Dogs In The City

July, 2012

by Amy Fernandez

I just finished watching Justin Silver work miracles in the first episode of the new CBS show Dogs in the City. First of all, I must admit that I’m amazed to see another prime time series devoted to basic dog training. No one predicted this when the immortal Barbara Woodhouse ushered in this reality TV genre decades ago with her drill sergeant demeanor and her battle cry of Walkies.

The best-known, and most controversial, personality in this field is the self-taught Cesar Millan. Most trainers are critical of his methods, but he is not going away any time soon. This has become a tried and true entertainment formula, and celebrity trainers run the gamut from sweet, light, and positive to old school militant. The newest offering profiles Justin Silver doing crisis intervention for New York dog owners. While discussing the show with my dog trainer/friend Susan she marveled that such clueless people manage to survive and prosper in New York. Good point. If you tuned in, you are probably asking yourself the same question.

Far and away, the first episode’s most ridiculous canine delinquent was Beefy, a dominant, demanding, incredibly spoiled Bulldog. His recently married owner obviously preferred Beefy to his tall, gorgeous, blond wife. Needless to say, Beefy was content with the arrangement although it had led to inevitable marital strife. Situations like this make for entertaining TV, but don’t really examine the mindset of these owners. Beefy’s owner eventually admitted that his last relationship tanked because of this disproportionate dog/owner attachment. Silver tactfully suggested that he work on the concept that “Beefy is a separate individual and doesn’t require 24/7 attention.”

Ironically, around-the-clock attention has become an essential adoption requirement of several rescue groups I recently contacted. That’s not an option for most people, including dog lovers. However, it appears that a growing number of animal welfare groups believe that only the idle and wealthy should be entitled to have pets.

The show’s most unsettling case profiled the owner of modeling agency and her uncontrollable, aggressive mixed breed, Charlotte. She calmly admitted that this defensive time bomb routinely lunged at any employee entering her office. Bringing a dog like this into any work environment is unfathomable, let alone a workplace where the employees depend on their appearance. Silver diplomatically pointed out that Charlotte doesn’t belong in public situations. Her arrogant owner calmly explained that she had no idea that biting was a forbidden activity for dogs. Both of these people seem ready to sacrifice personal or professional lives for relationships with dogs. If you assume that they are isolated cases, think again.

Not long ago a close dog/owner relationship qualified as a legitimate form of mental illness. We’ve come a long way. Now, we are expected to form close bonds with our pets and many studies confirm the benefits derived from animal companionship. But somewhere along the line, this perfectly valid idea has derailed onto the crazy train. Tolerating endless bad behavior from a dog is now considered some kind of social merit badge.

Maybe I am out of step with the times but teaching rules and boundaries was once the foundation of responsible dog ownership. My mother drummed this idea into me from the time I started nagging her for puppy. She was not alone. Personally, I think that parental lecturing effectively encouraged a couple generations of American dog lovers to take responsibility for their pet’s behavior. Owners who don’t leash their dogs, clean up after them, and allow them to become a public nuisance are exceptions that frequently qualify as news.

But don’t take these things for granted; well-mannered dogs are fairly new phenomena. They didn’t become commonplace until the late 1940s when the post-war economic upturn dovetailed with America’s growing interest in purebreds. And that didn’t happen without bumps. Formal dog training dates from the late 1930s when obedience became an official AKC event. That’s not because it wasn’t needed. Back then, it was considered a desperately needed solution to a problem that was rapidly spiraling out of control. Widescale commercial dog breeding commenced during the Depression when both AKC and USDA endorsed it as an alternative source of income for rural families. Commercially-bred puppies satisfied America’s growing demand for purebred pets, but within a decade its drawbacks were acknowledged. Most mass-produced puppies were poorly socialized and purchased by owners who couldn’t cope with the parameters of canine behavior. More and more American dogs routinely barked, bit, ran away, and housebreaking was usually wishful thinking. Canine popularity wasn’t running high.

Then as now, AKC obedience focused on rewarding measurable behaviors in a highly structured environment. Skeptics questioned whether it would remain “an unnatural form of competition” or eventually translate into a practical solution for the myriad of problems fueling anti-dog sentiments. Trainers’ efforts to integrate these concepts into the everyday routine of pet owners eventually morphed into programs now called family dog training. They are billed as dog training classes but place equal emphasis on familiarizing owners with essential dog care and behavior.

Dog training has come a long way, but it remains a work in progress for several reasons. Now that researchers have deemed it a worthy subject, we regularly gain new insights into canine perception. Human/canine rapport is also improving thanks to innovative methodology. While new tools like clickers and crates make the process easier, dog ownership constantly presents new complications. For instance, home office equipment has become a ubiquitous hazard. I’m probably not the only person who finds a dog yanking the cord every time they charge up a phone or laptop. We understand the risks and legal penalties associated with drinking, texting, or using the phone while driving. In Arizona, Connecticut, and Maine add driving with unrestrained pets in the car. Traveling at 40 mph, crash tests reveal that a medium sized dog exerts 1500 pounds of force on impact. In a car crash, a flying Chihuahua can kill you. I learned this unsettling fact in a news segment that closed with an ASPCA spokesman recommending pet harnesses (and shelter dogs) rather than the obvious, far safer option of crates. Now why is that? Around Christmastime, our friends at PETA also took out a full page ad in the New York Times instructing owners NOT to crate their dogs.

Likewise, I see fewer pet dogs wearing plain old leashes and collars (I won’t even get on the subject of choke collars). Regardless of breed, they wear harnesses and flexi leads, occasionally an incomprehensible combination of head halter and flexi lead. They frequently get ill-fitting gear that provides no control. But when it comes to public outings, comfort, style, and social validation seem to be the main objectives for both dog and owner.

Playing on this theme, Silver’s most appealing tactic is to take the offending canine aside for a little heart-to-heart chat. It’s cute, but the real joke is that his training primarily involves rehabilitating these misguided owners. Even so, regardless of how he sugarcoats the message, he admits that these owners cannot confront their dog’s bad behavior with a firm ‘No’.

Rather than discouraging unwanted behavior, they don’t even realize that many of their actions reinforce it, but that’s nothing new. Dog training predates recorded history, and our skills have traditionally run the gamut from incompetent to expert. More or less, they all achieve success because recent evidence confirms something we’ve known all along -dogs are genetically programed to respond to human signals. The starting point in dog training varies, but most of it boils down to interrupting and redirecting unwanted behavior before it happens. This requires attentiveness and the ability to notice when your dog is heading down the wrong path. Mostly, it requires a well-timed ‘No’. Unfortunately more and more owners have trouble using the ‘N word’ because they don’t want to infringe on their canine buddy’s happiness and freedom.

Silver ends the first episode suggesting that dog training is best left to professionals. What? After getting on the bandwagon for decades, American dog lovers seem to be going backwards to the days when it was considered as a professional secret and its benefits were limited to an exclusive group of enlightened individuals and “really smart” dogs.

The resulting problems are escalating as more socially conscious “Pet parents” acquire dogs from shelters and rescue groups that rarely provide real-world training advice. AR groups and the media regularly exacerbate the situation by encouraging owners to treat their “fur babies” as equals. Needless to say, they happily exploit the resulting chaos for political and commercial gain.

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