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NARRATOR: Do not attempt the
techniques you are about to see
without consulting
a professional.
On this special episode
of Dog Whisperer...
NANCY GALVEZ: I was intrigued
by the fact that she was wolf.
JAVIER GALVEZ: She has learned
to be such a good escape artist
that she opens the gate.
MILO SANCHEZ: Ramses
started jumping fences.
He was roaming the neighborhood,
terrorizing chickens.
JANICE REINS: First time we left
her alone she actually chewed
through the pen.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: She will make
herself bleed trying to get out
from the fence.
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.
KENT WEBER: The wolf is the only
animal that splits your mind
in half.
It's the symbol
of the wilderness,
and it's also the fear of the
animal that eats grandmothers.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Their
power is unimaginable.
I mean, their skin and the
way that they're built is,
they're a predator, and
they're a top predator.
TRACY ANE BROOKS: Life for a
wild wolf is very fast because
they're always on
the move to hunt.
KENT WEBER: The wolf is the
creator of our best friend,
the dog.
And I think that's why people
think that to connect with
nature, they should own a wolf
puppy, and it just doesn't work.
CESAR MILLAN: The gaze of the
wolf reaches into our souls,
says writer Barry Lopez, and
that gaze has mystified us for
thousands of years.
The trouble is, as humans, we
often try to conquer what we
don't understand.
In this special episode
of Dog Whisperer,
I went to the experts to help
me illuminate the problems of
owning wolf-hybrids.
When we try and
tame Mother Nature,
she often turns against us.
ROBERT EDMAN: I just think
the wolf is the most beautiful
animal on the planet, so when
I found out I could buy a wolf
from a breeder, I went for it.
HOLLY THACKER: I called a ton
of breeders and they informed me
that they were just
like a regular dog.
So I thought that
would be okay for us.
KENT WEBER: You have people
that are salespeople.
They're not caring about nature,
all they're caring about is
making a dollar, and they will
run an ad that goes like this:
Own a piece of nature,
buy a wolf puppy.
Now that's illegal.
So what I can do is I can lie
about a wolf, it's not a wolf,
it's part dog.
CESAR MILLAN:
Thousands of years ago,
wolves and dogs took different
paths on the road of evolution.
Today, their DNA differs by
only two tenths of one percent,
but there's a world of
difference in that tiny fraction
People often assume a wolf
hybrid will act just like a
typical dog, but a domesticated
animal is not just a wild
creature you bring indoors.
The more wolf, in a hybrid,
the more wild the animal...
...and the more problems
for the humans who believe
they can tame them.
KENT WEBER: They have
one mission food.
And you never take anything
away from a wild animal.
So of course you bring
this home to your house,
it eats your couch, the
owner runs up and says,
That's my couch, the
wolf bares his teeth.
It's protecting its property.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: If somebody
comes walking with a dog out of
nowhere on their property, the
wolves can key into that and
they can easily see
that dog as prey.
TRACY ANE BROOKS: They can end
up with the neighbors' animals
being killed, and the neighbors'
children being injured,
themselves being injured.
KENT WEBER: Of course the
owner goes, It's turning on me.
They take it to the shelter
and they destroy it.
Simply because the animal's
protecting its food.
Today you've got more wolves
in cages than live in the wild.
Most wolves in cages die within
two to three years because
humans are so irresponsible.
TRACY ANE BROOKS: They
see this beautiful animal,
and they think they can own it.
But in reality, that
animal owns them.
KENT WEBER: And so to
mix a wolf with a dog,
it doesn't help the wolf,
it doesn't help the dog.
It ends up a very
confused animal.
CESAR MILLAN: Today, estimates
put the number of wolf-hybrids
in the United States at
somewhere between 300,000
to 2.5 million.
In this special hour, you're
going to meet three wolf-hybrids
and their owners, and learn
firsthand why mixing domestic
and wild is like
playing with fire.
NANCY GALVEZ: Sheba, she
is special, she is blessed.
I was intrigued by the
fact that she was wolf.
JAVIER GALVEZ: I played
no part in getting Sheba.
I'm being honest with you, and I
kept emphasizing to my wife that
Sheba was an ugly dog.
Because I was hoping that she
would say, Maybe she IS ugly,
let's get rid of her.
We already had one dog that
was destroying the house.
NARRATOR: The Galvez
family's other dog,
a pure malamute named Max,
managed to escape the yard
countless times.
After a third capture
by Animal Control,
Max was removed from
the family's home.
ESTEBAN GALVEZ: Max,
he went to the pound,
he had three strikes and the
pound took him away and we
couldn't bail him out.
NARRATOR: Still reeling
from the loss of Max,
the family faced a new
challenge with Sheba.
ESTEBAN GALVEZ: My feelings
about Sheba are pretty mixed.
