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NARRATOR: Do not attempt the techniques your about to see
without consulting a professional.
On this episode of The Dog Whisperer.
Linda King: Buddy's behavior scares me a lot.
Rich King: He'll bite ya.
And he'll bite hard.
He'll really hurt ya, or bring blood to ya.
Michael Forbes: If there's any danger,
like a woman walking by with a baby carriage.
He is like, 'Run for your lives!'
Like he's on patrol in enemy territory.
Cesar: Even though they are puppies, these
dogs can hurt a baby.
Narrator: When good dogs go
bad, there's one man who's their best friend, Cesar
Millan. No dog is too much for me to handle.
I rehabilitate dogs.
I train people.
I am the Dog Whisperer.
For Buddy, a 7-year old Corgi Papillon mix,
the best time of day is playtime.
His owner, Linda King, agrees.
Linda King: I've taught him tricks.
He knows how to roll over.
Buddy, roll back.
He knows how to sit pretty.
Rich King: Thatta boy, sit pretty, sit pretty.
Linda: He knows how to shake on the left hand,
left paw, right paw.
And I'm teaching him how to do a figure eight between my legs.
Very good!
He loves to bounce a small beach ball off of his nose,
and he just loves that.
Yay, yeah, Bud.
Yay.
I love Buddy so much.
There's one side of Buddy that is such a wonderful
dog. And the other side of Buddy is horrible.
No! No!
We have a nickname for him.
And people have also called him Buddy the Biter.
We had a very sad thing happen.
We had a cat of 20 years and we had to put the cat
down. Rich: And uh, it really hurt us both, we just, I've
never cried so hard.
We both felt so bad, the next day, I came home from
work, grabbed Linda.
I said let's go up to the pound in Seal Beach.
Linda: Thought that it might help us to feel
better if we went to pet the cats and the cats
wanted to have absolutely nothing to do with us.
So I asked my husband, "Can we go see the dogs?"
The woman took us over to where the dogs were.
Rich: We saw this little pooch and...
Linda: He looked very scared, but the woman said would you
like to hold him?
Rich: And she put it up and both of its paws went
around my neck and it just was so loving.
Linda: When we got the dog home.
We named him Buddy.
I thought he was going to be my best pal and my best friend.
He was an adorable dog.
I think it was love at first sight until the first night.
Buddy charged at me.
I couldn't believe it.
I've never had a dog charge at me and he was
going to bite my foot.
Rich: If he's under the table, he'll bite you
and he'll bite hard.
He'll really hurt you or bring blood to you.
Linda: And whenever we try to give Buddy some medication,
he is so afraid that he hides and then if I get
too close to him, he will attack my foot
and bite my feet.
If my hands were close by, he would bite my hands as
well. Rich: If I try to put ear drops in his ear, he's ready to bite.
He is ready to hurt you.
Linda: And we cannot give Buddy the normal care that
Buddy needs.
Buddy's behavior scares me a lot.
Rich: When the ear goes back when I see the ear
that's sticking up, when it starts to curve back,
I know I'm, we have a problem.
Linda: He might attack someone and bite him and then we'll
have to put Buddy down.
And that is my biggest fear.
Rich: I'm hoping that Cesar's able to show us
how to handle or correct Buddy's behavioral problems.
Narrator: Fear-based aggression is one of the
most common problems that dog behavior expert Cesar
Milan is called in to address.
Rich: Rich.
Cesar: Excellent, thank you guys.
Rich: Come on in.
Cesar: How can I help you guys?
Rich: Well, I have a list.
Cesar: Okay.
Rich: He's afraid of everything.
He seems to like, I call it shark out on people.
We'll go down the street and he's a perfect dog and
all of a sudden he'll move his ears, and he'll lunge out at
a, at like a skateboard.
Cesar: Rollerblades?
Rich: or a person.
Linda: Oh yes.
Rich: Oh yes.
Linda: The largest problem that we have is when we
try to doctor him and give him his medicine,
he wants to bite us.
Cesar: Oh so he's aggressive towards you
too. Linda: Oh very aggressive, very aggressive.
Cesar: To a point that he already bit you before?
Linda: He has bitten us before.
Rich: Every day.
Cesar: Every day?
Rich: Not every, I shouldn't say every day.
If I want to put medicine on him.
Narrator: Buddy fights against the medication for his skin
sores known as hot spots.
Rich: He usually goes under the couch or he goes
under the table.
And to get him, he's going to bite you.
Cesar: Sure, so there's no trust in some areas.
Linda: That's correct.
Cesar: How old is he?
Rich: He's about 7.
Cesar: 7 years old.
Rich: Yes.
Cesar: How long have you owned him?
Rich: We've owned him for 6 years.
We started out adopting him.
Cesar: But did you saw any behavior when you
went in adopting, like whimpering, the
anxiety, jumping, going in the corner.
