trashing the car.
But that's the wrong
time to put the dogs in.
CARLOS: Okay.
We do that.
CESAR MILLAN: So dogs have to
go in a calm, submissive state,
this will be
ideal state of mind.
This is an
excited state of mind.
Now relax.
KATIE: Is this
a better state?
CESAR MILLAN: Much better.
See this is more, I'm
attentive to the next exercise.
Whatever you want, goes.
The next thing is to
put them in the car.
I will grasp this
part of the neck,
right here and then
bring him in like this.
KATIE: Okay.
And just put him in.
CESAR MILLAN: And
then I'll show you.
Look.
And place him in the car.
KATIE: Okay, okay, yeah.
CESAR MILLAN: That means
they're being transported
into a different area.
A lot of people they
just go and do it.
KATIE: Yeah, or
let them hop in.
Right.
CESAR MILLAN: Either/or
are dominance or excitement.
So you practice.
Now you have to
learn to practice.
Consequence.
Shhh.
Half a second.
Nice.
Shhh.
Shhh.
Minimum amount of.
Perfect.
That's good.
But the reason why I did
is because he, ah,
that's a beginning.
CARLOS: He was
going to let it.
CESAR MILLAN: Yes.
See the conversation?
KATIE: Yeah.
That was amazing.
I have never gotten
in or out of a car without them
attacking me and each other,
and just going haywire,
and it was amazing to see
how differently
they, they acted with just
that amount of training.
CESAR MILLAN: It's
like having two kids.
You control one, and then
the father controls
the other one, and
then it's teamwork.
That's a little
too tentative.
KATIE: I saw, I knew him.
I think the biggest lesson
I learned today was that
I have to, it's the energy
that I send out is what
the dogs pick up on, so if
I'm timid or tentative,
they will take charge.
CESAR MILLAN: So before
you get them out again,
it's the same principle.
Calm submission.
Invite out, again,
more calm submission.
There you go.
KATIE: I can't believe
these are the same dogs
that were here
this morning.
CESAR MILLAN: I feel
good about this.
KATIE: I feel wonderful.
CESAR MILLAN: Yeah,
I think you got it.
KATIE: Thank you, so much.
CARLOS: Cesar, thanks
for coming, come on.
CESAR MILLAN: Love it.
He's a big teddy bear.
CARLOS: It's going to take
consistency on our part,
to follow through
on, on these things,
but I think we have the
tools to do it now,
and it's now up
to us to be consistent
and do it the right way.
CESAR MILLAN: Nice, Carlos.
Shoulders up, Carlitos.
There you go.
Nice!
KATIE: This is unbelievable.
CARLOS: Hey, this
really does work.
NARRATOR: Coming up, Cesar
offers hands on help
to the postal
workers of Atlanta.
CESAR MILLAN: Thanks for
watching the Dog Whisperer
on the National Geographic
Channel and stay tuned
as we continue changing the
world, one dog at a time.
NARRATOR: It is said that
"neither snow nor rain nor
heat nor gloom of night
stays these couriers from
the swift completion of
their appointed rounds."
But nobody said
anything about dogs.
BONNIE: When my foot
hits that pavement,
the first thing I'm
concerned about is looking
in the area for any kind
of suspicious whether
a garage door be
up, or a customer coming out
of the home, it scares me.
NARRATOR:
The battle between postal
workers and canines is no joke.
According to the U.S.
Postal Service, approximately
2,000 letter carriers each year
are the victims of dog bites.
One of them is Bonnie
Moon of Atlanta, Georgia.
BONNIE: I walked up
to a customer's house,
she had a certified letter.
I was getting ready
to have her sign it,
and one of her
dogs bit me.
Punctured the skin.
I've never been
afraid of animals,
but after that bite, I
still am apprehensive,
about going to any door, it kind
of makes my heart skip a little.
It goes back to
the safety issue of just
knowing your surroundings,
don't dismount if you know
there's a dog in the area.
