BC trick on YouTube

[INU]

[RuthBelle]

And the point of this "trick" is??????? Seems just a tad bit abusive to have a dog do something like that. Let's see the owner do the same trick, with the glass on his head, instead.

[Shetlander]

I couldn't watch more than a few seconds. It seemed painful on a few different levels. So he blindfolds the dog and makes it carry a glass on its nose? I should make Quinn watch since he found it beyond annoying when I taught him to "wave hi" on command.

[bc4ever]

Oh God. You're right. I watched about 3 seconds of it and had to stop it. As my brother always says about his Aussie, "He doesn't DO tricks!"

[INU]

They were on Oprah show too. He didn't blindfold on the show and the dog seemed to be happy then so I was impressed.

 

I didn't know what to think when I saw this one. I was annoyed and thought it went a little too far. But I gave a benefit of doubt... thinking that maybe the dog is trained positively and actually happy doing this. Maybe he didn't appear too happy because of the nature of the 'trick' (being slow and everything).

[Ruger's Dad]

I watched the whole video and another one where Sweet Pea is performing in front of a bunch of kids. Hey, we all do different things with our dogs. If you watch the other video, the owner really cares for the dog. I was impressed with all the padding he provided for the jumps and tricks. This kind of reminds me of the debates over us non-sheep workers.

[vanillalove]

My first reaction is "Aww, poor thing!" at how slow the dog heads up the stairs and how awful it all seems to be. On the other hand, after a few moments I wondered to myself if the trick offered anything positive. I mean, the argument could be that it takes a lot of time and interaction, as well as trust to teach a trick like that.

 

All said and done, I think the blindfold is horrible and should be tossed, and replace the glass with a plastic cup.

[Ninso]

Abusive? Cruel? Really? I don't know if the dog was enjoying doing the trick or not. Either way, I didn't see the dog get hit or even yelled at (although the tone of his really enthusiastic praise was a little scary to me). And I don't see what's abusive about a blindfold if the dog is conditioned to wear it. Someone who commented on youtube made a good point--there can be stress in the training process and this obviously wasn't a completely trained trick yet. This is the first time the dog has done it. Maybe the dog was stressed out from learning, maybe the guy really beats the dog off camera, maybe slow and steady is just the dog's natural personality. I just don't think its fair to cry animal cruely based on that video, particularly when the point seems not to be that the man is cruel in the way he trains his dog, but that it is cruel to train the dog to do the trick at all.

[nowwown]

And what was the purpose of the pole/stick the trainer was using as the dog backed down the stairs?

[Ruger's Dad]

I believe the cup used in the video was plastic. That only makes sense due to possible breakage. At first I thought it was a shot glass. He does use cans of soda in the other video. The stick was used to guide her down the steps when she got off line.

[Shetlander]

I just don't think its fair to cry animal cruely based on that video, particularly when the point seems not to be that the man is cruel in the way he trains his dog, but that it is cruel to train the dog to do the trick at all.

 

I believe one person said it "seems just a tad bit abusive." I described it as painful to watch -- not because I thought the dog was being abused but because 1. the dog seemed stressed and unsure and 2. I personally found it a bizarre trick. Those two factors make it difficult for me to watch for more than a few seconds, much less 6 minutes of training that trick.

 

The guy could be a fabulous human being and a wonderful owner who has an amazing bond with his dog. I still don't care for the trick. I also don't like that trick where a biscuit is placed on a dog's nose and he needs to wait for the command before he can flip it off and eat it. For some reason that has always bugged me though I've trained dogs to ignore food that is placed right between their front paws as they sit or lie down. It's called personal preference, I believe.

[Ninso]

My comment was not an attack on you, Shetlander, nor anybody else here. I just think that "abusive" (which was mentioned here, and "cruel" and other negative comments about the trick which were on the youtube sight) seems a bit strong when there are so many truly abused dogs in the world.

[Root Beer]

I can't say that I like this "trick".

 

I certainly appreciate the time and training that it took the handler to teach his dog, but I simply don't care for what he trained at all.

 

I know that I train my dogs to do many things that some here don't like on a number of levels. But watching this video really bothered me.

 

When I think of the video that Kat posted recently where her dog was doing all of the different tricks, it was very obvious that Dazzle was having a blast, not only doing the specific tricks, but working with Kat. It was most impressive because of the bond that was quite evident between them. I simply didn't see any indication that this particular dog found this particular behavior satisfying on any level.

 

I would much rather watch Kat's video, or one like that.

 

I also don't like how he was bellowing at her. He blindfolded her, he didn't render her deaf. I can't imagine she needed to be yelled at the whole time.

[Shetlander]

My comment was not an attack on you, Shetlander, nor anybody else here.

 

Sorry. I didn't realize you were referring to comments made on the YouTube site rather than anything anyone here said, which is why I objected.

[PSmitty]

I found it annoying as well. But I'm not into dog tricks, either. I wouldn't call it abusive, from what I saw, but then again, I didn't watch the whole thing, and I didn't have the sound up, so I didn't hear the bellowing. The dog certainly didn't seem to be enjoying herself, and frankly, I don't see the point. *shrug*

[vickim]

I don't think it's really abusive--the dog is not being hit, it's obviously well- fed and well-groomed, and no collars growing into the dog's neck, and from what I see on the other videos, this man loves his dog. I didn't really think the man was bellowing. And if he was--look at the dog's reaction. Did Sweet Pea flinch or cower at any time when the man was speaking (my Whisper will cower if anyone in the house speaks above a "normal" tone of voice) to show that is was out of character for her to be spoken to in such a manner? I do hope the glass was plastic (I refuse to feed my dogs out of glass bowls, and scold my husband for trying to do so, who assures me that dogs won't eat glass. I gesture toward his elephant masquerading as a Rottweiler, who is about as bright as a box of rocks, and ask if he is so sure about that particular creature. But I digress. Suffice it to say that my dogs don't eat out of glass and woe to anyone who tries to pull such a stunt in my house). I've seen the pole used for training while herding. In this case, I assumed that it was there to make a sound to help the dog oriented while blindfolded.

 

It certainly did not look like the dog was enjoying herself, and she did look stressed to me, but if this was a new trick, that could be explained. We are just seeing a few minutes of this video. Does he praise/reward his dog when he's done? Didn't see it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't do it. Does he help her relax by doing a simple trick she knows well after completing a complex trick? Don't know, didn't see it, and maybe not everyone believes in my philosophy of building confidence that way.

 

I'm not into tricks myself, but I can appreciate the time and effort it takes on part of the person and the dog to learn tricks.