# New season of "It's me or the dog"



## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

Oh my goodness please tell me!! How do I stop a dog from nuisance barking using positive reinforcement only? Ever since we moved into this new apartment and there are all sorts of sounds that Riley isn't used to, he has been barking up a storm. I make it my mission to never correct and only use positive reinforcement, so my strategy has been to simply ignore it. My reasoning has been that if he barks and I rush over to say "No" or "Stop," I really am just giving him attention for barking.

Any advice on this would be great! I am willing to do ANYTHING involving positive reinforcement to get this to stop, no matter how time consuming. I am NOT willing to use any type of correction or bark collar, not saying anything negative about them, just my preference. Any advice guys?


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

vcm5 said:


> Oh my goodness please tell me!! How do I stop a dog from nuisance barking using positive reinforcement only? Ever since we moved into this new apartment and there are all sorts of sounds that Riley isn't used to, he has been barking up a storm. I make it my mission to never correct and only use positive reinforcement, so my strategy has been to simply ignore it. My reasoning has been that if he barks and I rush over to say "No" or "Stop," I really am just giving him attention for barking.
> 
> Any advice on this would be great! I am willing to do ANYTHING involving positive reinforcement to get this to stop, no matter how time consuming. I am NOT willing to use any type of correction or bark collar, not saying anything negative about them, just my preference. Any advice guys?


The girl who ran our obedience class a while back suggested to teach your dog to "speak" in order to be a able to give a command to "be quiet." We never did do it because Max does not bark too much.


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

Thanks for posting this. Just set it up to record.


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## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

Max's Dad said:


> The girl who ran our obedience class a while back suggested to teach your dog to "speak" in order to be a able to give a command to "be quiet." We never did do it because Max does not bark too much.


I worry about teaching him speak because I feel like in some ways it would encourage barking. I know that when I am holding something that Ry wants, he goes through all his good behaviors to try to get me to give it to him - he sits, he lies down, he rolls over, etc. I just don't want barking to add to that list!

Does anyone else have any advice on stopping barking using positive reinforcement?


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

Yes, that is one reason we did not teach the speak command to Max.


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## Mssjnnfer (Aug 9, 2009)

I met Victoria, she signed her book for me AND I asked her a question about my dogs!! She is such an amazing person and you can really tell that she is totally in it for the dogs! She took the time to answer everything AND hugged me! (Then I walked off and started crying because I was so excited LOL)


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

I've never seen her show, but I just watched some videos on the Animal Planet website of some of the episodes, and OMG some people should really NOT have dogs!


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## Aislinn (Nov 13, 2010)

I think on one of her shows she had the owners teach them a come command to get away from the window in which they were nonstop barking at everything outside.


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

The one on barking that I used was for outdoor barking but could probably be adapted for indiors. When Tess barks, I say "thank you" and check out what she's barking at, because she's usually trying to show me something. The next time, I Say "that's enough" and get between her and the direction she's barking at. As she continues I say no, go inside, and more or less herd her into the house. As soon as she's through the door I say "good girl" and shut the door. I only had to do it a few times before she got the message. I think the key was to physically move her from the barking place into another and then reward and praise her. hope that makes sense.


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## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

Got it ready to record on my DVR. I did watch a bit when I dreamed of getting a dog, now that I got one her tips can be quite useful.


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## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

OutWest said:


> The one on barking that I used was for outdoor barking but could probably be adapted for indiors. When Tess barks, I say "thank you" and check out what she's barking at, because she's usually trying to show me something. The next time, I Say "that's enough" and get between her and the direction she's barking at. As she continues I say no, go inside, and more or less herd her into the house. As soon as she's through the door I say "good girl" and shut the door. I only had to do it a few times before she got the message. I think the key was to physically move her from the barking place into another and then reward and praise her. hope that makes sense.


Thanks for the advice! I may make a new thread about nuisance barking so that more people know the topic and can chime in!


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## samchu_mammy (Jun 20, 2008)

thumbs up for this show! personally, i think Victoria's technique works better with golden since they are the human-oriented~


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

Curious what people thought about the first show. I was a little disappointed. I thought the topic of separation anxiety was great, but wish she'd offered more about what works with the dog and had done less on the couple's relationship. She didn't discuss exercise needs for the dog at all which I thought was odd. But I did learn some stuff. 

