Dog Whisperer Commentary: Chihuahuas From Hell 2

By Eric Goebelbecker | Published: January 26, 2010

Amalie is displeased

Kids and dogs are serious business. In a previous post about dog bites and children on Dog Star Daily, I analyze some information about dogs and children. Between 60 and 70% of the 1 million bites per year are to children, and many, if not most of them are related to guarding something – food, toys or territory. So let’s see how Cesar handles one of these problems.

Skipping Bandit

For those of you playing the home version, I am skipping a dog. If the segment with Nunu was pointless, then the one that followed, Bandit, was like moving Jay Leno to 10:00PM.

Amalie and the Baby

Amalie is the third Chihuahua from Hell. Amalie’s family consists of Kim, Lance, Harley (a 100+ pound mastiff), Amalie (a 7 pound chihuahua), and Mason, Kim and Lance’s new baby. In the opening we see Amalie snapping at and chasing Harley around. The producers think this is impressive. I think Harley is just a really patient and wonderful dog.

The problem is, of course, between Amalie and Mason. It seems that once Mason became mobile, Amalie started to growl and snap at Mason. We see a frankly scary scene (photo above was captured from it) where Amalie seems to be guarding either a toy or her bed from Mason. Only Amalie’s self-control saves Mason from a bite. (Kim seems to think her poorly timed correction has something to do with it. No. Sorry.)

So what does Cesar do? Please note that in the video Cesar is using what was previously introduced as Amalie’s favorite toy.

“Cesar demonstrated that even babies can become pack leaders.” I’m just going to come out and say it: I think that just might be the most idiotic thing I have ever heard on television. And yes, I grew up watching TV in the ’70s.

Cesar explains to Lance and Kim that if he interrupts Amalie as she starts to focus and/or react to Mason that her “brain will never escalate to something higher than that.”

One of two things is happening here: either Cesar had already conditioned his “snap” as a punisher, maybe with a smack or a leash jerk or it is simply acting as an interrupter. Either way, what happens when he leaves? Are they supposed to continue doing this? Will she just stop reacting to Mason?

Let’s say Cesar is right, and interrupting a dog before she snaps or growls will eventually stop her from doing so permanently. How many times, and under how many different circumstances, must you do this before the threat of her biting Mason goes away completely? Would you like to bet the safety of a child on that number?

Wouldn’t it be better to address the underlying cause?

Based on the very brief footage we were shown (I wish I could share more) my guess is that Amalie guards her bed and possibly the entire sofa from both the Mason and Harley. She also guards her toys from Mason. I would consider:

  1. The baby just can’t play with Amalie’s toys. Put her toys away and take them out only when the baby is napping or at least not able to get where they are.
  2. Train a give so you can safely get things away from her.
  3. Work on some other exercises for guarding.
  4. Train a leave-it as a safety cue to head off troubles.
  5. Limit Amalie’s access to the sofa. She can only come on it when invited.
  6. Stop letting Amalie terrorize Harley. It’s not fair to him.
  7. Work on creating happy, fun, safe, and rewarding, experiences for Amalie while Mason is around.

Last, take a good look at Amalie toward the end of the video. Does she look happy? Heck, does she even look comfortable? Yet again, Cesar’s solution is not a calm dog — it’s a shut down and quite possibly terrified dog.

 

Related Posts

  1. Dog Whisperer Commentary: Chihuahuas From Hell 3
  2. Dog Whisperer Commentary: Chihuahuas From Hell 1
  3. The Dog Whisperer Commentary: Bella
  4. Dog Whisperer Commentary: Baby Girl
  5. Top three reasons children are bitten by dogs
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  • "In the opening we see Amalie snapping at and chasing Harley around. The producers think this is impressive. I think Harley is just a really patient and wonderful dog."

    Why is it always assumed that the bigger animal should always win or always be the most dominant? Everyone always seems to assume this with pets.

    The two mini mares I had over the summer definitely ruled the pasture. I'll admit, it's a bit funny watching a 300 lb. mare tell a 1300 lb gelding to get out of the way.

    Aggression towards babies / small children is a serious issue, though. My uncle got a corgi and then about a year later had his first child, and the year later they had their second child. That dog lived into her mid-teens and she hated those children until the day she died. They would keep out of her way and she would (mostly) keep out of their way, but every now and then there would be a growl or a snap. There is a lot of potential for someone to get hurt in these types of situations.
  • I think "reality" TV has failed the reality test.

    It would be interesting to know how Cesar deals with behavioural problems in "real life" with his own dogs, with his own family.
  • It would be interesting. I wonder if everything is still a confrontation.
  • If the owners of this dog would have dealt with Amalie's guarding behaviors when she was a puppy, they wouldn't have had to deal with a snappy, miserable mature dog. It looks like Amelie is expressing avoidance instead of acceptance when she has her back turned to the baby. Did Cesars method work? I don't think so. When the kid picked up the toy, the dog thought about going for him, but Cesar intervened. I don't see how a few minutes remedy this problem.
  • It's not uncommon for people to just live with a behavior problem and either hope that it resolves itself or just maneuver around it, especially with a smaller dog. In the paper I linked to in the beginning of the post, the researchers point that phenomenon out.

    it's also not clear when the issue started. In the opening narration they indicate it was when Mason started crawling around. It's possible that Amalie's aggressive behavior started, or at least became demonstrably worse, after Mason arrived. Or it may have been something specific, such as Mason accidentally hurting her. It's also not uncommon for something like resource guarding to occur more frequently because of overall stress. A powerful part of an overall plan for dealing with aggression can be lowering the dog's overall stress level with some basic lifestyle changes. That is the point if item #1 in my list (other than safety, of course.)

    When dealing with a behavior problem it's critical to take a good history to get an idea of what is really going on. The family's observations can be severely slanted because of entrenched ideas and because they are just too close to the situation. One of the most valuable services a professional offers is that impartial point of view.

    We don't see this with Cesar. It may happen off camera, but if we are really supposed to learn from the show, we should see it.
  • dogpsyche
    Fine work as always Mr G. :o)
  • Thank you! Thanks for the post on FB!
  • LOL I agree, ridiculous claim about "even a baby can be a pack leader"

    Ugh.

    If you read the dog's body language you can see the ears are back, the mom is close, and Millan is present and controlling the behavior off camera. The chihuahua huddled at the back of the bed away from Millan and the baby is not a relaxed posture.
  • Not relaxed at all, this was obviously very hard on Amalie and there's no real indication that she learned anything. One of the advantages of training an alternative behavior like a give and/or a leave it is that you can measure success by seeing behavior, as opposed to focusing on punishment and trying to measure success by the absence of behavior.
  • An accident waiting to happen and as usual, it will be the dogs fault, so sad
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