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| Sahzi and Cesar connected on his product shoot. |
The crew, Cesar and Sahzi were supposed to be at the house
at 2:30, so I arrived home from work a few minutes earlier. Mike was in a special training class at work,
so he wasn’t going to be able to make it for this part of the filming. The producer and several cameramen were
already here and apologized that everyone wasn’t on time. I had to sign a release for Sahzi’s photos to
be used in a print commercial. The
photographer thought she had all the releases for all the dogs, when Cesar
showed up with Sahzi and a few other new dogs.
She's only in one of the photos, which he signed for her, but click here to go to his website and see other photos from that photoshoot. I asked about residuals and they laughed and said, “Yea, just like our
residuals.” Often the production crew is
shown during the Dog Whisperer working or acting as neighbors, but they don’t
get any extra money when they appear in one of the episodes.
They told me Cesar had arrived and was getting his makeup
on. I saw the one older member of the
crew at the park with Cesar’s pack:
Junior the gray pit bull, a brindle bulldog, a black and white miniature
schnauzer, and a brown Chihuahua. The
producer told me Cesar was going to walk Sahzi around the circle path across
the street while he was being filmed and explained what Sahzi has been doing
for the last week. I caught my first glimpse
of her on the far side of the path. I
got out my camera and took some shots with my simple zoom lens.
Next they were coming down the street toward the house. I was watching Sahzi from behind the mini‑blinds
and took a few more pictures. She seemed
to see me so I stopped. Usually, Cesar
likes the dog to be very calm before they are allowed inside, and I didn’t want
to do anything to get her excited. They
kept filming as they got to the door. I
was hiding in the kitchen so she wouldn’t see me, but Cesar called me to come
to the door.
Because Sahzi is insecure rather than dominant, he wanted
her to be extra excited. He told the
viewers this was the opposite of what he normally does which is why you
shouldn’t try things at home without consulting an expert. The director asked a few questions about the
shot, but Cesar told her that right now it was about the dog, not the show, and
to just film what was happening.
Cesar reminded me of the rules: “No touch, no talk, no eye contact.” As soon as he let Sahzi in, he wanted me to
go into the problem areas for her, such as the kitchen and back room. He hoped in her excitement, she’d follow me
in without thinking.
She still wasn’t excited enough for Cesar, so he had me move
closer to the screen so she could see and hear me. She started nosing the screen door which is
what he wanted. After a few more of her
attempts to push her way in, he had me open the door. She jumped up to see me, but I went right
into the kitchen. Junior and the
bulldog, Mr. President, followed me in, but Sahzi was still unsure. I started to get a leash, but Cesar walked in
and had Junior walk in and out of the kitchen until she finally came in to see
me.
Then our little pack went to the back room. She stopped at the hallway and circled twice,
but she finally came in. The other dogs
were very interested in some dry cat food that had fallen on the floor and the
cat box, but Sahzi was just excited to see me.
Cesar said he didn’t have a piano to work with at home, so
he wanted to work on it now while she was still happy to be home. He had the crew block the dog door and had me
play a few notes. She didn’t care, but
jumped up on the couch to see me. When
he played, she didn’t even notice. She
did not want to come any closer than the couch or stairs though. I told him that the area in front of the
piano was still the scariest part of the house to her whether we were playing
the piano or not.
When I sat on the piano bench, she was willing to come over,
but she was definitely not comfortable.
When either of us played a note, she tried to get away. He explained the four stages a dog exhibits
when frightened: fight, flight,
avoidance, and submission. Sahzi never
did any fighting with Cesar, usually it was flight, or as Sahzi would say, “Run
away!” When we were at the piano, she
would turn her back and lean against the couch (avoidance). He didn’t mind this as long as she didn’t
pull at the leash (flight). When she
pulled, he had me pull back until she relaxed; flight wasn’t allowed. We worked on this for at least five
minutes. Once she was willing to look at
us, he had one of his crew go get some chicken.
He asked me if I knew she liked chicken.
I told him real meat, especially raw, was the only food she actually
cared about. The crew member brought
back some chicken flavored Trader Joe’s dog treats. Cesar said, “That’s not chicken,” though Junior
and Mr. President were very interested.
Sahzi leaned against the couch.
Once the crew brought in some turkey sandwich meat, she was very
interested and he rewarded her interest.
I played a few more notes while let her have a few nibbles of
turkey. He held it in his fist and only
let her have a few bits at a time. That
way she knows he is rewarding her with it.
Meanwhile, the crew not filming at the time was busy running
around the house keeping track of the schnauzer and Chihuahua who were checking
out all the bedrooms and the upstairs.
It looked like the Keystone Cops, doggie style.
After Cesar was convinced that I could work with her at the
piano, we took a short break.
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