Poor Scooby! What a dysfunctional home he landed in!


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

I'm glad the show is back. I hadn't heard anything about it for quite a while - I was afraid it might have been canceled.



OutWest said:


> Curious what people thought about the first show. I was a little disappointed. I thought the topic of separation anxiety was great, but wish she'd offered more about what works with the dog and had done less on the couple's relationship. She didn't discuss exercise needs for the dog at all which I thought was odd. But I did learn some stuff.
> 
> Poor Scooby! What a dysfunctional home he landed in!


Yeah, I agree. I was really surprised that she didn't even touch on the subject of exercise for that poor dog. 
Maybe they felt that giving the husband plenty of time to complain and pout made for better television...?


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## Deb_Bayne (Mar 18, 2011)

I'll have to look that one up, never heard of her.


it's not on in Canada


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## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

Was there a new episode this weekend? Missed it if there was.

Last episode was her marriage counseling at work too, not gonna lie, the husband had a lousy attitude though, glad she showed him. Scooby looked like he was going to do well.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I feel really bad for Victoria, the families the producers have her working with are awful and don't care about the dog. 

Since she always addresses the need for exercise, I assumed that the dog in the first episode must already be getting walked adequately. But that dad was a loser. Then I watched the second episode and wanted to slap the dad in that one, he was a self centered heartless jerk, didn't care about the family or the dog.

I do agree I want to see more of the methods used for the dogs and less of the couples counseling.


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## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

There's another show "Dogs in the City" and it seems to be more of people counseling than working with the dog. 

These shows are for dogs and training methods, I think they're just being used as an excuse to have the show and give people a look at how dysfunctional people are with their pets....


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## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

Yup, the problem with these two shows is they have two, from what I can tell, great dog trainers. The way they go about showing the actual cases is pretty bad.

It's Me or the Dog, is a better show, in the sense that it concentrates on ONE dog the whole episode. She also does a good job giving advice and showing what to do to address the main problem. However, I feel they don't show enough of the training aspect of the show because she always says "there's alot to do", but they only show her doing maybe 3 things at most and the rest is talking with the owners. 

Dogs in the City, isn't a very good show imo. The guy goes around and tries to train 3 different dogs in a one hour episode. They show very little of what he actually does to help and seem to concentrate alot more on the owner/owners. For example, one dog had an aggression problem and they showed a 2 minute clip of him talking to the dog about how he can't be running the family (really was it necessary?) The first half of the show really has nothing productive.

I learned a bit more from It's Me or the Dog. If anything the other show is just more of a reality show than any real training tips.


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

I'm concerned the producers are turning IMOTD into a reality show! I haven't watched the second one yet though. 

To all who are interested--see if you can watch some of her older programs, especially the ones filmed in the UK. They were great. I haven't searched on Hulu but they might be there. 

Added: I searched for the show on Hulu and mostly excerpts. But on Discovery Channels website they seem to have of the segments in full: http://animal.discovery.com/videos/its-me-or-the-dog-most-disgusting-house-visit.html


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## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

OutWest said:


> I'm concerned the producers are turning IMOTD into a reality show! I haven't watched the second one yet though.
> 
> To all who are interested--see if you can watch some of her older programs, especially the ones filmed in the UK. They were great. I haven't searched on Hulu but they might be there.
> 
> Added: I searched for the show on Hulu and mostly excerpts. But on Discovery Channels website they seem to have of the segments in full: It's Me or the Dog: Most Disgusting House Visit : Video : Animal Planet


Honestly I think that's what it's coming to. My sis and I used to watch It's Me or the Dog a long time ago when she was in the UK because we were "prepping" to get a dog, but didn't opt to back then. 

The show has certainly changed since then. It definitely feels more of a reality show than a "Training/correctional" show. I only saw the season opener of the newest season, but it seemed more reality/counseling rather than actually working with the dog and showing her techniques. 

That other show I mentioned is, in my honest opinion, garbage. They do little to show what this "guru" does and concentrate more on the owners. In the whole one hour show, you see maybe a 30 second solution and then the owner is told to work on it, then onto the next dog.

You're very well better off looking up tips/lessons online at youtube or something. For example:


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

" In the whole one hour show, you see maybe a 30 second solution and then the owner is told to work on it, then onto the next dog."