Always carry your
Back Off spray.
But in those
split seconds,
and that's when usually
attacks happen.
It kind of catches
you off guard,
no matter how much
you prepare for that.
NARRATOR: Georgians may be
known
for their southern hospitality,
but those manners don't
always rub off on their pets.
The post office in this Atlanta
suburb is trying a new
solution.
Inviting dog behavior
expert Cesar Millan
to give their letter carriers
a primer in dog psychology.
Then, he'll join
Bonnie on her postal route
to try out some solutions.
CESAR: I think
we appreciate our letter
carriers like once a year,
you know we give them
like a Christmas presents,
so today it really helped
me to appreciate them,
how important they
are in our society.
FEMALE: Well I'm
afraid of dogs.
So soon as I hear a dog
barking I'm like get your dog,
I don't want him
sniffing me, licking me,
because I got
bitten as a child.
About a year ago I was bitten
three times by a beagle,
three times in the stomach.
And I kicked him off.
Once he's on me,
then all you can do is just
basically kick him off.
CESAR: Defend yourself.
WOMAN: Yeah.
MAN: The pit bulls,
the Rottweilers,
they're not the problem.
It's their owners.
It's how they're trained.
FEMALE: Let's say you
get out of your truck,
and you are
working your mail,
and a dog is in your
vicinity, and approaches,
it comes towards you, and
you stop and you see what
the dog is doing, that
it's getting closer.
Is there some kind of
physical indication you
can give the dog, like
back off, don't approach,
I know sometimes if
you yell at them,
they'll run away.
Sometimes that
doesn't work.
CESAR: That's right,
so, nervous dogs will run
away from yelling, you know.
Yeah, they will
definitely run away,
or insecure or
shy dog, they're trying to
control the environment,
but very secure dogs will
not back away from sound.
Very secure dogs, you have
to, and use the mail.
FEMALE: Yeah, have
something with you.
CESAR: That's right,
so you become bigger.
And you have to
wait, because that,
that first battle
is very important.
It's a mental
battle, right?
So you gonna stay
in eye contact,
but you stay your ground.
He or she has to do this.
Back away.
Then once a dog goes away, then
you go on and do your thing.
If a dog stays, staring at
you, and looking at you,
and not going,
don't turn around,
cause that is a
sign of weakness.
Yeah.
MAN: Most customers only
go to the house and
the dog barking, oh
he don't bite.
That's a favorite.
CESAR: Barking is a warning.
Now this is a warning too.
Some dogs are
silently warning you.
See the slight things like
that, people don't see.
That's bad.
Now some dogs, woof,
woof, woof, yeah,
that means just
a celebration.
But they go
woof, woof, woof.
Backwards.
Woof, woof.
Be careful.
Cause it's moving forward.
So they say, oh he's just
telling you welcome.
No he's not.
WOMAN: I've never
been bitten at work,
but I was bitten
in my neighborhood.
I was, I seen two dogs
over there and I heard
them barking and I knew that
they had been aggressive before,
so I just stopped, and I braced,
cause if they're going to jump,
I want them to jump for
my arm, not my throat.
And that's what I did.
Well the one came in from
the front and the other one
zipped around my back
and bit me in the leg,
took a big chunk out of my
leg and then they retreated.
CESAR: And you had nothing
on your hands to protect you?
WOMAN: Nothing.
And that was
probably a mistake.
Maybe carry a big
stick when you walk.
CESAR: Oh absolutely.
It's a pack attack.
Right.
You could absolutely make one
dog target whatever you move.
Right.
But the other one is
always going to circle.
That's just the
program in attack.
That's how they hunt.
You know, one
moves towards,
so they can stop
the prey, and the other
one comes from the back.
If you get bitten, then
you have to give it a whack.
There's no choice.
You have to survive.
NARRATOR: Next, Cesar
heads to the front lines
in the battle of dogs
versus mail carriers.
