Some issues about dogs are just too contentious for me to discuss on this blog. There are two that I’m not going to touch with a ten foot pole.
1. Training methods.
I have my own opinions on which methods work best to train dogs. You probably have your own. Whatever I write about my views on dog training is not going to change your mind, because we both have a system that works for us. Why should we have this discussion anyway?
2. What you should feed a dog.
Same reasons. And in feeding dogs these days, we have so many different warring camps that I’m pretty sure a discussion of dog nutrition is going to launch some people. I have little interest in listening to these various polemics about dog food. If it works for you, continue using it. That’s my advice on dog food.
Those two issues right there start more fights among dog people than anything else. And I think we should be devoting more of our energies to making dog conformation and breeding practices better.
We we separated at birth? From my recent post, All Hail Cesar:
“There are many dog wars that I simply don’t care much about. If you’re going to fight, you should probably fight for a cause that you have a stake in and if you are going to write persuasively, then you should probably pick a behavior you want to encourage.
For instance, I could not care less what you feed your dogs. For some reason this debate is one of the most intense in dogdom and all you need to do is say “b.a.r.f.” or “raw” in polite dog company and the room is guaranteed to heat up.
Another word that’s guaranteed to divide the room into opposing factions is “Cesar.” ”
The reason these two issues are so polarizing is because the underlying philosophies are so binary… you MUST do this, you NEVER can do that.
It’s like Veganism. Or Hinduism. Not once, not ever, for no reason. My view is that training and feeding aren’t like the Atkins diet which fails the second you eat a cracker because your body is throw out of ketosis.
I think training and feeding can work without being so restrictive, so absolutist, black and white.
“Thou can not cook food” and “though can not be negative” are two commandments I don’t need to follow.
My views on training are this:
If it works for you, keep doing it.
If you have a severe problem that you can’t control, get a certified animal behaviorist to look at the problem– and stay as far away from New Agers or anyone on TV giving you dog training advice (except Patricia McConnell, the only certified animal behaviorist to have a training show, which sadly isn’t on tv anymore.) TV is not a good place for information on dogs. It’s the worst spot. The only shows on Animal Planet that I can watch are the ones that don’t involve dogs, and there aren’t many of those.
The National Geographic channel has better shows about dogs. I just don’t watch the Dog Whisperer. because I know I’m not training my dogs his way. My dogs don’t bite people or run around attacking things. But it works for me. I don’t own dogs that are “Red Zone” (as he calls them). I own dogs that are genetically designed to be easily trained. Training isn’t the issue. It’s all the other crap– breed health, stupid conformation fads, stupid behavioral fads, and genetic bottlenecks– that has me angry.
All of this dog diet stuff is approaching religion — on all sides. I don’t think either side knows everything about it, so they posit their own views on science to back up their a priori views. I once “creeped” in e-mail message board for raw feeding, just to get an idea of what these people were talking about. it was mainly bromide after bromide about different schools of raw feeding.
I’m sure a dog could live well on that sort of diet, just as I’m sure one could live well on a commercially prepared diet. Remember, dogs evolved to live on cast off bones and human feces for their dietary needs.
And you said you weren’t going to talk about training or food…
But that’s as in depth as it’s going to get.
I’ve had some professional training in dog training from a certified animal behaviorist. I generally trust them more than I do someone on television who isn’t one.
However, I don’t think everyone has the solution for every situation in either diet or training.
Hi, Very interesting for how long have you been living raw?
I don’t talk dog food on here. Sorry.