Linda: Traumatized.
Cesar: Traumatized.
Linda: It was very traumatized.
Cesar: So you knew that from the beginning.
Linda: I knew that, but the woman said that she
thought that he'd probably have to be put down if I
didn't keep him and couldn't I work with him.
Cesar: What happened to him when you brought him
in? What did you share?
Linda: Pets and loves.
Cesar: Alright, alright.
The two important ingredients in a
relationship, as you know, is trust and respect.
How much, from 100%, how much trust do you think
that he has over you, for you?
From 0 to 10.
Rich: Would you say 5?
Linda: I feel that I probably, myself have 7,
7? Cesar: So he trusts you more?
'Cause you both play from the beginning submissive
position because you were mourning the cat, so that
gives you a spiritual, emotional state of mind.
So in the animal world that is not a strong
energy. That is weak energy.
You see they don't see you that you lost a cat
and they won't go, 'oh I'm so sorry you
lost the cat.
I'm here to fill your space, okay?'
No.
He saw that you guys were in that state of mind.
He was, you know, he was out of balance,
but because he didn't sense the energy of a dominant
one coming from you.
See that's why I asked, what did you do from the beginning.
Well we hugged, we kissed, we put him in the bed.
So that's affection.
When the best thing to share to a dog,
especially a dog that is in shock is to walk with him
right away and lead him.
Once the dog is in a calm submissive state, then love
him. You allow him to remove all the traumatic
experience that he lived, but you have to move on.
Rich: And I don't think we moved on.
Cesar: No.
You still holding on, yeah, so you've got the source.
You have not let go, that's what you said.
Rich: Oh, I'm with you, I'm with you.
Linda: We have not let go of poor Buddy.
Narrator: Cesar's uncovered the source of Buddy's biting.
But he's been acting like this for six long years.
Rich: Buddy!
Narrator: Can Buddy the Biter and his owners learn
to behave better?
After the death of their beloved family cat,
Rich and Linda King saved one year old Corgi/Papillon mix
Buddy from the pound.
They were seeking a new best friend.
What they got instead was a serial biter.
After six years of constant trauma,
their patience is at an end.
They call in dog behavior expert Cesar Millan to help restore
some peace to their home.
Linda: This is what he normally does.
Narrator: They demonstrate for Cesar the frustrating ritual
of trying to give Buddy his medicine.
Cesar: Obviously he's associating medication
with a negative effect.
Rich: Come on, come on.
Cesar: So do you ever help?
Linda: Yes we have tried to team work it.
Cesar: How would you do the teamwork?
Linda: Well the first thing is to try to get
Bud. Rich: Gotta get a hold of him first.
Cesar: Okay so show me how teamwork...
Rich, Come here, come here, Buddy, Buddy!
Cesar: Rich was projecting a very tense, frustrated
energy. And that only increases aggression from animals.
Linda was projecting a very painful energy,
feel sorry energy, very calm energy, don't know what to do
energy kind of thing.
So that makes you a very weak individual.
They're not going to surrender to that energy.
And they're not going to surrender either to
frustrated, tense, angry energy.
So here we have two extreme couple.
One is very passive; the other one is very
aggressive. So they have to learn and come in the middle.
What we are creating here is to get close, not on him.
Linda: Instead of over him.
Cesar: 'Cause he's already retreating.
Linda: Yes.
Cesar: So this way you are creating a different
flow for him.
Linda: Okay.
Cesar: So he doesn't go into, you know, behavior.
First thing I did is sit down by him,
not over him and that's what Rich was doing.
Rich was absolutely overpowering,
trying to overpower with physical message.
Constantly going on the top of them.
So when the animal is already telling you,
'I'm coming after you if you get close,' don't try to overpower,
try to gain their trust by being next to them.
As you see I'm blocking but I'm not getting aggression.
Linda: Yes.
Cesar: So the brain is not getting more nervous
about my presence.
And when he realized that I was blocking him with a
calm sort of energy, there's no need to be
afraid of me.
So he respect me.
When I saw you approaching that way, you were not assertive.
You, your body went there, but not your mind.
So in order for you to be more effective and a better teamwork
is both of us, both of you guys have to
be in the same state of mind.
So it's not about body anymore.
It's about animal under stress.
That's why you can't use the name at that moment.
That's why when he's in a stable state of mind,
you mention his name as many times as you want.
But when he's in an, under stress.
Don't say his name.
Linda: Okay.
Cesar: This is how you trap animals under stress.
When you see horses and other, they put a loop on them.
That's right.
So this way you never make the brain react this way.
See we haven't had one reaction from him.
Linda: No.
Cesar: Once you catch him, then you get him out of that.
There you go.
Now where he normally gets the hot spot?
Rich: Bottom of his feet.
Linda: And his tummy, tummy area.