I do love her, I,
I do enjoy her company.
But at times she can
get pretty frustrating.
JAVIER GALVEZ: This is what
the garden looked like.
She went and
destroyed our garden.
We had some beautiful
garden back there.
She just took everything
out. She eats the bushes.
I don't know if she's a goat
combined with a wolf, or what.
And then she destroyed
all the sprinklers.
This is what's left of our
garden, the sprinklers.
Then not only that,
but some of the pots,
you know where some of
the nice plants were.
She got them and she broke
them, destroyed them.
There are times where she'll go
behind me and then she'll
start grabbing my legs.
And I was noticing the
other day, and I thought,
I haven't fallen, but I
have like little bruises.
She has learned to be
such a good escape artist,
that she opens the gate.
NANCY GALVEZ: Because of
Sheba, I have come to know my
neighbors.
PATTY MANHIRE: We call on
the phone, and I'll say,
She's out again.
NANCY DE SILVA: We met
Nancy through her dogs.
In the last six months we've
corralled her dogs four times
at least.
GREGG KIMBALL: Once
she's out, she's out.
You try to chase her,
it's a losing battle,
you'll never catch her.
ESTEBAN GALVEZ: Okay, I think I
can grab her now. No, I cannot.
MIKE MANHIRE: It
concerns me, you know,
knowing how the city
operates, that, you know,
three strikes and
you're basically out.
And I mean, that's the last
thing I would want to happen to
one of my dogs.
And to have it happen to my
neighbors' dogs would, you know,
be pretty unacceptable also.
NANCY GALVEZ: Sheba has
two strikes against her,
and she's facing the
same problem that Max is.
The person that works for the
pound said, If I catch her,
she's gone.
ESTEBAN GALVEZ: Okay,
I finally got her.
There's my dad,
picking up the dog.
The pound, they put
their dogs to sleep.
So I just fear that, you know,
she might lose her life. xxxx
NANCY GALVEZ: My husband
has not been supportive.
JAVIER GALVEZ: Wasn't so much
that I didn't love the dog,
it's just that the dog
has control of our lives.
NANCY GALVEZ: One of the things
that it does say in Proverbs
12:10 is it says that a good
man takes care of his animal.
And so I love my animals and I
do not believe in giving up on
my animals.
CESAR MILLAN: I have spent
my life studying dogs,
but I've never worked
directly with wild wolves.
To best help this hybrid, I
decided to collaborate with
someone who has.
Dog Trainer Jennifer McCarthy
has been rescuing and studying
the behavior of wild
wolves for years.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: It was my
dream always as a child to work
with wolves.
I've loved wolves since
I was a little girl.
Where
do all dogs come from? Wolves.
It's important as any canine
person to really discover that
side of the domestic dog.
NARRATOR: Working
together with Jennifer,
Cesar looks to help the Galvez
family and their wolf-hybrid
Sheba.
CESAR MILLAN: How
can I help you guys?
NANCY GALVEZ: We need help.
I have two tickets with the
pound right now and they want to
take away Sheba from me.
JAVIER GALVEZ: She does
whatever she wants to do.
The dogs in the neighborhood...
they will bark
and bark and bark.
But I have the feeling that they
kind of sense that that dog is,
you know, Different?
different. Marciano.
You know, because
since I was little,
I used to have dogs
over there in Juarez.
They used to call me
perrero because...
NANCY GALVEZ: I would like my
husband to be more supportive
because I feel like he leaves
all the disciplining to me,
you know, I mean...
CESAR MILLAN: He did that
with the kids too, or no?
NANCY GALVEZ: No, no.
See what happened is that
Sheba's a little like him, so,
you know, he takes off to the
golf course, to the donut shop,
or, you know what I mean?
So she's like my
company all day.
CESAR MILLAN: It's a wolf,
it's a wolf. A Mexican wolf.
NANCY GALVEZ: Yeah, he is!
He's the lobo, really.
She's like you, that's
why you don't like her.
CESAR MILLAN: Okay, so
what we need is knowledge.
Right.
And agreement.
The outcome is not going to
be beneficial to the dog,
because one human thinks one way
and the other one thinks this
way as a marriage.
I've been married 15 years
and, you know, it's just,
you have to agree
with something.
Because you have a dog that is
more primal, more authentic.
We've got to create
a road map and say,
this is what we have to do.
NARRATOR: Coming up, a
wolf-dog confronts Daddy!
CESAR MILLAN: In recent years,
more and more people have been
adopting Wolf-dog hybrids, often
with disastrous consequences.
Today, I've brought
along Jennifer McCarthy.
She's a dog trainer whose love
affair with wolves has earned
her the nickname Wolf Woman.
She's going to help
me evaluate the case.
There you go.
So, how much of a wolf is she?