And later, Cesar meets a food
aggressive Swiss mountain dog.
ROB: No!
NARRATOR: Dogs may be
man's best friend,
but for some
letter carriers,
canines are their
worst nightmares.
After giving a mini-seminar
to the Roswell postal workers,
Cesar heads out with
letter carrier Bonnie Moon,
who has been bitten by one
of the dogs on her route.
CESAR: Oh, how are you?
BONNIE: Nice to see you.
CESAR: Thank you.
So you're going to take
me on the route with you?
BONNIE: Yes, I am.
CESAR: You're going
to get to have a private
Dog Whisperer time.
BONNIE: I like that.
CESAR: Excellent,
all right, let's go.
BONNIE: I have been with
the post office 21 years,
and I'm looking forward to
a better connection with
my customers, or animals,
and just being safer,
and that's our number
one concern is safety.
CESAR: My goal for
Bonnie was very simple.
I knew that she was
charged by many of these
dogs, and one of them
actually bit her.
Even though she was
hurt in the past,
with a different
understanding,
she can see those
dogs behave.
There's going to
be a ripple effect.
Right.
Once I teach one person,
I know that she's going
to be able to influence
other people.
In a way this is a very
healthy job, you walk.
BONNIE: I love
the fresh air,
I love meeting people,
it's, a special.
CESAR: Job.
BONNIE: Yeah it is.
CESAR: I learned the psychology
behind letter carriers.
Bonnie needed to learn the
psychology behind dogs,
you know, so I gave Bonnie
a little crash course today.
NARRATOR: Bonnie's recent
dog bite took place right
here at this house where
the two dogs in residence
like to charge the front door.
Her assailant was a high
strung miniature pinscher.
CESAR: It's very important
that letter carriers
and dog owners work together.
Dog owners have to
exercise the dogs and,
they have to learn how to
create boundaries so the
letter carrier don't feel
challenged by this dog.
Do you ever take
it for walks?
COURTNEY: Not,
not like regular.
CESAR: Not regularly.
COURTNEY: Not regularly as
they should be taken for walks.
CESAR: If they misbehave,
what is the consequence?
COURTNEY: They get
yelled at, they, I mean,
sometimes they'll get
smacked on the butt.
CESAR: What is your approach
when a mail carrier comes
and gives you a certified
letter, or just a letter?
COURTNEY: Open the door,
keep the dogs inside
and step out and
close the door.
CESAR: Like in a
hurry kind of thing?
COURTNEY: Yeah.
CESAR: You want to do
it in a different way?
COURTNEY: Sure.
CESAR: What would be
ideal for you, how,
how would you feel like?
COURTNEY: However they
won't get outside.
This one just, is
like an escape artist.
CESAR: What about this,
what would you do here?
COURTNEY: She
doesn't do anything.
She just makes noises.
CESAR: But don't you think
that that could be
a communication to the one
who can possibly do things?
COURTNEY: Probably.
CESAR: So even though she's not
the type who will hurt somebody,
her behavior is
an invitation to the one
who can definitely do it.
It's best for them not to
make a sound or noise.
Especially for somebody
that you know.
Especially when you know
it's a mail carrier.
If it's somebody
else, no problem,
because you need
the protection.
This pack of dogs, the boxer
and the miniature pinscher,
have no structure whatsoever,
and that can be very dangerous.
Bonnie was already
bitten by this dog.
If my dogs don't get
exercise on a daily basis,
a lot of times mail
carriers become the only
source of entertainment,
because they come in,
then they move back.
They come in, and they're
very consistent about it.
That can lead them into
eventually bite somebody
just to release their
frustration because they
have not released energy
on a daily basis.
Right?
So I'm going to
see how you do it,
and based on
how you do it,
I'm going to give
you some suggestions.
COURTNEY: Okay.
CESAR: Hold that door.
Hold it.
We're going to do it again.
