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| Stilwell with a borrowed dog. She seems to like leather and chains. |
Victoria Stilwell wants us to know that training dogs is not all about dominance.
And to underscore that point she routinely wears a dominatrix cat suit!
Am I the first to note the irony here?
And I have a question: Where does her dominatrix wardrobe come from?
Is she a dominatrix in real life?
Did she borrow it from the wardrobe department of a West End production company?
Was it suggested to her by some TV producer in order to play into the fantasies of her male and female audience?
What was the thinking going on here?
And what does that thinking say about how she perceives her audience?
A second question: What's with the sports car that is too small to actually carry a dog?
Is that too part of the "dominatrix fashionista" persona she has crafted for herself?
Or is it simply a car that made sense when she didn't actually have a dog?
As for all her chatter about "dominance," she wants you to know that while she is opposed to "dominance," she is all for discipline.
Discipline?
Oh yes, that sounds exciting!
Well, maybe the spiked heels. She appear in spikes on the cover of both her books. Yow.
Chase her verbiage around, however, and here is what you get: When Victoria Stilwell does something to discourage a behavior, it's called "constructive discipline." When Cesar Millan does something to discourage a behavior, it's "cruel " and "dominance-based."
Right.
The National Geographic channel is beaming animal cruelty into our living rooms twice a week! Breathe deep the ether, and no laughing!
And of course Victoria Stilwell, the correspondence-school dog training graduate in the black dominatrix outfit, is clearly the expert. Be sure to listen closely, as she has finally acquired her first dog -- a Labrador Retriever -- and now that she is an actual dog owner you can be sure that she really knows!
All pretty amusing actually, as it's all so transparent.
And, for the record, I have not said a single bad thing about Victoria Stilwell as a dog trainer. Not a thing.
She may be just what you need to get Tricki-Woo to stop jumping up on your couch.
I am not sneering a Stilwell as a dog trainer.
I am sneering at Stilwell for her race-to-the-basement marketing tactics.
Of course, this kind of stuff is as common as ditch water. As I wrote in the March issue of Dogs Today:
Like everything else in the world, dog training is subject to fads, philosophy and branding. Everyone is trying to sell you something (if only their own expertise), and part of sales is to convince you that they have something better, and the other guy has something worse.
Sometimes it's true. Mostly, it's bunk.
You want more? Fine. Here's a little about dogs -- the tabula rasa we are working with.
Dogs, like humans, are pack predators and scavengers that operate within a loose social hierarchy. Like humans, they have their own language, and like humans they learn best when instruction is clear and consistent and when it comes after a "recess" period involving physical exercise.
Like humans, dogs operate for rewards, but they also shy away from adverse consequences. Like humans learning the alphabet, dogs can learn to string small bits of knowledge together to form entire sentences of instruction, but first they have to learn the vowels and consonants.
There. That's the basics.
You want more? Fine, here it is: While there are a lot of ways to make a puppy or young dog learn the basics of walking, sitting, coming, etc., most out-of-control adult dogs are a mess for the same three reasons:
- Not enough ACTIVE one-on-one time with the owner (including real exercise and long walks);
- No consistency, and;
- A confusion, by the owner, that the dog is a child.
That's it.
Watch any dog trainer, and you will see I am right.
What most dog training professionals bring to the table is simply a routine: If you spend 10 minutes, twice a day exercising a dog, and another 10 minutes, twice a day, training a dog with ANY training system you find on a shelf, your dog will probably end up brilliant within a few months.
If dog training is about discipline, then the discipline is about consistency:
- consistent exercise;
- consistent boundaries;
- consistent signals, and;
- consistent affection.
But you know what dog training is not about?
It's not about a dominatrix cat suit!
Someone please tell Victoria Stilwell!
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| "As Seen on TV" -- always the marketing line of a quality product. Love the high heels with hands on hip dominatrix disdain! |
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14 comments:
Maybe the producer likes leather, chains and big dogs.
For me if she got her teeth fixed and dropped that god awful English accent that would be a big improvement.
Shhhhhh.... you're giving away all the secrets you fool!
You're putting my job at risk!
Seriously though, I can not watch this bimbo or Brad Pattison without wanting to bang my head on my desk.
One says a nasty glare is cruel and unusual punishment, the other has no problem tossing dogs from sofas as if they were nothing more than cushions and thinks that treats are a sign of irresponsible dog ownership... and Millan is made out by both to be the one suffering from teh crazy.
I have new hope, however - in the form of Cesar's Rules.
I promised a review of the book, but before digging into it I want to read it a few more times. After 12 years of training dogs, rescuing, rehabilitating and researching, even I was engaged by the format and the discussion contained within.