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Noticing
the back of this animal,
her tail is definitely
wolf-ish. The fur, for sure.
Some of the characteristics that
wouldn't be so different is
the paws aren't,
you know, as big.
But she's also very young,
she's only a year old.
So this animal is gonna be a lot
bigger once she fully matures.
CESAR MILLAN: Like
taller, or wider?
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Both.
Much stronger, much taller.
CESAR MILLAN: So she's
definitely a wolf.
JENNIFER McCARTHY:
She's got wolf in her.
When you're dealing
with a hybrid,
it's worse case scenario,
because you've got the wild
instincts of the wolf, and
then you've got the domestic
instincts.
Anybody who owns a hybrid should
treat them more like a wolf,
not like a dog.
Their behavior is unpredictable
in their body language.
So, you really should look at
the animal first and foremost
from the wild instincts.
She sees your dog, Daddy.
CESAR MILLAN: I want
to see the reaction.
What does this says to you?
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Look at, the
hackles are up, her tail is up,
so she's going more into the
predatory zone because this is
her territory.
In the wild, when they're on
their own territory and they see
another wolf, they'll
kill that wolf.
Territorial disputes is the
number one cause of death in
wild wolves.
Oh, she got in...
NARRATOR: To get to Daddy,
clever Sheba slips into the
house through an
open patio door.
CESAR MILLAN: Don't
panic, she already did.
Rita, stop right there.
Just move over here.
NANCY GALVEZ: She opened it?
CESAR MILLAN:
No,estaba abierta. Just relax.
When Daddy came in, he just
summarized the whole entire
thing to me the way
that I know best.
What Daddy told me is that
this wolf practice dominance.
And the beautiful part is,
Daddy didn't hear anything about
wolves, he just knew what to do
with whatever we call hybrid.
Right now she's taking a
more dominant position.
JAVIER GALVEZ: She's
saying, This is my house.
CESAR MILLAN: Yeah,
which she should.
The way Daddy control her,
it was by ignoring her.
Even though she put her paw
on Daddy's head a few times,
this is a very
wise guy, you know.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: The barking
is definitely the dog in her.
CESAR MILLAN: So how do you
think it's going so far?
JENNIFER McCARTHY:
It's going good.
Really good.
I mean, it's not surprising,
Daddy is an older male.
She's a female.
She's very interested
in what he's doing.
And you can see her
wheels spinning.
CESAR MILLAN: She's lowering
the tail. That's good.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: The wolf
is so smart that the wheels in
their head, you can
see the mind spinning.
So if you do one thing, they
will copy that behavior and
they'll learn from that.
And that's why I really suggest
bringing in an older, you know,
male dog that, you know, is well
behaved that she can learn good
behaviors from - that's mellow,
that's gonna chill her out,
you know, but also
be dominant over her.
CESAR MILLAN: She escape,
how did she escape from?
Or where did she escape?
NANCY GALVEZ: Uh, she escapes
from that area right over there.
But this is, my husband
made a makeshift fence.
CESAR MILLAN: Uh
huh, Mexican one.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: I figure
if I can climb something,
a wolf can climb something.
JAVIER GALVEZ: Right,
she could've jumped,
but instead she, she cut the
wires and made a hole
through there.
JENNIFER McCARTHY:
Yeah, you know,
if you think she's hard
to handle now, this is,
this is puppy stuff.
Wait till she reaches
three to five years old.
JAVIER GALVEZ: I get mad at my
wife sometimes when she goes and
she has the dog and she starts
kissing that dog, and all that,
I'm sitting there...
JENNIFER McCARTHY: What you're
thinking of as a hug in human
terms is not what
she considers a hug.
So if I took you into
a wolf enclosure,
you'd get a wolf that's gonna
come right up to your teeth,
and they want to
sniff right here.
That's what they
want, right there.
CESAR MILLAN: Has she
used her teeth on people?
NANCY GALVEZ: She, you
know what, I have bruises.
You know I know she's
playing with me,
but I don't really
like it sometimes.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: If
you look at her mouth,
those canines are much
larger than dog's.
And they're not even
fully coming in yet.
These teeth are going
to get much bigger,
and when she bites into you,
it's like a knife through
butter.
CESAR MILLAN: They need to
challenge this wolf a little bit
more.
Just like a dog, you know,
a dog escape as well,
a dog does pretty much the
same thing this wolf did.
It's just that we all heard
today is how much more power a
wolf have.
NANCY GALVEZ: No.
Sheba, no!
JENNIFER McCARTHY: She's
playing a game with you,
and you're playing with her.
First of all we have to
look at your behavior, okay?
If I flare around my
arm, and go like this...
she's getting into prey mode.
You're moving around,
you're going like this.
Well what does this look like?
That's kinda similar to
what prey does in the wild.
When an elk moves,
they're moving.
