What Is Dog Whispering?
Dog Whispering is based on ethology, the study of the behaviors of species under natural situations. Dog Whisperers claim to communicate with dogs by understanding their body language and communicating with them. It claims that dog behavior is based on wolf pack behavior and that there is a pack hierarchy at work between dogs and humans in a home. Dog Whisperers say that humans must establish themselves as dominant, in the "alpha" role in the pack.
Techniques used for the human to establish his dominant role include shaking a puppy by the scruff of the neck, as a mother wolf does to a cub; and rolling a subordinate pack member (the dog) over onto their back to expose their stomach. These are methods for the human to display their dominance over the dog.
The most well-known practitioner of Dog Whispering is Cesar Millan. His program, The Dog Whisperer, is aired by the National Geographic Channel. He has also written a number of books and has celebrity clients. However, he has been taken to task by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants for some of the scenes on his program, particularly scenes involving children and animals which could have endangered the children and which the IAABC deemed inadvisable for the dogs as well. Many other dog trainers have also criticized his methods for harshness and violence toward dogs.
Does Dog Whispering work? According to some experts, if it works, it works because the dogs obey out of fear. Dog Whispering is not considered by most dog trainers (and many Dog Whisperers) to be an actual training technique. Instead, people who practice Dog Whispering emphasize that they communicate with dogs and read their body language. They also emphasize that they work with a dog's owners as well as with the dogs.
Dog Whispering is, unquestionably, harsh and relies on dominance. Dog Whisperers justify what they do by claiming that this is the way that wolves behave in the wild. However, there seems to be little scientific evidence to support Dog Whispering as an approach to dealing with domestic dogs.