[rinicake]

My six-year old pomeranian was attacked just an hour ago by a larger dog. I avidly practice "The Dog Whisperer," Cesar Millan's, techniques. However, I just don't know what to do in this situation. I think I could have handled the attack better than I did. I made my best effort to stay calm and assertive after the attack but I didn't have the other dog submit and bring my own close to it, since he was biting me and was already afraid of other dogs to begin with. I don't want this to become a traumatizing event for him, but I can't even touch him without being bitten. When he does bite me I make sure to correct him, but he is still shaken. After the attack I walked him more to calm him down but his tail was down the entire time. I still have not checked his condition from the attack, since he is so fluffy its hard to see anything, but I have not seen any blood. Will he stop biting me if he calms down longer? What should I do?

[Inga]

First off there is a warning right on the show. "Do NOT ATTEMPT THESE TECHNIQUES YOURSELF" Right after a small dog has been attacked by a larger dog is not the time to be correcting him it is time to be taking him to a vet to make sure he is alright and then allowing him some time to settle down. Imagine for a moment how terrified he must be. Then his person is not a source of comfort either? Please make sure your dog is alright first. Then after he has calmed down see how he is reacting. If it seems he is different then he was prior to the accident find a good animal behaviorist that is schooled in this type of situation to help you and your dog out. A TV. show does not explain well enough how to handle these situations.

[ChrissyBz]

Good post Inga.

Rinicake: What she said. Take your dog to the vet. ASAP

[rinicake]

The vets are all closed right now, since it is night time. Are there any other medical assistance options?

By the way, I'm perfectly aware that it says not to attempt the techniques, but isn't that only so they don't get sued? I use his techniques every day, they work wonders. If i was not thinking about what I learned from Cesar's books and tv show at the time of the attack, it would have turned out even worse, for sure. If I did not act appropriately at the time, his behavior would worsen later on.

[ChrissyBz]

Call an emergency vet. Your dog could have internal injuries even if there's no blood visible.

[TeddieXRuxpin]

Just because there is no blood doesn't mean there is no internal damage. There are Emergency Vets all over the place.

My first concer would be to comfort him. If my dog was biting me I would make sure he feels safe. The fact he's biting and being corrected for being afraid is different than biting for no reason on pure aggresion.

Inga I couldn't agree more!

[rinicake]

Thanks for all your advice; he is calmed down now and no longer tries to bite me. I'm having trouble feeding him, but I will wait longer. He appears to be limping on one of his legs but my dad doesn't think we should take him to an emergency vet... we will take him first thing in the morning.

[LMH]

poor little guy. Please post the outcome at the vet office. I hope there are no serious injuries.

[Elana55]

what everyone else said and I will add my own 2 cents.. or 25 cents now with inflation...

There is a disclaimer at the beginning of Cesar's show because he is experienced in his technique and what he does works for him. I would not presume to have the experience he has at what he does.

That being said, I think it is extremely important to understand that what works for one trainer may not transfer or work for another trainer.

Here you are.. over faced with a problem and you have no answer for that problem from what you have seen on TV. I guess I see that as sort of learning how to live life by watching "Friends" and then being faced with something that show has never had an episode on.. so you don't know how to handle it. I would hope that you would use other reseources to learn about relationships besides "Friends" on TV. right?

I would not use Cesar's methods as they involve precisely timed adversives that seem to work FOR HIM. Adversives can really back fire badly and you can create more training damage than was inflicted (such as correcting a dog who is TERRIFIED out of his SKULL from a recent attack).

I would learn about positive reinforcement because a dog who is trained in this manner may not be as precise (depending entirely on the skill level of the trainer as there are many positive reinforced trained dogs that are very precise). However, if not precise, he won't be scared or damaged mentally. IOW's a dog trained improperly this way will be happy and dumb, not unhappy, scared and dumb... with possible dangerous behavior attributes (such as biting).

I would study behavior books written by people who are educated (academically) in animal behavior. Jean Donaldson and Culture Clash is a good start IMO .. and so is "The Other end of the Leash" by Patricia McConnell (PhD). I would look at a positive reinforcement method to train your dog such as www.clickertraining.com (Karen Pryor).

What works for Cesar (and a lot of what works for him is retraining the owners) is not what will work for you. You see clips of the training process, not the whole process. You also do not see any failures.

Watch Cesar and be entertained. Better yet, buy some little dog biscuits and a clicker and work with your dog and shut the TV off.