And an injured elk, that's the
animal that they're gonna take
down, that's kinda what you're
doing and what you're resembling
to her.
And it's the same thing, if you
were running, and if I trip,
you see how she pays attention,
she comes right to me in
predatory mode, okay?
Look at her biting my
leg, I mean, she's...
JAVIER GALVEZ: Sheba! Sheba!
CESAR MILLAN: There you go.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Now, you
see how I growled at her and
I looked directly
into her eyes, okay? Mm hmm.
Wolves, when they
look at each other,
they can stop something
instantaneous by just a look.
Okay. Okay?
So start running
around right here.
NANCY GALVEZ: Come on, Sheba.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Okay, stop.
Grab the collar okay, ignore her
CESAR MILLAN: We catching
this at a good stage.
She's gonna get stronger, she's
gonna get more determined.
If her needs are not met.
This is no intervention,
this is prevention mode.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Come
on over here for a second.
Body over her. Look directly in
her eyes.
Keep your face away
from her head. There. Good.
You see how she's
getting calm right now?
Okay, let go and
ignore her. Just stand still.
Don't, don't move again,
okay? Just ignore her. Okay?
So she's definitely
going to need shade.
NARRATOR: Jennifer shares her
recommended dimensions for a
humane back yard wolf enclosure
at least 1600 square feet of
ground space and fencing
at least 8 feet high.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Then you're
going to pour concrete all
around the fencing
in the ground,
cause she'll dig right
under that fence.
They're escape artists.
I mean, they're Houdinis.
If you think about wolves in the
wild, they'll travel, you know,
over 40, 43 miles is the
estimate in 24 hours.
So what is natural to her is to
go out on her merry way and go
hunting and travel, and do all
the things a wolf or a wolf
hybrid would, would do.
You gotta tap into the
wild spirit in her.
Proper containment is
number one, but, you know,
I don't want people to
go out there and put it,
their wolf hybrid in
a containment and
never take it out.
That's not the solution either.
The most important
aspect of bonding with
this animal is not by hugging
her or giving her love.
It's by going out there, and
taking her out into nature.
NANCY GALVEZ: I think the most
important part I got out of
today was just learning how
to be in control of her,
and understanding her.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Jerk and turn
CESAR MILLAN: Miss Nancy is
in a situation where she has
no choice. She have to
contain the hybrid wolf.
We just have to make sure
everybody in this household will
participate as well.
NANCY GALVEZ: The thing I'm most
appreciative is that my husband
now is gonna be a participant
with me, Let me try it,
let me try it.
because it is a
family situation.
JAVIER GALVEZ: And I apologize
to her that I said that dog
was ugly.
CESAR MILLAN: Let's see how
you dance with this wolf.
JAVIER GALVEZ: We were blessed
that we had two very special
people here today
Cesar and Jennifer.
NANCY GALVEZ: They made
a difference in her life,
and so I am very grateful.
CESAR MILLAN: I
just learned that.
NARRATOR: Next, another wolf dog
terrorizes a rural neighborhood.
Thousands of wolf-dog owners
find themselves overwhelmed by
their pet's wild behaviors.
Rescue facilities like Mission
Wolf take in some of these
unwanted pets.
But, there is no way they can
keep up with the growing numbers
of animals being abandoned.
Their urgent mission is to
educate the public about the
mounting problem of
wolf-dog crossbreeding.
KENT WEBER: Mission Wolf started
simply because we took in an
unwanted captive wolf, couldn't
go back to the wild and needed a
beautiful home.
When we had fifty-two of them,
we had to learn to say No.
We've told probably six thousand
people in just the last few
years, I'm sorry.
I can't take in your
pet wolf or wolf-dog.
TRACY ANE BROOKS: It's really
sad for me to see how many
wolf-dogs are out there in the
world with people that don't
have a clue how to
take care of them.
KENT WEBER: So it's kinda become
my job to let people understand
the difference between a wolf
and a dog and also learn that
nature does not belong in a
cage, it belongs in the woods.
CESAR MILLAN: The next day,
wolf-dog expert Jennifer
McCarthy and I head
out to our next case,
a troubled four-year-old
wolf-dog named Ramses.
MILO SANCHEZ: My uncle
had a wolf hybrid.
So that's what intrigued
me to the breed.
There's a lot of wolf hybrid
puppies that are being bred and,
and sold.
And the large majority of those
puppies are going back into
shelters.
And so, instead of
getting a puppy,
I decided to rescue an animal
that already needed some help.
I was very concerned about his
behavior and how skittish
he was, how scared he was.
Initially I didn't know it
was gonna be so intense.
It took him about three months
to get accustomed to me.
With anybody else, he just
really doesn't do well with.
When he gets cornered,
he, he freaks out.
He, he gets scared, he
defecates, he urinates.