Cesar: Alright so, now, remember, I'm a team
member. You're going to be the doctor.
I'm just gonna be like the nurse.
So I asked them to get into a doctor state of mind,
into a paramedic state of mind.
They were no longer Rich or Linda.
They were a team.
Alright, alright, see relaxed tail between the legs,
so we get the tail out, then doctor comes,
see him holding the eyes here so he doesn't see the
doctor coming and then me the nurse, I'm creating
relaxation. Linda: Okay.
Rich: Right?
Linda: Mmm Hmm.
Cesar: So then becomes a positive experience.
We're blocking the eyes as you see.
We're holding him down, which that gives him access to, to
relax.
Linda: Within two or three minutes,
Cesar could control Buddy and had dominance over Buddy.
Cesar: Let me have this.
So then you bring this here, so the nose is smell
the product when the he, the mind is relaxing.
So then they associate, smell, relaxation.
Rich: What amazed me was is that Cesar shows his
dominance over the dogs and he shows that he can be gentle at
the same time.
And shows us how to, to actually give the dog
medicine where the dog is responsive instead
of aggressive.
Cesar: The goal is to create submissive state of mind
in order for you to accomplish trust and
respect. Okay.
We block the eyes again.
Rich: Block the eyes.
Okay.
Cesar: There you go.
Don't be nervous.
Linda: Okay.
Cesar: What you've gotta do is very matter of fact.
Linda: I can't believe it.
Rich: Oh that's great.
Linda: I can't believe it.
Cesar: See this means relaxation, this is a
massage. Linda: We have never, we have never had this.
Rich: That's a great, that's a great tool.
Okay.
Cesar: So after ear drop, after you know after hot spot
medication, you give a massage.
Look at that, and then the brain learn that medication mean
massage, relaxation.
Rich: Brilliant.
Linda: It feels good, I have a sense of calmness
and that there is hope.
Rich: It's amazing.
You're right, I can see it, I can see a big change in him.
Linda: Cesar showed us how to transfer his positive
energy over to Bud through massage and touching Bud.
And taking control and showing dominance.
Cesar: See now, he's not going to carry.
I just want him to experience that.
Linda: Yes.
Cesar: getting a massage for a minute so that he associates
this with a massage.
Rich: That's great.
Linda: It is.
It's, it's amazing.
Cesar: Now you can put the two medicines right here.
So he's getting affection while he's getting
two medicines at once.
Rich: Before we would just..
'Hold him, hold him, hold him' That's right.
Linda: That's what we did.
We didn't know any different.
Cesar: See but the energy, see it, frustrated, angry,
oh good he's going to bite, do it right, do it fast.
Do it fast.
Rich: Exactly, exactly.
Cesar: So very fast, do it in a rush.
Linda: That's right and nervous and uptight.
Cesar: I'm impressed every time people is willing to change.
I'm impressed by that.
I'm very inspired by people that they, they let go, at least for
that moment.
And they give themselves a chance to project or
to become different energy.
They can have a dog that they have fun being
medicated or they have fun putting medication
on and the dog associates medication with relaxation,
what a comfortable thing to do, alright, when before,
medication was 100 needles on your body, full of alcohol.
So this is medication before.
Now medication represents this.
Rich: It was really amazing to me to find out
where I could medicate Buddy without him biting
me. That made me feel real good.
I think that uh in the future after practice we're just
going to whisk through this.
It's gonna be great.
Janet Baskharoun: I found them.
One day I was walking.
All of a sudden I seen two little puppies going
through the trash and the rummage over here.
And I looked around and was like where's your mommy and daddy?
And there was nobody around here.
My heart broke when I found them.
I couldn't believe someone would just leave them here
under the freeway bridge as if they were like
nothing. I was debating for a while whether to keep
one or both of them.
And I couldn't, I came to the conclusion that you know what?
I'm going to keep both.
I can't separate them.
That would just be too cruel.
Narrator: Tiger and Roxy were adorable two month old pups
when sisters Janet and Mary first brought them home.
Mary Baskharoun: I fell in love with them but I said
wow, these two dogs are gonna get humongous.
What are we gonna do with them?
Janet: That's my baby, you're so sweet.
You're so beautiful.
Narrator: Over the next four months,
the two Rottweilers grew not only in size and
strength, but in ferocity.
What started out as playful behavior was
starting to become
threatening. Rottweilers are considered to be one of the most powerful
and potentially dangerous breeds.
Mary: I walked away from her and all of a
sudden she bit me in my hand.
Narrator: It is estimated that more than 4 million
people are bitten by dogs every year in the U.S.
Janet: Ow, ow.
Mary: Roxy let go.
Janet: Let go, let go of Mommy.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, let go, let go, let go that hurts.
Narrator: Over fifty percent of those victims are
children. Janet: That hurts, let go.
