Zak George has started a whole series on training and dealing with a very reactive adolescent German Shepherd

[minodora]

@godsgirl9 Yeah I 100% recognise that those sessions cannot realistically be expected to materialise as shown in reality, and it's likely the result of multiple hours/days of work. But it's portrayed in such a way that "this is how you teach this command, see easy?!". But I think it took me a while of working with, admittedly a relatively smart dog, to realise this completely. It's a little disingenuous but I suppose nobody would watch him if you had to sit through hours of outtakes where your the dog is constantly losing interest or wandering off or plain ignoring you. And it's still useful to show a few snippets of the different stages of learning something new. But this is why I like the Moira series - there's more of the struggle and reality rather than some unrealistic gold standard that you can seemingly achieve in 10 mins.

 

[sandra142]

@angelic_melody987 Thanks for this! I volunteer at a shelter where we get dogs straight off the street or from a bad home life. Moira reminds me of one of my babies, a 1-2 year old male German Shepherd that was found wandering in a neighborhood. Two different people tried fostering him before he was brought to the shelter. He stayed with us for over a year and we finally found a trainer who also did dog rescue to take him. As far as I know, he got adopted after some time with the trainer. He did all of the same things that Moira does in the video.

 

[angelic_melody987]

@sandra142 Yeah, this dog seems to be a classic example of the 'good dog, bad reactive habits'

Nothing jumps out as aggressive behavior, just zero impulse control, still puppy play habits, etc.

In a way it's been a good check in for me, because it helps me remember how far my guy has come on a lot of this stuff from when I adopted him. Still 100% reactive to bikes and my roommate leaving, but man, I remember when he jumped excessively, couldn't do a basic stay or leave it, etc.

 

[sandra142]

@angelic_melody987 it helps me to see this is not just normal dog behavior. the majority of the dogs I deal with are somewhat like this. My theory about J was that he was gotten as a puppy way too young, probably for kids. Never socialized with dogs or other animals. put in a "nice" kennel outside because he wasn't housetrained. Kept outside all the time with no interaction except for feeding and then "lost" because he was big and "bites" and "jumps". "sorry kids. the big guy got loose somehow. Don't worry, a friend of mine has a dog that just had puppies and they said we can have one" and so the cycle continues.

 

[john416]

@sandra142 While I don’t agree with her on everything(particularly her assess-a-pet, I prefer the SAFER method), Sue Sternberg has some good points about the state of shelters over the past 10-20 years. We sterilized all the stable dogs during the spay/neuter push of the 90’s and early 2000’s. The amount of aggressive, unstable dogs in the US’s shelters is amazing. My training facilities reactive rover classes fill up like crazy and it’s almost always rescues with serious, “I want to harm this other animal” aggression, not just display reactivity.

 

[orl1574]

@angelic_melody987 why do people find him annoying?

 

[angelic_melody987]

@orl1574 High energy, constant music, clickbait titles, etc.

I think his content is often very good, but it's also a bit draining.

 

[servadac]

@angelic_melody987 Those are exactly the same reasons I recommend him to families with kids. It keeps the kids interested and they actually get some good information out of it.

 

[angelic_melody987]

@servadac Totally can see that. Most of his viewers are probably young adults and kids.

 

[simon10]

@angelic_melody987 Not to mention long LONG promotional sequences

 

[angelic_melody987]

@simon10 Eh, pretty normal. Most of them are 1 minute long. That's a pretty normal sponsor buy.

They are easy to skip if you care.

 

[simon10]

@angelic_melody987 Agree, just filling in on why he can be annoying. Have seen 2 of these episodes already, and I agree with your post. Worthwile!

 

[martakia]

@angelic_melody987 It is EXHAUSTING

 

[balletshoes]

@orl1574 I was wondering this too. I recommend him to new pet parents and some of them come back saying "I tried watching him, but I can't stand his voice".

I think he's great. His videos are easy to understand for newcomers and he helped us tremendously.

 

[angelic_melody987]

@balletshoes As someone who works in radio, Zak George is very HOT AC format, constant music and energy. People will say they can't stand his voice, but that's pretty often people coming up with a reason they don't like it, because it's harder to describe that the general vibe of the videos isn't for them.

Same thing as like, MKBHD vs Linus Tech Tips vs something much more dry like Craft Computing.

Some people want something a bit lower key, or dryer in the same way that some people prefer the hosts on the jazz station, etc.

 

[godsunworthyservant]

@angelic_melody987 I think that’s interesting. I mostly like Zak’s videos and I don’t mind the music and energy level. I also like absolute dogs and they’re a bit manic at times. I find Kikopup’s videos hard to watch even though they have fantastic content, because her delivery is so quiet and slow and I find it hard to stay engaged.

 

[danzou]

@angelic_melody987 Yea I think Linus Tech Tips is a good analogy. Some good content but sometimes the format and energy can be a bit too much.

 

[angelic_melody987]

@danzou Right, some people need a bit lower energy, some people thrive on it.

 

[elianna33]

@angelic_melody987 “Speaking of people who like paying me lots of money for my voice...our sponsor TUNNELBEAR”

 

[youcanjustcallmedory]

@angelic_melody987 It's so good to watch him struggling. It's 2021, the adopt don't shop movement has gotten people to get dogs that are often way out of their depth as owners and trainers. Dogs with potentially not great training histories and foundational skills, that are often in their teenage/early adult years, where everything is distracting and training is hard.

The people are tired of seeing an easy demo dog. Tired of seeing a fully exercised puppy as a demo dog. Tired of seeing wicked smart border collies pick up on training fast. Tired of easy and quickly successful training. We know it's hard, and we want to see that represented in our training resources.