So it's just a bad situation all
the way around when anybody else
has anything to do with him.
NARRATOR: Ramses also has a
prickly relationship with
the original member of
Milo's household,
unneutered male mastiff, Roscoe.
MILO SANCHEZ: Initially Ramses
and Roscoe were getting along
fine, but at some point after
six months of them actually
playing together, they just
happened overnight in
the Spring.
This had escalated to a worse
level every day for four days.
Roscoe at that point, he
needed about $1,200 in surgery.
That was the period of time when
Ramses started jumping fences.
He was roaming the neighborhood,
terrorizing chickens.
And that's really when he
started becoming more of a
liability.
So I had to build a
containment for him.
NARRATOR: Milo invested $800 to
create a 6 foot high kennel out
of 6-gauge cattle panels,
cemented into the ground.
MILO SANCHEZ: My biggest fear
with Ramses is him escaping and
somebody shooting
him accidentally.
There's a lot of livestock,
there's a lot of ranches here.
So people could be defending
their, their chickens,
and I don't want anybody's
livestock getting mauled.
I think if Ramses had his way,
he would love to roam free
anywhere he wants, terrorizing
chickens everywhere.
But I have to work from 8 to 5,
and so he has to have a place
where he's gonna be
safe from others,
as well as chickens and
everything else is gonna be safe
from him.
I just bought the house
a year and a half ago.
It was becoming a liability,
going to work from 8 to 5.
I was rushing home sometimes,
getting called from animal
control, You need to
come get your animal.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: He's
very, very stressed out.
The enclosure actually has to
be much bigger and he's got an
intact male running around
that he doesn't get along with.
CESAR MILLAN: In my opinion it's
the same need of being part of a
group, you know, so
this is his group,
but he doesn't know how to
coexist with the other dog.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: If you
can picture it this way.
Think about it as if you've just
taken a tiger from Africa and
you're expecting
him to be a cat.
That's what you're doing. Okay.
CESAR MILLAN: Did you take him
every single day somewhere to
exercise or to travel?
MILO SANCHEZ: I run with
him 12 miles a week.
So it's three miles
four times a week.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: You, you've
got a great heart for this guy.
I mean, you can
really tell that.
But this is a huge
time commitment, okay?
Going for a three-mile
run isn't going to cut it.
You said that you were working
and training with Arabians.
MILO SANCHEZ: Yeah,
with Arabians next door.
Mike and Mary are my
neighbors next door.
They're giving me
two Arabian horses.
We've been working on breaking
the horses every evening.
Uh, Mike is teaching me a lot
about how to break the horses,
and lunge the horses.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: That's
a really great thing that
you're doing that's going
to help you with Ramses,
because there's some
things that you can use,
even with your lunging.
We can teach your wolf how
to lunge. Really?
So there's many things that you
can take from your work with
Arabians and apply to Ramses
and it's actually gonna get
you pretty far.
MILO SANCHEZ: Oh, right on.
I didn't know that.
CESAR MILLAN: There you go.
Me neither. That's why
you get experts....
Alright, let's go....
JENNIFER McCARTHY: You guys,
I'm gonna let Cesar decide where
you wanna be. You
have a great read on energy
and body language, so
you just go where you feel like
you're at a good space. And...
CESAR MILLAN: This time
is an unusual case.
It's not about a dog,
it's about a wolf-dog.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: All
right, let's do it.
CESAR MILLAN: And I
have no idea about wolf.
So I just observe, you know,
so I get to learn as well.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: It's really
their behavior in telling you
how wolf this animal is.
There is the German
shepherd there.
But to me, this animal acts
more wolf than anything else.
CESAR MILLAN: The sideways
right now is the best approach.
Same thing with
horses, you notice,
do a lot of side behavior,
not so much forward.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: You can't
really tell if he's gonna snap
or not snap.
And that's why you have to
read the body language and
work slowly.
CESAR MILLAN: So what she's
trying to do is show respect in
the way she gradually
come to him.
Schedule is something
that you should put aside,
like remove watches.
If you're going to
go help an animal,
make sure you don't have any
commitment in an hour or 30
minutes later.
Cause you don't want to
leave things halfway there.
People who are really
there for the animal,
everybody agree that it's not
how long is it gonna take,
it's as long as he
takes, I'm here for him.
He's, you can see a
little bit more trusting.
There we go, he's
trusting the approach.
MILO SANCHEZ: He's more relaxed.
CESAR MILLAN: Yeah, more
relaxed. That's a step.
MILO SANCHEZ: I've never
seen anybody do that.
CESAR MILLAN: Well
with dogs or with wolf,
it works the same way, you know,
you gotta take the time to build
trust. Nice.
He finally recognize her.
JENNIFER McCARTHY:
Good boy. Such a good boy. Yeah.
Such a good boy...