Mary: Stop it, let go of mommy now.
Narrator: Janet and Mary aren't only worried about
the harm Tiger and Roxy might inflict on them.
They fear their two-year-old niece,
Kyla, could become a target for the two relentless
Rotties. Mary: These dogs are attacking Kyla, jumping
on her and it's dangerous.
We always have a lot of kids here and we can't have that.
It's us girls here.
We have no men and we need dogs to protect us.
Aida: Help!
We need help.
We have to train them.
We need help to train, to listen.
Janet: They're my babies and I love them and I will
do whatever it takes to train them properly.
If I need to get trained, then so be it.
So be it.
Mary: Oh yeah Narrator: Tiger and
Roxy are already showing warning signs of
what could escalate into red zone aggression.
Can Mary and Janet stop this behavior before
someone gets hurt?
Thank you for watching Natgeo Wild!
If you stay calm and submissive Until we come back
Coco will give you two paws up. Right Coco?
Rottweilers, Tiger and Roxy, were just tiny,
adorable pups when sisters Mary and
Janet Baskharoun rescued them.
But as the dogs grew, so did their aggressive behaviors.
When the Rotties started threatening their two
year old niece, Kyla, the women knew it
was time to seek help.
They send out an S.O.S.
to dog behavior expert, Cesar Millan,
who has spent years working with Rottweilers, Pit Bulls,
and other powerful breeds.
He believes it's wrong to blame an entire breed for the actions
of a few dogs.
One of Cesar's goals is to help owners learn how to
handle the dogs he likes to call Gladiators.
Cesar: So how can I help you ladies?
Janet: I don't know where to begin.
Um, I have two Rottweiler puppies;
their names are Roxy and Tiger.
They're a mess, Cesar.
They're all over the place.
They're uncontrollable, when I go to feed them,
Tiger knocks the bowl out of my hand.
He's really vicious about his food.
He can't wait, he gets really panicky and he runs around in
a circle.
He jumps on top of me.
He like really tries to push me down.
And, they're just all over the place.
My two-year old niece is afraid of them.
She loves animals.
They are like little trouble team together when
they were a little smaller.
One day I walked in the living room, to,
I walked and I came back.
I seen Kyla on the couch, screaming and both of the
dogs are tugging at her diaper and it's at her
ankle. They took off her diaper, you know.
I figure they were just being playful.
But now it's becoming more and more a
little, becoming more aggressive.
Tiger, oh my goodness!
Mary: Down, down, down, down.
What is your problem?
Janet: And they're very sweet dogs.
They're very sweet dogs.
And then Roxy, she'll.
Cesar: Sweet?
Janet: Like she thinks it's a game or something.
Cesar: Well it's definitely a Rottweiler game.
Janet: Meaning?
Cesar: That's what they do.
They challenge each other, they become like wrestlers,
they're gladiators.
Janet: So she wants me to challenge her.
Cesar: Yeah you're supposed to.
Janet: Right.
Cesar: So the destructive behavior that you
mentioned and the jumping and the nipping come from physical
challenge.
So obviously you're not challenging physically
as much as they need.
By waking up, what do you do first?
Do you give a cookie, do you say 'hi,' do you feed the dog?
And if you do this?
You're beginning with affection.
Janet: And that's wrong.
Cesar: That's wrong, very wrong.
You have to make the animal work for it.
Janet: I'm thinking there's nothing wrong with that.
Cesar: I know.
I know.
But see in the animal world it's wrong.
So when you wake up in the morning,
your ritual should be I'm ready to go for a
walk, because you're going to leave him behind walls.
Janet: Yes.
Cesar: Penned, whatever hours you work, away.
Janet: Hours a day, right.
Cesar: Right.
Janet: Right.
Cesar: So it's best not to leave animals behind
walls, full of physical energy, 'cause that's how
they destroy your house.
Janet: Well we have a big back yard.
They can't be full of energy back there?
Cesar: No because that's back and forth.
The nature of the animal is to travel.
Birds supposed to fly.
Janet: To explore, explore.
Cesar: Fish supposed to swim, dogs supposed to
walk. So a house is no different from a fish tank.
Janet: Wow!
Mary: Very true.
Janet: You're right, yeah.
Cesar: So if they don't get to do physical or psychological
activities, they get frustrated from
it. And then you start seeing this.
They get desperate because they can't be themselves.
Janet: That's not their nature.
That's not...
Cesar: That's not their nature.
Pack leaders are the strongest, the biggest
ones, the fastest ones.
Janet: Okay.
Cesar: In their natural state of mind.
Janet: Do you think it'll really work?
Cesar: It works for me.
Janet: I would really love to see it in action, put in
place. Cesar: Let's do it.
Janet: Let's go.
Narrator: First, Cesar wants to show Mary and
Janet how to act like pack leaders at their house.