In the first episode when he decided to teach the child how to train leave it, he had the little girl hold out a piece of lunchmeat and when the dog went for it he told her to push on the dogs chest and say leave it or something. At least this is what I remember from two weeks ago. The child is face to face with the dog and is to push the dog on the chest. I don't think that was a safe way to train it. And if any other child attempt this or even this child with another dog it may not end so nicely.

Then with the woman in the office he let the models dog get attacked in the process of teaching the woman that owns the office how to deal with her dog. I didn't see last weeks episode.


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## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

solinvictus said:


> " In the whole one hour show, you see maybe a 30 second solution and then the owner is told to work on it, then onto the next dog."
> 
> In the first episode when he decided to teach the child how to train leave it, he had the little girl hold out a piece of lunchmeat and when the dog went for it he told her to push on the dogs chest and say leave it or something. At least this is what I remember from two weeks ago. The child is face to face with the dog and is to push the dog on the chest. I don't think that was a safe way to train it. And if any other child attempt this or even this child with another dog it may not end so nicely.
> 
> Then with the woman in the office he let the models dog get attacked in the process of teaching the woman that owns the office how to deal with her dog. I didn't see last weeks episode.


Indeed he did do that, but like you I agree that a child as small as her owner should not be that close to such a big dog (It was a Bermease Mtn Dog I believe, sorry for spelling). The scenario with the model's dog could've been handled better imo. The owner probably knew her dog was going to attack (then again she didn't even think about putting her on a leash in the office so...), but his method was effective in the sense that it woke the owner up. 

30 second solution was a bit of a harsh criticism, but I was just trying to get my point across. His solutions were effective for both dog and owner, but you have to admit there was very little time on showing how it was done and everything. It seemed more like a reality show to me with the dog coming second (I mean a whole segment of him talking to a dog about how he's the new sheriff in town? Really was it necessary?) 

I missed the second episode of Victoria's show, but her show I personally find more helpful. These kinds of shows need to target the owner and their "misguidance", but it seems as though their solutions aren't getting enough TV time if you get what I'm saying. I'm just saying that each show has so much potential, but due to the general direction of television, they gotta put a "reality tv" spin on it with some unnecessary added drama. If you learn something from each show then great. If you find each show fun to watch then awesome. Not trying to get under anyone's skin or criticize the shows they choose to watch, just saying that I think both shows could spend more time focusing on training the dog and addressing the problem instead of using what I call "filler" and calling out the owners. I still learned a bit from both shows, but it's the kind of program that where I think time could've been spent a little better, especially compared to older episodes of It's Me or the Dog.


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

We really don't know if the woman in the office really learned much or not. And we don't know if his method caused the other dog to become fearful itself. Tethering the dog really doesn't solve the dogs problems. 

The the mtn dog did respond well to their other leave it command but it was definately not a safe method of teaching and as dogs don't generalize well in a different setting we have no idea if it will continue to work.

I haven't watched Victoria's show in awhile but I do like her.


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## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

solinvictus said:


> We really don't know if the woman in the office really learned much or not. And we don't know if his method caused the other dog to become fearful itself. Tethering the dog really doesn't solve the dogs problems.
> 
> The the mtn dog did respond well to their other leave it command but it was definately not a safe method of teaching and as dogs don't generalize well in a different setting we have no idea if it will continue to work.
> 
> I haven't watched Victoria's show in awhile but I do like her.


Well considering at least restraining her dog by putting it on a leash from lunging onto people or other dogs never really crossed her mind makes me pretty sure she learned little to nothing with her time with the trainer. I mean they spent a good 3 minute segment arguing and her pretty much wanting to "dive in and fix it ASAP".

The mountain dog was an "easy" case compared to the two other dogs on the show, but him letting the little girl try it with such little practice time (at least what was shown on tv with him doing it) was unsafe, especially for a girl who probably weighed 1/3 of the dogs weight. 

I'm sure his intentions are good, but just like where the show takes place (NY), the show moved a bit too fast and was more about "the next scene" than anything, imo. He only has so much power in what segments make it onto the show, if any, but I feel more time could be spent on showing his correctional methods. I feel that I was only left with half of a lesson, like he gave me the tools I needed and the first 3 steps, but left me to figure out the other 3 steps. 

