THOSE MAGICAL AMERICAN DOGS My - Evolution from Training Dogs to Training People

Cesar favorite Rin Tin TinThe television set was an old black-and-white Zenith made of plastic that was supposed to look like wood. When you walked into our Mazatlán apartment, you could hear it before you could see it as you walked down a narrow hallway into the living room with a floor of large black-and-white tiles and a couch against one wall. My mother loved to watch...

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REWARDS, PUNISHMENT, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN - Is There a “Right” Way to Train a Dog?

Cesar works with Paul Diaz and Junior.I always work from my instincts—the gift I believe gives me my understanding of dogs in the first place—but I’ve also been able to add a lot of new tools to my tool kit. Dogs are my teachers, but in the past few years, in my travels around the world since I started my TV show in 2004, I’ve met some interesting human teachers as well, some...

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LOSING THE LEASH - Dr. Ian Dunbar and Hands-Off Dog Training

Dune in the parkOur van filled with the scent of freshly blooming spring flowers as we wound our way up the picturesque streets of the Berkeley, California, hills. At the crest stood Ian and Kelly Dunbar’s house—a charming Italian-style villa from the 1920s, set above a lush garden that looked out on the park and the college town bel...

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CESAR’S RULES FOR A TEACHABLE DOG … AND A TRAINABLE HUMAN

Cesar trains owners Adir and Anastasia Ionov.“I tell people, ‘You know, we all have baggage, and some dogs do too. No dog is going to be perfect,’ ” says veteran trainer Joel Silverman. “People constantly come up to me and say, ‘Joel, you know I want to get a dog, but gosh, I just don’t want to go through it barking and lunging and running out the door. I mean, I just don’t...

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HONOR THE ANIMAL - Lessons from Hollywood Animal Trainers

ChicoThis isn’t a book for professional animal trainers; it’s for dog owners who want to give their pet the healthiest, happiest, most fulfilling life ever. But you don’t need to take your dog to a casting call to learn from the current generation of humane professional animal trainers working in Hollywood. A great animal trainer is a problem-solver and someone who understands...

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A WORLD OF WAYS TO BASIC OBEDIENCE - Step-by-Step Instructions

The pack takes a walk at the new Dog Psychology Center.THE WALK Anyone who watches Dog Whisperer knows how seriously I take the concept of the walk. Walking is about much more than giving your dog exercise, although exercise is the first and most important element in my three-part fulfillment formula and a big part of why we walk our dogs. To me, however, walking side by side...

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THE BASICS OF BALANCE - The Foundation of Training

Rollerblading at the EmmysBack in the 1920s, L.A.’s majestic Shrine Auditorium was the largest indoor theater in the world, and today its looming Moorish architecture makes it just as impressive a structure. On September 19, 2006, its gleaming yellow Persian domes cast long shadows on the red carpet for the fifty-eighth Creative Arts Emmy Awards celebration. The September...

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BASIC INSTINCTS - How Dogs Teach Us

Angel sniffs for cancer.How did dog training really begin? Nobody knows for sure, of course, but in my mind’s eye I see a group of ancient humans and canines, roaming the plains together thousands of years ago and working cooperatively to find food, water, and safe shelter. Some people imagine that whatever the very first dog “trainers” did back over five thousand years ago...

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