Cesar: You're, See?
You're Janet: No, right.
See, see, see?
Cesar: Address.
Address.
Janet: No.
Cesar: Address immediately.
Now what about if I do this in the street.
That's right.
How can you do that to me?
You need to do that to them.
Even though they are cute and they just, they're puppies.
They still need rules, boundaries and limitations.
These dogs can hurt a baby.
They're capable to hurt, not just physically,
mentally. Narrator: Cesar demonstrates the way everyone should act
when Kyla is near the two pups.
Cesar: Pretty calm right now.
Janet: Yeah they seem like it yea.
We took them for like.
Oh, no, no, no.
Cesar: That's alright, I got it.
It's okay.
Instead of saying no, no, no, which that only makes
them more excited, just touch, like
that right there.
Just touch, right here, it's not about, see,
if you say no, no, no, you create excitement right?
Janet: Yeah.
Cesar: And they only become more and more excited.
This is normal.
This is Tiger and Roxy are already going after Kyla and
they're using Kyla as a toy.
Which those are already symptoms,
bad symptoms in my experience because they're not supposed
to touch baby with that intensity.
Gotta be calm like this.
Then you give affection when they're calm, that's right.
It's very important to me that kids learn to observe first,
not to touch, not to talk, not to tell the dog anything,
just to look, to be quiet and relax.
Observe mother nature and their natural state of mind.
So this is a good time to rehabilitate baby kid and
puppies because the kid will learn to be a leader
and the puppies will learn to be a follower.
That is the perfect combination.
You're doing great look.
See this is what we want.
We want them to behave like this.
Janet: Right, Usually...
Cesar: Calm, submissive.
My hand is becoming a mouth and my finger is the teeth,
so mimicking the bite.
I'm not pushing.
Janet: Pushing them, yeah.
I usually, I push them like 'No.
Stop.' Cesar: Which that
only makes them come right back.
The mother would have come and grab them and, you know, touch
them like this.
Grab, hold them.
She would just, right there, until they relax.
Janet: And hold them until they relax.
Cesar: That's right, that's what they say they pin them down.
Janet: So when Cesar was showing me the claw effect,
I wasn't sure how hard to do it.
So he showed me, you know he kind of like did it on my arm,
gave me an idea of the pressure I needed to apply.
And it wasn't that bad.
Like this.
Cesar: That's good.
Janet: That's good.
Cesar: See you're strong, I'm telling you.
Janet: And also he explained to me how when you do that effect,
it'll snap their brain back into the calm,
submissive stage and to where I,
they'll start doing what I need them to do.
Cesar: If we the adult behave in a certain way,
children will learn just by observing us how to
behave around dogs, this is what happen, this is
the consequence by us being calm, assertive around dog.
Kid learn to mimic that behavior instead of their mimicking this
behavior, which that only makes a
dog attack us or use us as a toy.
Narrator: Cesar advises the sisters to walk the dogs
for a minimum of forty minutes everyday,
a new commitment to their daily routine.
Janet: Throughout the day, my dogs became more and more
calm. It's as if Cesar switched my dogs.
You know they're calm, they're relaxed.
Where are my puppies, bring them back.
This is the invasion of the puppy snatcher.
I've never seen them in that state of mind.
Mary: Those dogs aren't ours;
I don't know what you did with our dogs.
They, I just can't believe how within a few hours
that our dogs have changed.
Imagine a few days, a few weeks.
It's going to be incredible and I can't wait to see the
results. Cesar: What I would like to see from this case is a follow
through.
Uh, the good thing is we're working with
puppies. So it's very easy to re-direct them and
send them in the right direction.
My expertise is to work with red zone cases.
But this is not red zone case yet.
Can they become red zone?
Absolutely.
They have all the symptoms already.
Narrator: Cesar asks Mary, Janet, and Kyla to bring
Tiger and Roxy to his center so they can
interact with a pack of balanced dogs.
Mary: Hello.
Cesar: Well, well, well.
Hey girl.
Cesar: Oh, hey.
Mary: When I first walked in with Roxy and Tiger,
it was this funny gut feeling, I was like
sacred, 'oh my god, these dogs are gonna get attacked and we are too!'
Cesar: Hey, sssh, no!
See the reason why they reacted that way is
because they came in front of you like this.
Mary: Yeah.
Cesar: So that was a very disrespectful way to come
in. Mary: Okay.
Cesar: So pretend this is like the dog park.
They will greet you the way you're greeting them.
Don't go in until they settle down.
Alright ready.
Hey, how you doing.
Mary: Hi, fine thank you, how are you?
Cesar: Come on in.
Show me some leadership.
Janet: Sit.
Cesar: much better, much better.
Stay right there, very good.
Janet: Roxy, sit.
Cesar: Each of you is going to bring a dog to introduce it to
the pack.
