Hi Anna, >>>We watched part (all we could stand) on Fri after the Dogtown show. It's subtle. He'd grab the dog by the choker collar and hold his head down against the couch or his leg. I suspect the dog had trouble breathing. The poor spoiled little beagle looked scared to death. How's this for an analogy, kind of like the tight nosebands or heavy shoes get a horse to do what you want, but is it the best way?
I would absolutely agree with you. He does things with a smile on his face but that doesn't make dragging the dog with the choke chain okay. Allegedly he put a lab that was reactive to other dogs on a tread mill and his idea was to 'desensitize' the dog by keeping him moving and having other dogs go running by - silly idea IMO (because it is not addressing his reactivity to other dogs) and the dog ended up collapsing on the treadmill - I heard there is a law suit about it. On one of the National Geographic specials he dragged a Golden into the water because the dog was afraid of water. Great.... So much abuse in this world is subtle and you really have to put yourself in the animals paws to think about. Lots of what he does is just intimidate people and make them feel stupid. Lots of them are not very good with their dogs - inconsistent and set no boundaries - but there could be other ways to deal with it. I would like to see how the dogs are 1 - 2 3 weeks after he has gone. Robyn Icelandic Horse Farm Robyn Hood & Phil Pretty Vernon BC Canada www.icefarm.com
