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| Sahzi Nips Cesar's German Shepherd Puppy |
When Sahzi and I go for a walk, she feels she has to protect
me from all my neighbors and their dogs.
She and our other dog Zeke walked fine together when we first got her,
then she started her “charge and retreat” act.
When a stranger or dog approaches, she lunges, barks, shows her teeth,
sometimes nips, and then runs back. She
used to do this with most dogs, and young or elderly people, but now it can be
anyone. There may be very little
warning. A dog or stranger can be almost
past us, the she charges. Even when a
friend comes along for the walk, she will be fine for a few minutes, then
lunge, and then be fine again until the next lunge.
Cesar wants most of the walk to be serious. Sahzi should be at my side, never in front,
on a very short leash, but held loosely like a purse. If she stops to look, sniff, turn away, a
short jerk to the side is all I should give for correction. Usually she is on my left, so the leash
should be in my left hand, and jerked quickly to the right. A quick bend at the elbow does the trick.
First, though, we had to get out the door. He had me demonstrate preparing Sahzi for the
walk. She was excited, but sat, sort of,
while I put her leash on. I had her sit
at the door until I released her to go outside.
Cesar told me, That was dog training, not dog psychology.” She was very alert and not calm at all even
though she was sitting. He wanted her to
be happy and excited, but not too excited, before the walk. He said, “Right now she’s a 10. We want her to be a 5.”
So sitting before we go out wasn’t what she needed. We need to wait together at the door until
she is relaxed enough, even bored enough, to exit at a nice even pace. It took several very long tries until Cesar
said it was good enough, but not perfect.
We started to walk.
Earlier he mentioned that he had seen me walking her with the cameraman
during the morning. She was too far
ahead and too much in control. I
mentioned that I was confused by exactly what to do with Sahzi. I have seen him allow timid dogs to take the
lead during the walk. I have seen him
use a small, quick kick from the side and behind to correct dogs. He told me that is why the show always says
not to try this at home without consulting a professional. Different dogs need different techniques. It was so wonderful having Cesar there to
answer my specific questions and tailor the process just for Sahzi. Since she is so insecure, he said I should
never use the little kick since we want her to trust me completely. She does need to remain slightly behind my
lead so that she knows I’m taking charge and can be confident in my alpha role.
Walking with Cesar was the strangest event of the day. Here we are, Mike, Sahzi, and I, calmly
walking next to a well known celebrity while two cameramen walk backwards in
front of us, a sound man holds a boom mic over our heads, the director and one
more technician follow at a discreet distance.
Several high school track teams are practicing for distance and we turned
a lot of heads.
We walked from the house through the park over to the lake. Mike
asked if taking her near the dog park fence was a good way to teach her not to
“fence fight.” Cesar said, yes, let’s
go. First we walked near the small dog
park. We all agreed laughingly that this
section would have the noisiest dogs.
Several of the small dogs came to the fence to fence to sniff, but no
barking. Sahzi just kept her even pace
which is quite unusual. All the dog
owners in the dog park were frozen in place staring at Cesar with slack
jaws. As one little blonde terrier barked
and came running up, the owner yelled, “Sorry, Cesar.” Cesar called back, “You are helping us. Thanks.”
No fence fighting so we continued to the fence in front of
the large dog park. One of the
cameramen, Chris, went inside to follow our progress from the other side of the
fence. No dogs even noticed us, though
the slack-jawed stares from owners continued and all conversation within the
park stopped. Then Chris, walking
backwards, tripped over a fire hydrant near the fence. The crew all laughed and gave him hard time,
asking if the camera was okay because he could easily be replaced. He was embarrassed but fine.
As we got near the entrance, a husky mix started barking
loudly at our little group. The cameras
turned to the husky. We all thought
Cesar would take the opportunity to use this dog to work with Sahzi and what a
lucky owner the lady nearby was. Instead
the lady, I use the term loosely, yelled at the cameramen to stop photographing
her. They turned their cameras away and
she continued to yell at them to move and get away from her. As this was a public park, they didn’t move,
and we all just stood there looking at her.
She finally went in to the park muttering, “Stupid people.” We all laughed and Cesar mentioned that some
humans really don’t want to be trained.
When we got back to the edge of the park near our house,
Cesar asked his staff to bring Junior and another dog over to the park. Junior and an adorable three-and-a-half-month
old German shepherd puppy came over. The
puppy had huge paws and one floppy ear.
He immediately went to say hello to Sahzi who gave him a bark and
nip. Cesar got between them, helped me
correct Sahzi and said it was fine because all puppies are naïve and need to
learn to read dog body language.
We started walking again.
I had to keep an eye on Sahzi and correct her if she started showing
signs of going after the other two dogs, but if I kept too close a watch, Cesar
told me to look up and relax. I’ve heard
him say this on his show and finally got to tell him that I found it very
difficult to watch, not watch, be ready, but be relaxed all at the same
time. He said I was right, and it was difficult
but just takes practice and knowing your dog and feeling the dog’s body
language through the relaxed leash. He
said the more relaxed I hold the leash, the more I’ll be able to feel.
As we walked back all three dogs in “our pack” were very
content and Sahzi was very comfortable.
He passed Junior’s leash on to me.
I felt like I had my Zeke back.
(Zeke was my wonderful red cattle dog who passed away in August.)
When we got to the grass at the edge of the park, Cesar said
they could all have a good sniff time now.
The dogs sniffed the grass, ate the grass, did their business, and
relaxed. He suggested that if a walk is
60 minutes, take the first 40 minutes for serious walking, then take 10 minutes
to relax, then another 10 minutes serious walking back to the house.
In front of the house, Cesar mentioned that he would like us
to work with Sahzi for a few weeks until she is no longer afraid of her house,
then he will take her to his Dog Psychology Center in Saugus to socialize her
with his pack since she has no social skills.
Then he walked back to his RV for the camera and a very
exhausted Sahzi got to go back to her home.
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