Mary: Okay.
Cesar: Don't think about it, you're not allowed to
think. Come in, come in, come in, keep coming, keep coming, come on.
Mary: When I went in with Tiger, I was scared.
I was scared really, I got really scared, backed up and,
and Cesar said no, you can't feel that, right
away. And as he was saying it, I was saying that in my head.
You can't feel that way you have to be assertive.
They're followers.
You have to set your ground.
And I automatically changed it.
I felt the dogs backing away from me and I felt in control.
Cesar: The pack is going to tell them what the rules are here.
And of course I'm going to control the pack.
If the pack gets too harsh on new member.
Everybody's gonna try to make him go into
the same state of mind, every body is,
see look, see how she, how he stop right there
when he came close to her?
This is, this is right now the commander.
Janet: This little...
Cesar: This little thing, that's right.
Everybody's gonna check him out.
In the mean time you can't touch dog or give eye
contact. Janet: Any of them?
Cesar: None.
Janet: Why is that?
Cesar: Because it's best if you ignore them
so you ask for your space.
Right?
So automatically they stay away from you.
Okay so how are we over there?
That's good that you're doing really good.
That's the exercise.
So when you go to a dog park,
the both of them don't have to come in right away.
Janet: No.
Cesar: So you use one.
Dog number 1 to become a role model because she's
observing how Tiger is behaving.
But this is the advantage of being around balanced
dogs. This is not what will happen at the dog park.
At the dog park, you must have your dog super under control.
Janet: Cesar made it very clear to me that the
reason why there wasn't any fights here today was
because of the fact that the pack here is trained.
Cesar: These two ladies don't have good experiences with
dogs, don't have anybody that can coach them on a daily basis
to become a great pack leader.
So I think they're doing really good for
what they can do, you know.
So long as they're moving forward, to me that is a
plus. From birth to a man's childhood, from 8 months to 3 years,
adolescence stage.
Those are the stages that you have to work the
hardest. So for three years you're gonna be doing this.
Janet: Oh no!
Cesar: The next three years are the most critical years
for them as a pack leader.
Childhood and adolescence stage, the most important
stage in anybody's life, in any species' life.
This is when we fulfill their needs.
This is when we build the solid foundation.
What the animal recognize who the pack leader is,
plus the one who loves them very much.
So the good news was that we were able to create
boundaries, that's the good news.
So they understanding that part.
The bad news is Tiger's still jumping on both of
them. So that just lets me know that they exercises that
they're applying on a daily basis is not very successful.
Narrator: Cesar brings out an additional tool to help with
Tiger's rehabilitation.
Cesar: Everybody asks me, so what should I put inside
the back pack, you know?
So you can put all the way from water, beans, sand, anything.
But in this case, I think I have a good job for him.
I'm gonna make him sell pickles.
He's gonna deliver pickles.
He's gonna be the first Rottweiler who delivers
pickles. Janet: Alright.
Cesar: But the moment we put the backpack on Tiger,
you saw a totally different Tiger.
Tiger was on a mission of carrying the pickles
somewhere. See how the backpack helps so quick?
Janet: Yeah oh my gosh.
If it stays like this, we'll be able to take them
to Venice Beach and take them for a good walk.
Cesar: I have a great amount of happiness.
When I can make a powerful breed be controlled by a
woman. That to me is the ideal representation,
the ideal ambassador of changing perception.
Can a woman control two Rottweilers?
Absolutely.
Janet: And they're not walking her.
Cesar: They're not walking her.
Janet: She's walking them.
Cesar: She's walking them.
And then from that point on, the guys at Venice beach
are gonna say, 'whoa.' She's in control
of two guys.
Janet: Look at this woman.
Cesar: I want to know how she is.
Mary: Like Cesar said, it takes three years of
every day training and we didn't know.
But hey, we're in it for the long run and that's
something that's gonna be long, hard work, but we're
gonna have to do it.
Cesar: Mission accomplished!
Michael Forbes: If there's any danger, like a woman walking
by with a baby carriage.
He is like 'Run for your lives!'
Like he's on patrol in enemy territory.
Booker was the cutest puppy I've ever seen, without a doubt.
And he remains still to this day to be the cutest dog I've
ever seen anytime, anywhere.
And I know all the other dog owners are going no,
my dog is the cutest but, you know.
Narrator: For the first three months of his life,
Booker lived in the rural quiet of Riverside County,
California.
Michael: Booker was born at a kennel in Temecula,
that's up a dirt road, nothing around it, but fields and
grass, no other houses or anything, very quiet.
Narrator: But when Michael brought Booker home to his
loft in bustling downtown Long Beach, he noticed a change in his
dog's behavior.
Michael: I brought him downtown here to the loft
and took him outside to get him familiar with the
area to do his business and he was immediately terrified.
And he was clinging to me like a cat clings to you, you know.