And that's the beauty of it. It's not a reference, it's a discussion. I mean, obviously it's going to serve as a reference to thousands of dog owners who just want to know how to make their dog sit and stay... but the REAL success of this book is the discussion.
The open sharing of ideas between formerly warring groups of idealists on all sides is remarkable. Not only that, but at the end of the book the only thing that I am totally convinced of is that I had underestimated Mr. Millan in the past. This achievement is something I didn't think I would see in my lifetime. My own personal library contains a copy of practically every book discussing canine behaviour since Koehler, and each book has a single commonality with every other book - their assertion that their methods are superior to all others.
Not only does this book open a discussion of many methods and different tricks of the trade but what you're left with is the understanding that these methods are not polar ends of a single stick, but rather several sticks in the same pile. What I mean to say is, they are complimentary, not exclusive.
This is what "balanced" trainers such as myself have believed for many years - that I can use a clicker AND a leash correction, without the dog spontaneously combusting. ;O)
My apologies if the above is a bit rambling, but I'm truly overwhelmed with just what a positive force this book is going to bring to dogs.
Huge congrats to Patrick for your contribution, to Cesar for your instinctual talent (I don't know how else to put it), to Melissa for putting it together so eloquently (this is definitely the most well written of Cesar's titles so far) and to all the other professionals who took part, especially Dr. Ian Dunbar - who I don't agree with often but have a great respect for after this project.
An interesting note - I think that most dog owners are going to find themselves coming down naturally between Dunbar and Millan. Millan, with Junior who has never even been taught to "sit" at the age of two and Dunbar who believes a dog should already know how to sit, lie down, stay, roll over and come before they leave the breeder (ask Gina how plausible THAT is...lol). The rest of us fall somewhere in the middle - wanting a dog who will respond respectfully but not in need of military precision.
At the very least, the old adage that the only thing two trainers will agree on is that a third is doing it ALL WRONG is no longer true. Kudos to all involved for showing the rest of the world how to get past differences in ideals and focus on the bigger picture.
I can't help but look at her and shudder at how constricting and hot (temp-wise!) all that must be. Then again, I'm a T-shirt and loose jeans kind of person.
With that said, I don't mind leather and chains...but the things in my goody bag are pretty much for Halloween only, even if they are functional!
as they say,
Sticks and stone may break my bones
But whips and chains excite me.
She's too much, this one.
I don't like VS, but to be fair, I also have a sports car that I can't get dogs in, and I have driven it to training sessions.
I also have a crappy old van, designed to transport dogs safely, but when I too, and dressed as a dominatrix and on my way crack the whip sometimes I don't want to smell of dog or be covered in dog hairs.
"What most dog training professionals bring to the table is simply a routine: If you spend 10 minutes, twice a day exercising a dog, and another 10 minutes, twice a day, training a dog with ANY training system you find on a shelf, your dog will probably end up brilliant within a few months."
Love this though, I call it being consistently persistant. Repeat, repeat, repeat. :)
I've waited a long time for someone else to recognize the Domina in this dominance-phobe (Stilwell). This is pure Barbie-with-a-whip styling, right down to the top-knot on her head. I just don't think this is any accident.
If I hired someone to work with my dogs in any capacity and they showed up in high-heels, I would end the session then and there. Ditto if a dog professional disclosed that they didn't own a dog.
Add in a super-sized serving of hypocrisy (discipline vs. dominance) and Cesar bashing, and I'm ready to join in the "sneering at Stilwell for her race-to-the-basement marketing tactics."
As an addendum to Packleader's note of showing any high-heeled trainer the door, I admit that I would have to do same if I were ever treated the way she treats some of her clients.
I do not pay people in private venture to talk down to me, insult me, or otherwise lord their so-called expertise over me while saying that I am, essentially, an idiot.
I'm simply amazed that someone who treats clients in such a way garners anything but bad publicity. Then again, apparently I have never seen the Food channel guy who has driven aspiring chefs to suicide, either.
Victoria Stilwell is to dog training as the ridiculous "horse-whisperers" are to horse training. These horse guys latched onto a fictional title invented by a novelist, found a niche within the ranks of horse owners who never had any lessons, and ran all the way to the bank exploiting them. Compared to complete ignorance, these trainers look like geniuses. Once they hook their client base they do little more than sell, sell, sell their over-priced, often ridiculous products to the rubes. Now, having said that, if the ONLY schooling any of these owners ever get is from the Stilwell/horse whisperer people, well, it probably beats none at all (except for the likes of Monty Roberts who is not only a fraud, but a danger to horse and human. Stilwell may be the same, I don't know, having limited knowledge of her.) But, they will always insult those of us in the industry who have applied ourselves to learning our craft. As always, it's important that the Stilwells of the world limit themselves to jobs not over their heads. Sit, stay, and don't jump up on guests should be about where they stop.