Victoria's show is fairly good in terms of showing lessons and practicing. A bit off topic, but alot of Victoria's video clips on lessons is on youtube and I've been watching a few for awhile now, very helpful. Informative, straight to the point, and best of all, no need to see any of the owners.


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## Jackson's Mom (Aug 29, 2011)

dezymond said:


> Honestly I think that's what it's coming to. My sis and I used to watch It's Me or the Dog a long time ago when she was in the UK because we were "prepping" to get a dog, but didn't opt to back then.
> 
> The show has certainly changed since then. It definitely feels more of a reality show than a "Training/correctional" show. I only saw the season opener of the newest season, but it seemed more reality/counseling rather than actually working with the dog and showing her techniques.


Totally agree! I'm a first time dog owner and when I first got my pup I watched every episode. The older ones were very helpful and I learned a lot. They also made me appreciate my dog and I'm very grateful he doesn't have the kind of issues those dogs do!


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

Did anybody watch tonight's episode? It featured a beautiful young golden retriever being neglected/abused by apathetic and lazy owners. They didn't bother feeding the dog for days at a time, didn't house train her, didn't clean up after her so there was poo and pee all over the house, didn't walk or play with her, they left the door open so the dog could get out on a nearly daily basis though they live close to a freeway, etc. Victoria threatened to take the dog away. I think she should have done it. By the end of the program, all is sweetness and light, with two out of the four willing to spend some time with the dog, but I really doubt that people who are that indifferent to their dog's welfare will change over the long term. It made me mad to watch.


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

GinnyinPA said:


> Did anybody watch tonight's episode? It featured a beautiful young golden retriever being neglected/abused by apathetic and lazy owners. They didn't bother feeding the dog for days at a time, didn't house train her, didn't clean up after her so there was poo and pee all over the house, didn't walk or play with her, they left the door open so the dog could get out on a nearly daily basis though they live close to a freeway, etc. Victoria threatened to take the dog away. I think she should have done it. By the end of the program, all is sweetness and light, with two out of the four willing to spend some time with the dog, but I really doubt that people who are that indifferent to their dog's welfare will change over the long term. It made me mad to watch.


OH, Ouch! Taped it but haven't watched yet. I know she does follow up with owners usually. Wonder what she does when dog has been neglected... She seems like a genuinely caring person... Watched the second segment the other night. Had pretty much the same reaction as I did to the first. I really don't' care too much about her fixing the humans' relationships (sounds cold, but not why I watch the show!). I wanted to learn something about training dogs... Sigh.


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## Jackson's Mom (Aug 29, 2011)

GinnyinPA said:


> Did anybody watch tonight's episode? It featured a beautiful young golden retriever being neglected/abused by apathetic and lazy owners. They didn't bother feeding the dog for days at a time, didn't house train her, didn't clean up after her so there was poo and pee all over the house, didn't walk or play with her, they left the door open so the dog could get out on a nearly daily basis though they live close to a freeway, etc. Victoria threatened to take the dog away. I think she should have done it. By the end of the program, all is sweetness and light, with two out of the four willing to spend some time with the dog, but I really doubt that people who are that indifferent to their dog's welfare will change over the long term. It made me mad to watch.


Me too! I wish she had taken the dog away. Like you said, I'm afraid the change won't be long term. Poor Snooki!


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

Finally watched that one. My instincts are that the dog will be OK. Hope so. Mostly I say that because the man finally broke down and admitted he'd resisted having a dog in the first place because his heart had been broken when his last dog died. He seems to really love Snookie. I do think the issue with the door being left open by teenagers coming and going isn't truly resolved though...

I watched some Cesar Milan with my sister yesterday. It was interesting to me that I didn't really learn a lot about dog training. A lot of him talking. I also watched the newer show "dog in the City" ? Didn't learn a lot there either. I think I still get more usable information from Victoria.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

I don't know if any of these shows are _supposed_ to be anything more than entertainment. You might pick up a good tip here or there, but I don't think they're setting out to turn their audience into dog trainers.

I'm liking Dogs in the City. In fact, I think Justin needs to come to Ohio to help me get Riley over the last remaining hurdle. And I'm sure it would take a loooong time, so he could just move in next door, or something.


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