Like you could let go of him and he would not fall
off your chest.
If there's any danger like a woman walking by with a baby
carriage, 'run for your lives!' Eric Osterlind: Uh, he'll
be doing great and then all of a sudden that noise
or a truck will drive by and he goes ballistic.
I mean he is freaked out.
Eyes popping out of the head.
Tail between the legs, shivering on the ground.
Michael: And he's scrambling, his nails are scratching on
the concrete.
He has an attitude like he's on patrol in enemy territory.
Eric: It can be anything.
It can be a sign on the street that wasn't there
the day before.
Michael: Or a cleaning cart, or a bicycle, wheelchair,
just about anything will set him off.
Come here.
This cart won't hurt you.
Come here.
He doesn't like this pipe.
It's not bad, it's not bad.
Eric: This is by far the worst case I've ever seen
as far as fear.
I feel sorry for Booker.
He can't ever relax.
Michael: I think one of the reasons he stays so
skinny is because he's so worried all the time, you
know. He's like so intense; he burns everything off
because he eats a lot.
Cesar has said that there are some things he can't
fix. And I just got a feeling that this guy can't be fixed
and that he'll just have to live his whole life being afraid.
Narrator: For Michael and Booker,
dog behavior expert Cesar Milan is their last hope.
Can the Dog Whisperer bring some big city
self-confidence to this cautious country dog?
Cesar: So what makes him nervous?
What kind of situation makes him nervous,
the sound, the objects, the smells, what?
Michael: The sound and sights make him nervous,
the downtown buses with the airbrakes or just,
it could be just a little sound in the air conditioning system.
Cesar: Here.
Michael: Yeah.
In, in the house.
He'll be, he'll be fine and then all of a sudden he'll
go, 'oh, what's that?' Cesar: Uh-huh.
And what is your reaction at that moment?
Michael: I try to get his mind off it.
'Booker.
Booker.' which usually doesn't
work, distract him with the toys, doesn't work.
Food, try to distract him with food, doesn't work.
Cesar: Okay and his reaction is to run away
from situation or to move forward,
like barking, biting, none of that?
No aggression here.
Michael: It's immediate flight syndrome, no
aggression whatsoever.
He, he'll run away from me in here.
I'll put his food down and he'll come over and sniff it
and do these like elaborate couple of
circles around the room and then come over and
sniff it again before he finally starts eating it.
Cesar: Okay.
Michael: He just doesn't trust me.
Cesar: Okay and this has been happening for a year.
Michael: A year.
Cesar: Sometimes when you transport a dog,
they don't all become afraid because you change
the environment.
From the moment he arrive in the city,
Booker became uncomfortable with his surroundings.
He was probably the weakest in the pack.
Dogs that are born in the weak state of mind,
it's easier for them to become traumatized just by
a different environment.
Alright so tell me about the walks.
You walk them every day?
Michael: Yes.
And I've seen your show and keeping the leash up
high and give him the little tugs and stuff like that,
but doesn't quite seem to get through to him.
And so it's always a struggle walking with him.
Cesar: Ok.
Michael: Cause he's in terror.
He does not like it.
He does not like going outside.
Unless we go to the park.
Cesar: Right.
So what would you like to accomplish today?
Michael: I would love to see him be able to go for
a walk down Pine Avenue with his tail up,
paying attention to me and then beyond that,
if I could get him to roller blade with me,
that would be like heaven.
Cesar: I have my roller blades, so I want to, yeah,
I want to do the roller blading part.
At the end of the roller blading session he will relax, then we
go for a walk.
Michael: And you actually think you can roller blade with him.
Narrator: Michael bets Booker can't change at
all, let alone rollerblade through his city of
nightmares. Will Cesar call his bluff?
Booker, a country born Vizsla, turned into a city scaredy-cat
when he was transplanted from a peaceful farm to bustling,
downtown Long Beach, California.
His owner Michael thinks Booker might be a lost
cause. But Cesar has a plan.
Vizsla's were originally bred as hunting dogs,
so it's in their blood to love a good chase.
By exploiting this natural drive,
Cesar plans to drain some of Booker's
tensions, and move him through the city he fears.
Cesar: I know that hunting dogs love to run,
so I wanted to re-direct that fear that flight motion
that he goes to into a move forward motion.
That's right.
That's right.
He likes this part.
That's right, that's right, mister.
That's right.
Go straight, go straight.
That's right.
That's right, that's right.
So by us creating this activity, allows him to pass
by in a fast motion so we are changing the gears here.
We're using negative energy and creating positive
activity. Michael: Oh, look at him go now.
activity. Michael: Oh, look at him go now.
Cesar: So we drained some of that energy before we
went into a walk motion.
The tail between the legs is the first thing you get to notice.
That's just a high level of fear.
Alright so the exercise I'm doing right now is
what they do in dog shows.