The person cannot choose, Do I
honor the dog in this animal,
or do I honor the wolf?
You have to let the
animal tell you.
You need to build
up his confidence.
So I would approach him more
submissively to build him
back up.
It's about looking from the
animal's perspective and saying,
What's gonna make
Ramses the most happy?
You see how when I
lean down, he relaxes.
MILO SANCHEZ: So by submitting,
you basically take a position
lower than him, right?
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Yep,
yeah. Same with horses.
You can do all this
stuff with the Arabians.
Another thing that
I use when I go in,
I do a lot of things to
get my heartbeat down,
my blood pressure.
They can sense that.
So what I did when I went
in there is just a breathing
technique.
CESAR MILLAN: In a lot of the
episodes, I tell people, Okay,
you have to breathe now.
'Cause they're holding the
leash... tense.
So even when you ride a
horse, you can't just be tense
right now.
Of course, it's not healthy
right now, so you gotta breathe,
relax yourself.
So yeah. I often say, Calm and
assertive. This is more calm.
And the assertiveness
is knowledge.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: So
should we go for a walk?
MILO SANCHEZ: Yeah.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Whenever he's
afraid of something, circle,
circle, let out that fear.
And then go, okay?
What you're using right
now is really horsemanship.
MILO SANCHEZ: Seeing
Jennifer working with him,
just from the get-go
she had his attention,
she knew how to behave with him.
And so it's very interesting
how being calm can really affect
the relationship between an
animal and a human being.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: He
can learn to trust you.
MILO SANCHEZ: Yeah, he is
actually walking a lot better
Yeah. It's strange.
CESAR MILLAN: It's very
important that we learn to honor
the species that we want
to live with, you know,
so we have to honor the dog,
the dog can't be a human.
In this case, this
wolf can't be a dog.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Before
you take him out for a walk,
you spend the time with him.
MILO SANCHEZ: I got a better
understanding of honoring
the wolf side of him.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: And then
you go out for your walk.
MILO SANCHEZ: I definitely
see changes I'm gonna make.
I'm gonna try my hardest to take
the tips that Jennifer and Cesar
gave me, and try
to work with those.
NARRATOR: As for the other
member of the household,
both Cesar and Jennifer
advise Milo to neuter Roscoe,
and keep him separate from
Ramses for the time being.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Breathe
in, 2, 3, 4 hold 1, 2...
MILO SANCHEZ: It takes a lot
of practice, I understand.
But I'm committed
to getting it done.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: And
turn, walk this way.
There you go... perfect.
That was awesome.
MILO SANCHEZ: As
far as the time,
that's gonna be more of the
challenge with the two hours
per day.
But I'm gonna try my
hardest to accommodate that.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: This animal
is giving us the greatest gift
in the world.
We've got all these
cameras on him right now,
and look how relaxed he is.
MILO SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's true.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: We're sitting
here with an animal that in the
wild wants nothing
to do with us.
Will he ever be like a wolf
running around in Yellowstone
and as happy as that?
No, he won't be.
But, Milo's willing to
take on the commitment.
And I commend him for that, and
I think he's gonna have a lot of
success.
CESAR MILLAN: I admire people
like Milo who not only rescue a
troubled animal, but are willing
to do whatever it takes to bring
it back to balance.
We can never replace what a life
in the wild would offer the wolf
in these dogs, but we can do the
best that's humanly possible.
NARRATOR: Ahead, a wolf-dog
hybrid leaves destruction
in her wake.
CESAR MILLAN: Our next case,
an 11-month old wolf-dog named
Sofie, is adored
by her owners...
but as any Dog
Whisperer viewer knows,
love isn't always enough
to produce a happy,
balanced animal.
JANICE REINS: Growing
up as a child,
my mom did not allow
us to have any pets.
So as soon as I moved out into
a place where I could have pets,
yes, I got my dog immediately.
Sofie is my third wolf-dog.
As soon as we started
leaving her alone...
That's when we noticed that
Sofie was gonna be a problem
with chewing.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: She's pulled
things off shelves, papers.
She's taken the mouse
from the computer.
She's also gone through our VCR
tapes and tore up a very good
collection of tapes.
JANICE REINS: You never
know what Sofie might eat.
Everything went in her
mouth. She really got that one.
Sofie just wants to be with
us, and she wants to be in
the house.
If we leave the door locked
while she's out there,
she has figured out how to
open it and get in by herself.
She would take running leaps
at the sliding glass door.
Running leaps.
And the bigger she got,
that became a problem,
because we were afraid she
was gonna break the door down.
So we wanted to cage
her in the house.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: And
what happened was,
the dog decided she didn't
like being in a cage.
JANICE REINS: First time we left
her alone in the cage she chewed
the plastic bottom up and
got down to the carpet,
and Sofie chewed a huge
hole in the carpet.