NARRATOR: As Cesar takes
control of the dogs,
he has Bonnie approach
with the mail,
in order to
recreate the situation
on the day of the bite.
CESAR: What you did, what
you just did right now,
you just empowered them.
Because you were
following them,
you were holding
the leash,
but you were not
in front of them.
COURTNEY: Okay.
CESAR: Okay, ring
the bell again.
Just the touch,
see their response?
They're just
looking at her.
See the difference?
COURTNEY: I'm impressed.
CESAR: You see how I
took over right away,
just like me preparing
myself and knowing that if
they're next to me,
they're going to follow me.
Then you can do
whatever you want,
because they are,
look at her behavior,
look at his behavior,
they're in a silent,
but they're here with us.
Right?
This way, mail carriers
do not feel intimidated,
and they actually can appreciate
the beauty of your dog.
And how cute they are.
All dog owners have to
learn to be responsible,
to learn rules, boundaries
and limitations and to make
the time to introduce their
dogs to a letter carrier.
They have to make the
time, you know, otherwise,
how can the dog learn that
this person is a nice person?
Stay.
Go back.
So as you see, as a dog owner,
but in my, I play a role.
Their responsibility
is to deliver.
My responsibility
is to make sure they can
deliver without getting hurt.
COURTNEY: Right.
Okay.
CESAR: Thank you so much.
COURTNEY: Thank you.
CESAR: Appreciate it.
Appreciate for
the cooperation.
Good job guys.
All right little
dogs, bye-bye.
BONNIE: So Cesar, one
afternoon I was delivering,
I was running late,
and my husband, who is
also a letter carrier,
stopped by and asked
if he could help me,
and I allowed him to take
some of my packages,
and he went to get out of the
Jeep and the customer heard him,
and opened the door
and in a heartbeat,
the dog had just
slipped passed him,
and he quickly slammed the
door shut, and he said,
"Sir, you need to
come get your dog."
"And the customer said, well
the dog is okay, he won't bite."
But how do we know that?
NARRATOR: To answer
this question,
Cesar decides to observe both
the dog and the owner in
action.
So he and Bonnie
make their next stop at the
home of a retriever mix.
RON: Don't worry.
He won't bite you.
CESAR: Watch, see this.
This is very important.
The owner was right.
The dog, in the beginning
would not want to hurt you,
but again, if you move
wrong, you can get hurt.
But in this case,
we actually saw a dog that
had no clear cut boundaries.
This is why you
think he won't bite.
RON: Right.
Now, what has
happened lately,
when I've tried
to control him,
and then the person that
he's barking at turns around,
he used to just forget them,
but now he goes at their ankles.
Opie.
Circling.
CESAR: But he's doing that, in
a, not in a very safe place.
RON: Opie.
CESAR: So what
do you do here?
You just wait until.
RON: Normally, I just wait
or turn my back and walk back
in the house, and he,
he starts to follow me.
Opie.
Come on, pup.
Opie.
CESAR: See he's definitely
not behaving as you see
the way he behaved
with your husband.
So again, this is another
case that he is not aggressive.
You know, he's just
excited, unsure,
and then people move
away, or people just say,
Opie come here,
Opie come here,
and that intensifies
the behavior.
BONNIE: I see.
CESAR: So if you see the owners
behave, come here, come here,
and they're not
getting the response, stay
still, relax, you know.
BONNIE: Get it
under control.
CESAR: Get it
under control.
Breathe in a
different way.
Until the dog is in a safe
area and then you do your thing.
BONNIE: Okay.
I feel that Cesar gave me
a sense of power within myself
to be able to go
up with an assertive energy
but yet a calming energy.
I'm looking forward to
trying that when I meet
those dogs that don't
necessarily like me.
CESAR: This way
he knows, okay,
when this type
of people come,
they dress like this, and
they have those type of cars,
this is what I need to do.
