[Erin]

I disagree with what you said about the average dog owner not seeking out a professional trainer. Training classes with the right trainer (in my opinion a positive reinforcement one) is something I would recommend for ALL dogs.

I also disagree that a dog is a little wolf. They are significantly different in key ways. Studies done on wolves do not apply to dogs. Only studies done on dogs. I understand that you might be trying to say that they are NOT people. But they are no more little wolves than little people.

I do NOT like Cesar Milan, even if I agree that dogs need exercise. He does use fear. He uses flooding which I've seen in multiple episodes Flooding is like putting you in a room full of spiders if you are afraid of spiders and saying "get over it" I also saw him take a dog who's only problem was he liked so jump in the pool when his family was swimming - and this family had a perfectly good FENCE around the pool, so it was not a safety issue - and he made a dog who looked completely thrilled to be in the pool to be completely afraid of it. He was showing major stress signals that Cesar then described as "calm, submissive". But what he was SAYING and what he was DOING were two different things. The average dog owner is just going to take his word for it, and that's scary. And furthermore, I don't care if my dog is dominant or submissive, as long as he listens to me. Submission brings problems on it's own, like submissive urination. Leadership does not mean dominance. We (the trainer and I) as well as a couple training groups I subscribe to discuss this show and difficult dogs on a routine basis. There are always better ways to address these dogs' issues. And the show basically makes it "cool" to abuse your dog because Cesar does it. I saw a lady just the other day leash popping her 15 pound dog because he wasn't walking behind her, like Cesar says he should. Are you telling me there was no other way to control a 20 pound dog? Yeah right. But people watch this show and don't even try to tell me that they don't copy him. Loki walks perfectly by my side, but it took a month or two to teach him that. I think people just want quick fixes and aren't willing to take the time to train their dogs with a humane way when Cesar can supposedly "fix" dogs in a day or two. THAT is why I don't like Cesar.

Finally, Loki's barking is not for lack of exercise. Like I said, he is reactive. Probably what a lot of people on here would just call "feisty" and leave it at that. He doesn't bark to entertain himself. He would rather sleep or chew on his stick. Barking is his reaction to stimuli that scares him, like a dog walking past the house or a dog coming too close to him in class. Exercise IS important but it does NOT cure everything. And the reason that I recommend a professional trainer is that we were able to address issues as they came up, before they became a problem. When Loki chewed something in the house the trainer helped us re-direct him. Now he only chews his stuff. She helped us with housetraining, nipping, pulling on leash, etc. as it came up. Not 6 months later when it was harder to fix.