After we patched it up,
she chewed up that patch,
tore it up and made
the hole bigger.
So we had to put
another patch on it.
So we said, well okay, we'll
move the cage to another room
where there's laminate floor.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: She
ate through here,
and then started lifting
this up like this.
JANICE REINS: So she bent the
cage all up trying to get out,
and moved the cage
all over the room.
So then we said we will chain
her up outside with a collar.
She slipped out of the collar.
And she got out of the yard.
Sofie was actually in the dog
catcher truck when we found her.
So we bought a
chain link dog pen.
And the first time
we left her alone,
she actually chewed
through the pen.
She made a hole,
squeezed her way out...
I mean, she even cut
herself getting out.
She's had to get out so bad.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: Trying
to get out from that pen,
she will make herself bleed.
NARRATOR: After Sofie repeatedly
injured herself on the pen,
the frustrated couple decided
to electrify the fence.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: Let's go.
Let's go. Come on.
And once we had gotten
that pen electrified,
she would sit in the middle of
that pen not wanting to touch
it any more.
JANICE REINS: She will just
sit there in the middle,
just sit there.
And that's pretty much the
condition you find her in when
you get back to let her out.
I think it's a form
of separation anxiety.
I think that she likes
to be wherever we are.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: We're concerned
only because when we leave,
what happens?
JANICE REINS: If she tries to
get through the glass door and
actually does that some day,
obviously she's gonna get
very hurt.
If she ever does get
out of the yard again,
I'm afraid she'll get run over
and, you know, go to the pound,
you know.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: We've
had this dog outside,
and she refuses to stay outside.
CESAR MILLAN: Is she
wolf mix? Yes. Hybrid?
JANICE REINS: Yeah, she's
supposedly 60% timber wolf.
CESAR MILLAN: 60% To me she
behaves very much like a dog,
you know, this is the first one
that came and pretty much is
around everybody.
Very calm inside the house.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: I don't
really believe she's 60%.
Really?
I think she's got a lot of
the shepherd in her actually.
Her behavior told me that she
was a little bit more dog like.
She was coming up asking
for social interactions,
which is very much unlike
what a wolf would do.
The wolf is there, but
it's definitely not 60%.
CESAR MILLAN: So what do
you guys do for exercise?
JANICE REINS: I take her for a
walk for 45 minutes to an hour
every night when I
get home from work.
CESAR MILLAN: If it's
separation anxiety the problem,
or if it's destructive
behavior the problem,
I believe that a tired
dog destroys less.
This is what we're gonna
do with your energy.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: Redirect it.
CESAR MILLAN: Right.
Cause anxiety can come not
just from lack of exercise.
Anxiety can come from
lack of direction.
Just tell them what you
want, be clear with it,
and follow through.
JANICE REINS: Okay.
NARRATOR: Still to come,
helping Sofie find balance.
CESAR MILLAN: Wolf-dog expert
Jennifer McCarthy and I come
from different backgrounds, but
we're learning to work together
to help wolf-dogs
and their owners.
Compared to our other cases,
11-month old Sofie seems a
little more dog than wolf, but
her extreme levels of anxiety
are becoming hazardous
to her health,
and to her owners' sanity.
So, I saw a treadmill in the
back, and it looks dusty,
so that means not a
lot of people uses it.
JENNIFER McCARTHY:This enclosure
is way too small for her.
CESAR MILLAN: And so, while
Jennifer was teaching about the
wolf confinement, I took the
initiative of learning how to
work the treadmill, and at
the same time introduce her
on the treadmill.
What I'm gonna do is, I'm going
to remove some of that energy
while they're over there.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: We have to
look at no electric fencing.
She already has a
reaction to this,
you can see she's
running and pacing.
This is not going to
solve separation anxiety;
this is going to
create more anxiety.
JANICE REINS: Okay.
JENNIFER McCARTHY:
What I would recommend,
and I know this is
a big commitment,
but you guys could
split it in half,
is doing like two hour-walks
a day - one in the morning,
one in the evening.
When you introduce her
to this new environment,
you've got to associate
it with a positive thing.
JANICE REINS: So, but are you
suggesting like a doggie door
for awhile?
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Yeah, that
would be great for her to have,
you know, more...
CHARLIE MENDEZ:
Access, free access.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Freedom.
CESAR MILLAN: Now that
nervousness that we're seeing is
what we're converting into this.
The reason why I want
to use the treadmill,
obviously it needs some use,
is, is to help her to relax.
That's better. That's good.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: I do think
that there are specific cases
that a treadmill is necessary.
There's people that have a
disability that a treadmill
would work perfectly for.
This is something
that I disagree with,
because I just don't believe,
to me this is so artificial.
I say to my clients, if you had
two legs and you're physically
capable of getting around,
there's nothing like being in
the outdoors with your animal.
