If You Can't Train 'Er, Cesar

As a recent puppy-owner and the husband of wife who's been hypnotized by this Dog Whisperer guy, I was interested to read Emily Yoffe's piece in Slate about applying Cesar Millan's methods to her unruly 6-year-old beagle. Wonders never cease--it worked.

One night, about a month into the retraining, Sasha jumped on the bed while my husband and I were reading, presenting herself to be patted. My husband said that she seemed like a different dog. The transformation was as dramatic as a Goth teenager getting rid of the black eyeliner and piercings and deciding to try out for cheerleading. Even my 10-year-old daughter was noticing. We had gotten Sasha as a result of her lobbying, but Sasha had been so neurotic and unresponsive that my daughter once called her "the biggest mistake of my life." But now they were playing, and my daughter could take her for walks. "She's not paranoid anymore," my daughter observed. "She's like a real pet."

On an unrelated note, my wife tells me that in his recent book, the Dog Whisperer admits to being an illegal alien.

Huh.

Related Tags: The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, Emily Yoffe