I hate to disparage the "whisperer" moniker as Cesar Millan is the real deal for dogs and has that attached to his branding as well, but the whole horse "whispering" nonsense has soured that very word for me.
Seahorse
Seahorse - enlighten me about Monty Roberts.
And no, I'm not baiting you, I'm curious.
What about Pat Parelli - the horse whisperer Cesar did an episode with?
I ask because while my horse experience is extremely limited (compared to my experience with other species, at least) I have watched several of these people work and find them quite intriguing.
TDH,
Monty Roberts pretty much had his "biography" (tales of horrible abuse, etc.) completely refuted by his own family. I wasn't there so I don't know, but I have found the truth of one's life to be interesting enough. As for his training techniques, he might be able to wow an unschooled crowd by loading a "problem" horse onto a horse trailer, but that's not hard stuff. These are stadium shows, not training. The owners won't be able to replicate the outcomes at home. I saw him work with a starting-gate phobic race filly and he nearly got everyone involved killed. That was on a BBC short series, which aired exactly ONCE, and never again. He also claimed to have originated a lot of training techniques, when in fact they have been in use for a couple of thousand years (i.e. round pens, which go back to bull fighting training on the Iberian Peninsula a VERY long time ago). He's insulting, IMO, and I'm glad he doesn't seem to be around as much anymore.
The Parellis? Incredibly good marketeers to dummies. Don't get me started.
Seahorse
Could you explain your comment about confusing a dog with a child?
It seems to me that raising a dog to be a polite member of society and raising a child to be a polite member of society take basically the same skills. Adequate exercise and consistency in the rules are certainly the foundations of both a well behaved child and a well behaved dog.
In addition, one starts out managing their entire lives and then slowly adding privileges as the child or dog shows themselves to be reliable. And in both cases you can expect unpredictable behavior with periods of backsliding and periods of brilliance during adolescence. Operant and classical conditioning certainly work on both species and many people even end up making the same mistakes in terms of bribing and using ill-timed rewards and punishments.
Maybe the problem isn't confusing a dog with a kid so much as some people's inability to raise a polite individual of either species?
Thanks, Seahorse - you've given me something to look into.
I honestly plead ignorance (no excuse, I know, I know) I had no idea that the world of humane horse training was full of such lies and deceit.
I have to admit that I enjoyed watching the episode with Cesar and Mr. Parelli - I thought his comment about the carrot and the stick was brilliant, and the methods he used for that particular horse were very interesting (at least to me, and my small experience with the animals).
Of course, that doesn't mean much - it's easy to look like a "whisperer" if you know a few key tricks. At least, this is the case with dogs, and I have no reason to believe things would be any different with horses.
Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that I have a 2 year old daughter and a 5ish dog. I do understand that children grow into something that dogs never will.
However, I firmly believe that learning to train my dog has made me a better parent (of a toddler). I am also willing to bet money that it works the other way. I am better at managing behavior and setting both of them up for success and splitting new behaviors down into tiny manageable, non-scary bits. Having learned about operant conditioning and especially the premack principle makes living with a toddler so much easier for me than for many of my friends.
Neither my daughter nor my dog understand being punished in the afternoon for something that happened in the morning. My daughter does not understand warnings about consequences, she does not have a morality, she is happy to eat dog food off the floor.
All of her clothing has labels sewn into them with identification to allow emergency personnel to contact my husband or myself should she get separated from us. She does not like strollers and therefore does in fact wear a leash because we live in the city and she will attempt to lurch into the street if not restrained.
Crib, crate, x pen, play pen, they all have basically the same function and the x pen and play pen are used for both my dog and my daughter at separate times. My daughter is happy to eat the remote control and computer mice and books.
My dog has better bowel control than my daughter. My dog also has better bite inhibition than my daughter.
My dog goes to class more often than my daughter. My daughter has play dates with other toddlers her age just like my dog used to have. When sitting around talking about how to manage toddlers I am hesitant to mention the fact that I find dog training books to be more useful at this age than parenting books. The parenting books are wonderful for reassuring me and for reminding my husband and I to do different things, but the dog training books are much more useful when trying to help her learn a new skill.
I think attacking her sexuality based on her wardrobe isn't fair. Just critique her techniques instead of accent, wardrobe, and car. Attacking her sexuality only makes you look like an insecure and threatened man.
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