"It's me or the dog" (?)
"Parachuted into homes where the pet is running riot and the family is in the dog house, dog training expert Victoria Stilwell arrives to restore order. Through observation, interviews and secret filming with a 'pet cam', Victoria assembles her evidence and diagnoses the problem. A clear practical training programme ensues, offering pet and owner the chance to change the bad habits of a lifetime. It's Me Or The Dog is the definitive guide for pet owners offering them transformational and hands-on advice that puts pets in their place and owners back at the head of the household." (@Arts Central)
This is a fantastic and useful program especially for dog lovers or owners out there. This show begin since 3 oct (i missed so much...) and i actually knew it through a sms from my classmate. hahaha.....
Well, at least i watched once :P This 30min Victoria's dog training reminded me, "Do not ever beat your dog" and triggered me to review again the areas which i should improve on disciplining for Meekia.
It is understandable how frustated the family members can get when their dog sits at the sofa(and get aggressive when forced to get down), stealing food from table and family while they eat and pulling on leash when walking and being unfriendly to visitors(even bite!).
When the messages does not get across to the dog > the dog would continues all the unacceptable behavior > the family got more frustated and helpless and they may naturally turned to use physical punishment (negative reinforcement) which will only reinforce the behavior to happen again.
I like the way that Victoria actually demonstrated by applying it to the owner (the owner take the role as dog). She'll command "you CAN sit on the sofa", then the owner get near to sit, she commanded "you CANNOT sit on sofa" and repeated. This is to indicate the inconsistency with us(owner) in disciplining which made the dog CONFUSED over what are the cans and cannots.
Once, she stood up and shouted loudly at the owners halfway through a conversation which left them shocked. This is how a dog feel when owner do this to them and something to note here is that, an excessive use of shouting/beating may turn the dog into an aggressive one, due to the accumulation of fear within them.
Getting used to having visitor around and welcoming them: each visitor must ensure NO eye-contact given to the dog and to "drops" a snack at different interval. Gradually, the dog will learned that having visitor around is a pleasure.
I set myself 2 goals:
1. To train Meekia stops sitting on sofa or bed
2. Letting Meekia know it is a pleasure to have visitors
