There was that sound again, a combination of a “pzt” and a “zpft.” Is that a sound? Or may be it’s a “tch!” You probably hear it a lot too. It’s the sound dog trainer Cesar Millan, of “The Dog Whisperer” television show on National Geographic channel makes when working with a dog. Millan emits the odd, not found in nature sound, when he apparently is trying to tell a dog, “oops too far, back off, wrong choice.”
I have started hearing the sound in classes, dog parks and in private sessions with clients….ugg. People are tching-zpfting-pzting their dogs constantly. People use it as nothing more than a way to be a nag to their dog. It’s not just a “one time will do ya” but constantly—nag-tzcht-nag. If I were a dog, I’d start tuning it out. And that’s what happens. THEN, people get angry at their dog and say the sound louder, accompanied with a nagging scruff of the dog’s neck. But hey, that guy on the television show does so it, it must work!
So it goes with the one size fits all approach to dog training and the use of “tczpt!” It masks intellectual laziness in developing a relationship with our dogs.
The problem with the overuse of the “tzcht” approach is it only tells the dog what NOT to do. How about instead teaching our dogs what to do? Oh, that’s right. That would take classes, diligence, consistency, and figuring out what makes our dog tick.
Warning: Some naughty language, but you get the picture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYbkLVcXWNo
