I don't know the before of the video but I have the feeling that the dog had some bad encounters with the owners before CM was called in. If a dog is expecting being hit or in some way physically disciplined you have already set yourself up for an ugly encounter.
It appeared to me in the video that CM was way out of line by taking that physically aggressive stance over the dog. He was challenging that dog to a fight. Then he acted surprised that he got one. He was still in an aggressive mode when he followed the dog who had retreated. The dog was anticipating a bad encounter and decided to get in the first lick. Once people have set up a pattern of thinking in a dog's mind that dog is going to anticipate the actions of the person.
Molly did not know this guy who was picking a fight with her in a situation that she was already known to have issues with. She retreated and he followed her and continued to challenge her with his stance. She is standing there wondering what comes next and it appears she decided he wanted a fight. It is sheer ignorance for a person (a stranger at that) to aggressively challenge a dog like that in such a situation.
It's one thing to establish yourself as the leader in the relationship with a dog. It is another thing to do it by being physically dominant. You can't count on physical dominance to train a dog. The relationship has to be based on respect and trust with consistent training methods.
If anything the Dog Whisperer show in general reinforced to me just how clueless most pet owners are about dog training. |