Careless Whisperer

I have a bone to pick with Cesar Millan.

Well, that's not really true. I have a bone to pick with fans of Cesar Millan.

Since the day we brought Stella home, people have asked us if we watch Dog Whisperer. It's meant as a friendly question -- we have a dog, and the show is about dogs. And I have seen it a few times. I liked it; the guy is great at what he does and helps a lot of people with their problem dogs.

What bothers me is this idea that Cesar Millan is the one and only authority on canine obedience. If I so much as casually mention to someone that Stella has misbehaved, the first words I hear in response are inevitably, "Cesar says...."

It's nothing against Cesar himself. He's very gifted. And I've no doubt that if he happened to come over for coffee and Stella barked at him, he'd know exactly what to do. But it seems to me that he's becoming the Oprah of the dog world -- the one everybody hopes will solve all of their problems.

The worst part is, my husband has become one of those people. Ever since he watched his first Dog Whisperer episode two weeks ago, he's been trying Cesar's methods on Stella when she barks inappropriately. And hey, I'm willing to give anything a try.

But the thing is, it's not working. Maybe it's user error, or maybe it's just that this particular method doesn't work on this particular dog for this particular problem. In any case, after two solid weeks of trial and obvious error, I think it's time to try something else.

We have taken Stella through a great deal of training, and except for a few social issues (barking included), she is a pretty well behaved dog. For that, I credit our wonderful obedience trainer. Thanks to the trainer's guidance, Stella will sit, lie down, stay, walk nicely on a leash and come when called -- things she previously had no idea how to do, and things we had no idea how to get her to do. She's even excelling in agility class after only two sessions.

So my thought (and call me crazy, but I think it just might work) is that instead of watching a TV show for help, we should ask one of the experts in our area. One of the people who knows us, who knows our dog and who can actually see the problem first-hand and show us how to correct it. In other words, get help from a trusted local professional.

Anyway, that's what Cesar Milan says to do.