Coupling two dogs together...

I would like to ask Kevin what he thinks in his opinion is going on here taking into account the information below and the two video's.....



A couple of videos of my dog helping a young (12 month) Border Terrier......the owner can't get the dog to take any notice of him and constantly tries to pull him on the lead in all directions, with me the dog just walks fine, the owner thinking that its just my ability with dogs and he is a lost cause in that regard, in an attempt to show him its not me per se I told him my dog could walk his dog better then him.....He didn't believe me so I coupled the two dogs together as you will see below......this is the first time I have ever done this with my dog, while its not perfect I think you will be able to see that in general the Border Terrier is learning from my dog.........Which I can assure you he is far better with him than his owner is....

This was 5 months or so ago and the owner is much better now, but is still work in progress, the dog however is a superb dog in my view, highly intelligent and quick to learn, they are one of the oldest terrier breeds in the UK and can have a high prey drive as they were used to hunt foxes, badger, marten, otters, mice and rats.....and this one sheep as the owner nearly found out to his cost when he decided to unsuccessfully get into a field of sheep!......he is fearless to say the least!

Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. As far as dog training goes ... leave it to the dogs! A well-balanced dog like little Max, or my boy Tai, can do far more than us clumsy, "stupid" humans can.

That little guy knows what he's doing James !!

The thing that's interesting about coupling, and I began to ponder this when I would observe the dog walkers with a string of five to ten dogs on the city streets walking in perfect sync, when I was trying to teach one dog to heel, was that it subtracts the dynamic of ego and control from the equation. In other words, in short order the dog begins to perceive that it's entangled in an auto-tuning/feedback dynamic (which I purport is the basis of all animal learning on a far deeper plane than classical or operant conditioning is able to articulate) so that the dogs will quickly learn to align and work together toward a common flow pattern, i.e. follow the human since your dog has a strong drive to do so, and this imparts a "drift" to all the move-countermoves that their mutual interference generates. So it's like having two marbles constantly colliding into each other on an inclined plane, they are going to tend to smooth this out into a wave function and roll together toward the path of least resistance.

I do believe that balanced dogs are very good at helping dogs with 'issues' especially a pack of balanced dogs, people could send their dogs to 'boot camps' where their dog can learn to be a balanced dog from the balanced pack and then if needed from to time send them there again for a 'top up' or reminder of how to be balanced.....

To me its us humans that mess dogs up either intentionally or unintentionally, by way of keeping them behind four walls for too long, not enough exercise / mental stimulation and generally just not allowing them to be dogs.

My idea is that, rather than having dog rescue centres (which we all know do not work) have centres around the country with balanced packs of dogs, not in cages and have a process that any new dog that needed to be rescued would be held in a holding pen and gently introduced to the balanced pack, that way anyone adopting a dog would be adopting a balanced animal with a far higher chance of a successful relationship along with guidelines to educate the owner how to keep the dog balanced.

Certain breeds or too large a pack may be a problem, if so then have multiple packs at the rescue centres and fit any new comer into the pack that best suits the dog and the pack......

Another benefit would be that long term 'inmates' could have a normal and happy life and not stuck in a small cage for most of its existence.....I have seen the result of dogs that have been in small cages in rescue centres for 3 years plus, these places have a no kill policy, in my view it would be kinder to destroy these animals than the life they have.....the dogs I saw that were long term 'inmates' just looked completely mad.....great big wide staring eyes all the time, lash out at everyone and everything, showed no normal dog behaviour whatsoever......I can't really find the words to describe how bad these dogs were.....they are images that will haunt me forever and while I held myself together in front of the staff at the rescue centre I broke down to tears driving home with the sheer madness and sadness of it all......these dogs are hidden from public view.....somehow the rescue centre people think they are doing a good thing.... it beggars belief.....

At the risk of sounding pedantic, I would like to emphasize that I feel flow is more fundamental than balance because a state of balance can only accommodate so much energy, whereas through flow, two individuals can achieve a state of phase which can channel unlimited energy. So in police dog training the dog is acclimated to every imaginable thing being thrown its way as a precursor to the bite, and so it all becomes just a part of the continuum, and then the dog becomes impervious to kids throwing tantrums, civilians acting like punks, a distraught or freaking out victim. You don't have to teach the dog to resist biting these people, you just have to teach him where his energy goes at full bore, i.e. the criminal who wants to fight, and this outlet for its energy then becomes the dog's means of tuning out irrelevant data that is out-of-phase with its mission in life. This is why I believe the group on the hunt is the source of cooperation, because when the moose is alive and running, all the wolves are aligned and in sync and exhibiting the very essence of cooperation and teamwork. But then when the moose is dead on the ground, the pack reassembles over the carcass and now there's only enough for one. They're all too frightened to be close to each other, most especially the alpha, with all that energy no longer on the move.

Perhaps police dog training is not as good as it used to be in your day Kevin, well not in the UK anyway from what I have seen, the police dogs seem switched on to attack mode at anything that moves......

With regard to you saying flow is more important than balance, after giving that some thought you may have a point.....

We know that Cesar Millan has a successful pack of dogs that he uses to help dogs with issues, they are all spade and neutered of course so in general I guess that helps although in my view with some dogs it can create problems that were not there before, especially with female dogs....

Anyway if you look at the daily schedule below that his dogs undertake it would seem a lot of this would include the 'flow' you are talking about....

This is the packs daily shcedule
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6.00am to 11.00 am..............................4-5 hour walk and run all 40 odd dogs.

11.00am to 12.00 am.............................water and rest period

12.00 to 2.00pm.....................................feeding, each dog fed in order of calmness.

2.00pm to 6pm.......................................groups of 10 taken out roller blading, bikes or swimming in hot weather.

They are in the main in rest mode for the rest of the day.

I believe that what works for Cesar are those methods that tap into flow. When he gets away from flow in favor of a concept, this is where I do it differently. That being said, by acting like a predator (that is softened by his preyfulness, i.e toys, open nature, expressive body language, and simple movement, and that he likes dogs), he is able to access the "emotional battery" which positive methods cannot do, and this is why dogs experience a sense of relief when these deeper energies come up to the surface, and is why they're fighting/disobedient in the first place. Again, if this sense of relief is reinforced into a full time feeling by flow, then the dog is healed. So while I make many distinctions and have my points of outright departure as well as a philosophical difference, this is what I like about his work.

This is where TV companies I believe mis-represent his work, in the TV shows in most cases it seems like a quick fix when Cesar comes along and does his stuff, in his books he makes it quite clear its not a quick fix and for the dog to continue with 'good' behaviour then the owners will have to carry on where he left off.....in his view to maintain balance or in your view to maintain the flow.....

Have you met Cesar Millan?

I've never met Cesar, and he believes in his message and show biz is show biz so if he wants to reach a wider audience there must be pragmatic realities to a big broadcast. I'm looking forward to articulating my full model and putting it out there. I find our exchanges very productive.

You have a very refreshing attitude and have shown patience with me to try and understand your theories, which I appreciate..

I am of average intelligence and at times have struggled to understand some of it, with persistence and asking you questions I now have a pretty good idea where you are coming from, I just wonder if somehow you will need to explain your theories in a more simplistic way to a larger audience?...with the option of a more complex explanation for people who desire that.....

I have also enjoyed our exchanges and glad you feel the same way...