So eventually what they
going to do is they're
going to hear the car
coming two blocks,
instead of barking,
they're going to come
and sit down by the
door and tell you,
it's the mail
people coming.
BONNIE: I think that all
of us became empowered.
My customers that we worked
with as well as myself.
I think it's going to be a
good thing and I'm really
hoping that we
can do something for the postal
service, as well, possibly,
even Fed-Ex and UPS, who
also run into contact with
dogs on any given day.
CESAR: I'm going to miss you.
BONNIE: Well I'm glad.
I'm, I'm going to miss you.
CESAR: Thank you very much.
BONNIE: I enjoyed having
you and I look forward
to practicing what
you preached.
CESAR: Thank you ma'am.
Thank you.
I hope I helped.
BONNIE: You did.
Excellent help.
CESAR: Thank you.
BONNIE: Thank you from
me and my customers.
Thank you sir.
CESAR: Absolutely.
Nice people.
That Southern hospitality
is real, it does exist.
NARRATOR: Next, Cesar confronts
a bad case of food aggression.
CESAR: What's the perfect
job for a Swiss mountain dog?
Find out in a moment
right here on the National
Geographic Channel.
NARRATOR: It's a long way from
Dallas, Texas to the Swiss
Alps.
But when Rob Robertson
and Diana Stark decided
to start a family and get a
dog,
the right breed turned
out to be a gentle soul with
those mountains in its blood.
DIANA STARKE: We
both love big dogs,
so that's what we wanted.
We want to have a family,
so it was important
that they get along with kids.
And we have a cat, so
that was important too.
Kane has the biggest
heart in the world,
he's all heart.
NARRATOR: The
greater Swiss mountain
dog is now a rare breed.
In its heyday it was used
by farmers for herding
and other chores because of
its ability to pull carts,
it was sometimes known as
"the poor man's horse."
ROB ROBERTSON: Kane was
the smallest of the litter.
The breeder was concerned
that he was definitely
overrun by the other pups,
so she felt like he really
needed an opportunity to
kind of grow into his
personality, which, as
you can see, he, he has.
NARRATOR: Around food, Kane
turns into a different animal.
ROB ROBERTSON: And it was
about six months in that
we realized that
we would come into him and
he would begin to growl.
It was a very
low growl at first.
DIANA STARKE: So
we thought, okay, we just
go head and make sure
that we're the boss and, you
know, leader of the pack.
And make sure that he gets
used to the idea that
we can't touch him
when he's eating.
But instead of getting better,
it got worse, and worse.
DIANA STARKE: Stop it.
ROB ROBERTSON: No!
DIANA STARKE: Cut it out.
Quiet!
ROB ROBERTSON: He was the
smallest in the litter,
obviously he was not
getting as much nutrition
as the other animals.
And I think that somewhere
in there it was etched
in his wee little brain
that he has to fight for,
you know, every morsel
of food he gets.
DIANA STARKE: No!
He's still a
puppy, but it scares people
because he's a big dog.
I mean you get to
the point where you just don't
know what to do with yourself,
what to do with
him, you know,
how is it ever
going to get better.
ROB ROBERTSON:
He's a scary dog.
A child is not going to
know that they can't walk up
and, you know, grab,
grab him or poke him
or touch him or
want to pet him.
DIANA STARKE: If we imagine
that he could bite our kids,
or do something like that,
I could not have him around.
ROB ROBERTSON:
The more dominant,
the more forceful I was,
the more forceful he became.
It all flashed for me at
one point in time is what
is going to happen here,
and you just look out
and say we've got
a real issue.
NARRATOR: Cesar Millan
knows that even minor signs
of territorial behavior in
a dog can be warning signs
for more dangerous
aggression ahead.
He makes a house call
to the Robertson's Dallas
home to help them with Kane.
CESAR: Hi, how are you?
DIANA STARKE: Hi, I'm Diana.
ROB ROBERTSON: Come on in.