To me, this animal would get a
lot more with them by being out
and traveling,
outside, you know?
CESAR MILLAN: Yeah, this is
optional. Not a must.
Would I rather buy 50
treadmills than walk 50 dogs on
the mountains? No!
Of course it's very
unnatural, you know.
Just like a leash
is very unnatural,
just like a backpack
is very unnatural.
But if you can use it to help a
dog to drain the energy from
the body and the energy
from the mind,
meaning you're challenging them,
you're, in a way are touching
the soul.
CHARLIE REINS: I guess
if it's raining outside,
it's a good alternative.
CESAR MILLAN: I'd rather lead
people with many choices.
So this way there's no excuse.
What is a must is fulfillment.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Cesar and I
do disagree on some different
things, but I have
great respect for him,
and hopefully he'll have
great respect for me.
And we can both learn
from each other.
CESAR MILLAN: The way Mr.
Charlie and Miss Janice was
inviting Sofie in there is
tension, then let me trap you.
No animals want to go in there.
I don't care if you put a filet
mignon and you have a chef
inside there.
They don't care, it's
just the way they went in that
they're going to associate
with a negative.
NARRATOR: Cesar and Jennifer
both agree that Charlie and
Janice should completely
dispose of the cramped,
electrified backyard pen
and replace it with a more
appropriate enclosure.
But first, Cesar wants to help
Sofie resolve the fear and
anxiety that the
pen has created.
CESAR MILLAN: This anxiety was
created by a human who is in a
rush, a human is like forcing a
dog to go in a certain situation
and not taking the time to
calm the mind down. C'mon Sof...
Wolf or no wolf, animals
pick up on energy, you know,
regardless of the species.
And then I invite out. And
then I invite in. there we go.
JANICE REINS: She
went in that time.
CESAR MILLAN: See what
I mean? So she pretty much is
learning to follow and
trust our direction.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Taking
Sofie back to the pen before
they removed it was a great idea
She's facing the
fear, getting over it,
and moving on to the next
thing before they remove it.
CESAR MILLAN: When we
use trapping mentality,
they have no choice
just to escape.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: When we were in
the pen and the door was open,
I was surprised that the dog
did not come rushing out.
The dog just calmly
stayed in the pen.
CESAR MILLAN: Make sure you make
time to convince the dog that
it's about that time
to relax even more.
There you go.
JANICE REINS: When I was
taking Sofie into the pen,
when everything was
calm and she was calm,
it was so much more pleasant.
And I didn't feel so bad.
CESAR MILLAN: So now that
you are calm going in,
she sees that in
a different light,
in a different state of mind.
JANICE REINS: I knew that
it was what we were doing,
how we were acting, our
energy, what we're projecting.
But that's what I wanted,
for him to tell us what
we could do better.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: Okay, it's okay.
CESAR MILLAN: I like that
adjustment that you just did.
That was good.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: We were
very concerned about the
destructiveness, and Cesar made
it easy for us to understand on
why it's occurring and how to
stop that behavior. Good girl!
JENNIFER McCARTHY: And I think
Cesar teaching them exactly what
being calm is all about is very
crucial and very important.
Sofie is so young, so she's
highly impressionable.
Now they have the information
and the knowledge to take it
in a different direction.
JANICE REINS: The fact that we
caught it as early as possible
gives me a lot of hope.
And so, hopefully we'll
have less trouble,
less of her getting in trouble,
less of Sofie doing things
she's not supposed to do.
CHARLIE MENDEZ: Thank
you so much, thank you.
CESAR MILLAN: Now instead of
seeing the wheels turning in
the wolf's mind, the
human's wheels are turning.
Now they're seeing, how
can we create what we want?
It's not the dog have to learn.
What do we have to learn
to create what we want?
That is wheels turning.
JENNIFER McCARTHY: Working with
Cesar in Los Angeles brought
about a huge dichotomy, because
he was coming from the dog
perspective and I was coming
from the wolf perspective.
And we were both there to
honor each side of the animal.
But how do you honor
something that's mixed up?
Where does that leave
us with this wolf/dog?
It leaves an animal
that's highly confused.
They don't know if they
should be acting on their wild
instincts, or on their
domestic instincts.
And so that brings about
the bigger message.
Don't mix these two animals.
Plain and simple.
CESAR MILLAN: When you breed a
wild wolf with a domesticated
dog, you're probably not going
to get the best of both worlds.
Instead, you may end up with
an animal with a powerful prey
drive, but no natural
fear or shyness.
You may also be
dooming a beautiful,
free creature to a lifestyle
that it was never meant to live.
These cases remind me of what
my grandfather used to say,
Always work with Mother
Nature, never against her.
Thank you for joining us
for this special episode of
Dog Whisperer.