Was in a friends house today and saw a short bit of an (american) tv show she was watching and now I am seriously upset.
It was about a 'dog whisperer' (a man, didn't catch his name) who was visiting a female dog owner to try and 'help' with the behavioral problems of her little yorkshire terrier. The 'problems' seemed to be that
- the dog kept retreating into his cage/pet carrier, then wouldn't come out, having to be tipped out or hauled out by the owner who would wear oven gloves
- that the dog would get aggressive when randomly grabbed (and I do mean 'grabbed'!) tipped on to it's back on the floor and held down
- that the dog snapped and bit (did I say 'bit', it positively guzzled) in retaliation to 1 and 2.
The 'dog whisperer' chap's role seemed to be to force the dog to submit to these two actions (and maybe other actions) by the owner, without defending itself with aggressive reaction.
This little dog was about ten inches high and was completely blind! It was frantic!! It was wedging itself into it's tiny pet carrier and you could virtually see every nerve standing out of it's body. You wouldn't need to be a blood dog whisperer or even Eliza Doolittle to be able to accurately translate what this dog was saying.
At one point the 'dog whisperer' lured it out of the cage with some treats and I felt myself relaxing a little, thinking it wasn't as bad as I thought. But no! It was!! As soon as the little dog cleared the carrier, he swooped on it ( blind, remember, it couldn't even see him coming ), tipped it on it's back and held it down. Then he handed it to the jailer owner, so she could tip it on it's back and hold it down a couple of times.
I cannot believe this is allowed on UK television. I know bad things happen to animals, so it's maybe ridiculous for me to be upset by this, but to present it in the guise of training or dog whispering.
Shit! I wanted to punch them!!