You know, as we
did our research,
the suggestion was, to start
off with feeding him by hand.
Once we got to that stage,
it was to bring in the bowl.
Then putting his bowl in the
right spot and petting him.
I failed miserably at it.
It is the approach and touching
him that causes the reaction.
And the distance that it
takes for that to happen
is getting further
and further out.
We tried the dominance
where we stand over him
when he eats and
make him sit,
make him do something
for his food.
And
then when he becomes aggressive,
very physically reprimand him,
and I did that, he bit me.
CESAR MILLAN: So you went
from extreme to extreme.
It's not that the strategies
or tools are not good,
it's the humans are
not providing the energy
that is required
to make it work.
So when you began the
relationship with him,
you began with
affection first?
ROB ROBERTSON: We did.
He was definitely the
runt of the litter and he was
much smaller than the rest.
CESAR MILLAN: The mother
will never give the type
of affection that
you and I would give.
She will feed them as
a sign of affection.
But if one of the
puppies are weak,
she pushes him away.
You guys went after
the weakest one because
you felt bad about it.
Which is wonderful,
that makes us human.
But doesn't mean you
are the pack leader.
The brothers and the
sisters were treating him
the way he needed to be treated
in for him to become stronger.
Well, what you did
is you feel sorry.
ROB ROBERTSON: That's
really interesting.
CESAR MILLAN: You see it?
So by feeling sorry, he saw that
your energy was weaker than his.
You can't lead him.
What kind of exercise that
he does on a daily basis?
ROB ROBERTSON: We try to
walk him every morning,
and then we do try to
play with him at night,
if not take him for
a walk at night.
CESAR MILLAN: He does the
same route every single time?
ROB ROBERTSON: It is,
it is the same route.
CESAR MILLAN: Kind of boring.
It's nothing, it's not
a challenge any more.
I know where the dog live,
I know where the cat live,
I know where the bird
is going to poop and the whole
thing, you know what I mean?
It's like all mechanical,
it become mechanical
instead of instinctual.
I don't know if you go to the
same restaurant all the time,
but it's nice to
try different food.
Going to different
territories creates wisdom
and creates relaxation.
At the same time, it will
be important for him that
when he is walking with
you or following you to
carry something because the
breed was bred to carry things.
That fulfills the breed in him.
But you have to
tell him, "Look,
this is where we're going,
this is what we're going
to do, this is how
we're going to do it.
Then I give you affection."
They enjoy that.
NARRATOR: Coming up, can
Cesar stop the food fights?
NARRATOR: Diana Starke and
Rob Robertson can't go
near the food
bowl of their Greater
Swiss mountain dog, Kane,
without Kane
snarling or growling.
Cesar will demonstrate how to
be a pack leader at meal time.
CESAR MILLAN: Normally we
work with dogs that are
already two, three
years older, you know,
that we don't know pretty
much who the parents
were and their history.
But this was a great
opportunity to take
advantage in a good
way of who they were,
because he went from
the runt of the litter
to the leader of the pack.
Right now would
be a great time to start because
he's already keyed on it.
Right?
So he, the food
is already here,
and he's so close to
the food that he's already
going into that state.
So this will be the
beginning of the exercise
before you get to, to the,
to that part of the, Shh!
That gives you a boundary.
When a pack
leader is eating,
followers keep distance.
ROB ROBERTSON: That
makes a lot of sense.
So that's why when we come up
and approach his proximity,
he begins to growl, but wow.
CESAR MILLAN:
He's your pack leader,
he's #1, you're #2, she's #3.
So that means you
are the butler.
So what is next?
ROB ROBERTSON: No!
No!
Out!
No!
No!
CESAR MILLAN: Now, how
do you feel right now?
What, what, I mean,
what is, what is your.
ROB ROBERTSON: I'm extremely
irritated with him.
CESAR MILLAN: Irritated?
ROB ROBERTSON: Yeah.