What they do in dog shows, they put the tail up like
this. They want the dog to pose.
They want the dog to feel really good about himself,
to become almost like a beautiful, perfect statue.
And I'm always listening to Mother Nature telling me
okay this is what I need.
So what we're doing here is without me doing
the whole touching, I want to be your
friend kind of thing, I'm just slowly moving
to the back, touching gently, nice gentle strokes
and then touch the tail and put the tail up.
So it gives a different demeanor to him,
see much more proud, much more happy.
So I am, I am actually helping the mind
to become proud of being here.
Just the tail not being tucked between the legs,
create a different state of mind.
So I'm not being forceful about, this is great, this is great.
Normally he becomes afraid around strollers.
How are you?
You having a good time.
That's great.
So as you see he's not really paying attention
to the stroller.
The stroller's pretty much his nightmare.
There we go, that was great.
All because I'm holding the tail right here.
And if you let the tail go, the tail will go
right between the legs.
So don't allow that process.
We're using just getting the tail away from between the
legs and put him in a nice position where he looks like a Vizsla.
It's no, no nervousness right
now. It's all proud, it's all pride.
You're doing good mister.
This is the first time I use a leash on the tail of a dog.
We're going to hold this tail up with his own leash
just to block him from putting his tail between the legs.
That's all we're doing.
So he looks comfortable, relaxed.
And like I always say whatever it takes to make a dog
succeed, I'm going to do it.
Very good, come on.
I make sure that I test drive the idea first.
Yeah hold on, let me just get him in the zone
and then we start the talking, there we go,
that's, there we go.
And because the tail was up, his behavior switched.
When a dog has a tail in a normal position,
they don't focus on anything else.
They just travel.
Slowly without Michael focusing on walking the
dog, I passed the leash to Michael.
So this is like teamwork.
You know I've never done this before.
So it's always the first time.
We might not look normal, but who cares.
Michael: Yeah.
Cesar: It's all about him.
Just make sure your tension is not too tense from the
arm. There we go.
Michael: Look at him!
Cesar: In the dog world, having the tail up in a
high position represents high level of status,
so by us manipulating the tail,
we bring the brain something else to do.
Michael: This is the first time his
tail's ever been up downtown.
I do notice he's like pulling a little bit.
Cesar: There we go, there we go, keep steady.
So even though, you know, he's hesitant, he's
nervous and all that.
Michael: Keep, keep doing it.
Cesar: Keep doing it if nothing happen.
That's what it counts.
Michael: Right.
When I was holding the leash the way Cesar showed
me, it was really a new experience.
He wasn't scrambling for cover constantly.
He was just sort of standing there beside me.
I was excited about that, that's way different.
Cesar: You are a handler right now.
Your job is just to stay in the state of mind of a
handler and to really challenge him in every
situation that he becomes nervous.
Oh there we go, very good.
Let's go.
We're just passing by it.
You can, there we go.
Very good.
Good, good.
Okay let's do it again.
Go for it.
You do it.
That's good.
Absolutely great.
That was great, that was good, you did it by
yourself. That was good.
That was good.
Michael: What I learned today was that I have to
take not quite such a coddling role with my dog.
I have to become the handler and not, uh,
Dad that just wants to protect him.
Cesar: Michael was an easy student.
Michael: His head's not going from side to side anymore.
Cesar: Side to side, that's right.
He saw the switch.
He realized how simple it is.
There we go, he's curious now.
Michael: Yeah.
Cesar: Instead of running away, he's now doing dog behavior,
trying to reach people with his nose,
being curious about it, which is great.
That means what we did today for him is already
in the process of rehabilitating him.
Now it's just to the human, as you know.
Michael: Yes.
Cesar: Booker is a slow process.
Low self-esteem dogs do take a little longer than
any other dog because we have to build self-esteem.
But I can see a successful rehabilitation between
Michael and Booker, 'cause Michael wants
what is best for him.
And you'd better believe this guy's going to gain
some weight after he doesn't have that fear,
that nervousness.
Michael: Thanks, Cesar.
I'm going to take him out roller blading and it's a
dream come true, to enjoy something like
that with you know, your pal.
Cesar: I feel that I accomplish my mission when
people understand that most dog problems are not
the dog's fault.
Tiger and Roxy are behaving very well.
They're not destroying the house anymore and they're
walking very well on the leash.
And the best thing is, they're behaving great around Kyla.
Way to go, girls!
I know that Michael did not believe that Booker would
ever go on rollerblades.
But now, they're rollerblading everyday.
And they work together daily to help Booker overcome the rest
of his fears.
And remember Buddy the biter?
Rich and Linda report that they can finally give the medicine
to Buddy anytime, without a problem.
Until next time, remember my formula:
exercise, discipline, then affection, in that order.
Right, Coco?