CESAR MILLAN: Okay.
This kind of increasingly
aggressive behavior could
make Kane become
a red zone case,
which will make him a very
dangerous dog to live with.
The advantage is, there is
a lot of warning involved,
so they have to address,
because that's excitement.
So what happen is when you
went from here to here,
he moved without
you saying, "move."
So that means he doesn't
need your authorization
for him to get
near the food.
And so you have
to wait until he totally
becomes calm, submissive.
Then you reward
this state of mind.
The best thing you
could've done there is to
grab him and remove him
this way or this way.
Put him back into a
different state.
NARRATOR: Once Kane relaxes
into a calm, submissive state,
Cesar demonstrates the proper
way to approach the food.
At this point, he uses a light
correction with the leash
and chain to help him
establish dominance.
CESAR MILLAN: That, see that,
see how he targets the food,
he's obsessing on it.
We're getting closer
to the target,
but we're not
feeding him yet.
So we're lowering
the intensity.
The
leash and the chain has created
what you want without the leash.
He does respect choke
chain and leash,
he does which is good.
Shh!
That is anxiety,
disagree with anxiety.
ROB ROBERTSON: I think the
most important thing I learned
was just watching
for Kane's mood,
just taking a look
at his energy level,
and making sure he was in
that calm submissive state
before we moved on
to anything else.
CESAR MILLAN: Shh!
That's anxiety.
That's why it may
be the meal, when,
when normally takes three
seconds because he swallow it,
you know, it might
take 30 minutes.
But because you have
to work in this area
more often than you
working on the walk,
this is where you need to
be focused for the next
two weeks or a month,
whatever it takes.
ROB ROBERTSON: We actually
kinda joked that he's got
this split personality that's,
the
one where he's eating and he's
this, you know, growling beast,
and the rest of it he's
just happy go lucky Kane.
CESAR MILLAN: I'm
not feeding Kane,
Kane is the nice side
of him that's Kane.
You know, this is Kane.
You understand?
Who's growling at
you is not Kane,
who's growling at
you is animal dog.
DIANA STARKE: I mean,
looking at the pictures
and Cesar's telling me he's
dominant in that picture,
I would've never thought that,
he's a two-month-old puppy.
CESAR MILLAN: If we study
the pictures right,
the dog was
glaring at them,
glancing at them
in a dominant way.
So from early age, Kane
was exhibiting dominant
behavior towards them,
but because he's so
cute, they disregard.
ROB: Come.
NARRATOR: As Rob
takes his turn,
Cesar coaches him
to assert his dominance at
various stages along the way.
CESAR MILLAN: Bring him
to the food, that's good.
This is really good.
ROB ROBERTSON: Good
boy, it's okay.
CESAR MILLAN: This is
good, good remove.
There we go.
Nice, There we
go, right there.
That's right.
No growl.
You just made it happen.
Now we're going to do the
way you way you want to do it.
You're going to
give him the food,
then you're
going to touch.
NARRATOR: Cesar guides
Rob and Diana though several
variations on the exercise.
Because Kane is still
learning his limits,
they must wait patiently
at each step and correct
when necessary until he
shows calm submission.
ROB ROBERTSON: So
eventually while he's eating
we step away, do whatever
for a few minutes
and come back over
and address it,
and then pet him again.
CESAR MILLAN: Let's do it.
ROB ROBERTSON: And
if he does, okay.
CESAR MILLAN: I think what
Rob and Diana learned today
is how to prevent escalation.
To acknowledge excitement as a
first symptom before dominance.
Because it's going to be
harder to control when
he's in dominant state,
and it's going to be
harder to control when
he's in aggressive state.
But I show them how to
block and redirect.
ROB ROBERTSON: No!
Sit!
CESAR MILLAN: Touch as you own
him, not as like, you see it?
That's not me owning you.
This is more intimate touch.
Buddy, what's up?
NARRATOR: Cesar knows Kane
is a pure bred working type dog
and he needs
additional challenges.
Since Swiss mountain dogs
were bred to pull carts,
Cesar suggests an exercise
that will help Kane
release some of his
powerful energy.
The problem is, it's
hard to find a traditional
Swiss dogcart in Texas.
CESAR MILLAN: So we improvised
this little cart for him,
especially for
Kane, you know, we work with
what we have and that's,
I think that's one of the
greatest things I learned
from my grandfather, just
work with what you have.
So this is what we
have as his breed are well
known for being cart dogs.
And that's how we're
going to redirect some of that
pent-up energy that he has.
The goal is trust
and respect.
He trust is putting
the harness,
he trust us hooking
him to the cart.
And then he trust us,
for a little while,
pulling the cart
on the grass.
ROB ROBERTSON:
Look at the tail.
DIANA STARKE: Yeah!
CESAR MILLAN: And then
eventually he became
spooked from the
sound of the cart.
DIANA STARKE: It's
all right, baby.
CESAR MILLAN: Don't
give affection.
DIANA STARKE: Oh, okay.
CESAR MILLAN: You
can give massage,
but you can't say it's all right
because he is under stress.
You just stop him, shh!
He got spooked.
There we go.
So we have to help him
to go back into that state
of mind because we put it on.
Just need a little
bit more weight,
because it's becoming way
too bumpy, too jumpy.
So it's
our responsibility to keep him
trusting us and respecting us.
We can't give up.
Otherwise he fails.
Okay, there we
go, let's go.
That's what we
want, right there.
There we go.
That's right.
Good.
That's right.
That's good.
That's what we want.
DIANA STARKE: He did
a great job, all day.
He was my superstar.
CESAR MILLAN: Yes!
DIANA STARKE: Good Kane!
CESAR MILLAN: That's
right, now you can talk,
this is the good time
to encourage him.
DIANA STARKE: Good job, Kane.
CESAR MILLAN: That's right.
Because the mind is not
nervous, fearful, tense,
this is when you,
that's right.
And then eventually
you saw Kane moving
forward without a problem.
We don't know if the parents
of Kane were cart dogs,
but we know it's
part of his genetics,
so it was just a matter of
time for us to bring him back.
So I'm putting
pressure, just,
just to put a little
bit more weight.
But at the same time, see,
now he's doing what I,
what I knew he was gonna do.
DIANA STARKE: He's working it.
ROB ROBERTSON: Well
hopefully, it means a
year or so down the road
we get to have an
addition to our family.
Now it's up to us to
actually carry through
and follow through with
Kane and make sure.
Because Kane is
absolutely capable of it.
And we've seen that today.
So, now the
pressure is on us.
Nice work, Kane.
DIANA STARKE:
Cesar's having fun.
CESAR MILLAN: Hey you
can, you can take all the
kids in the neighborhood.
DIANA STARKE: Yeah, that's
what, that's what I want.
CESAR MILLAN: He'll be like
the dog in the neighborhood.
DIANA STARKE:
That was our plan.
ROB ROBERTSON: Ditto!
CESAR: Some problem dogs
do change very quickly,
but many behavior issues
are not instant fixes.
Mail carrier Bonnie Moon
is continuing to work with
Ron and Nancy to stop Opie
from charging the door.
He's getting better,
but he's not there yet.
Bonnie proves that not
even problem dogs can stop
the U.S. Postal Service.
Rob and Diana are
continuing to have some
difficulties with
Kane's food aggression.
I will be
seeing them again to help them
work on Kane's rehabilitation.
*** and Wally,
the two wild poms,
are gradually
becoming less wild.
With a new baby and Katie
working on her doctorate,
it's not always easy for
the two parents to stay in
a calm, assertive state.
But when they do,
they see the results.
Until next time, remember
that improving your dog's
behavior is like
staying on a diet.
You'll only see lasting
results if you stick
with it for a long time.