Cesar 911
Cesar Millan Explains Why This Dog Hates People on Bikes
Even this Doberman’s owner isn’t safe when he’s on his bike!
When a Doberman continues to bark and lash out at people on bicycles, they have no choice but to meet with Cesar Millan before the dog causes any further damage.
Kevin and Lily are the owners of Bowerman, a strong and powerful Doberman. They wanted a dog like Bowerman in order to continue living their athletic lifestyle, but over time, Bowerman developed worrisome behaviors which have prevented the couple from taking their dog out without fear of him lashing out in violent fits.
“The first real incident that happened with Bowerman was we would walk around the neighborhood and he would bark at the little kids when they rode by on their bikes. And at first we were just ‘oh it’s normal, he’s just on guard’ but it seems like it got progressively worse.”
However, things took a turn for the worse when Bowerman lashed out at its owner Kevin.
“I was riding my bicycle and Bowerman got loose from the leash and he bit me.”
“It’s a huge deal because Bowerman attacks us, and he could do a lot of damage to people he doesn’t even know.”
“It’s really hard for me to control him, and he’s not even at his full height and weight yet either.”
“My worst nightmare is that he attacks a child, and that would just be devastating.”
The stakes are high, so Cesar Millan steps in and questions one thing: what’s up with their harness?
Lily explains that their trainer recommended this particular harness because it allows them to pull him from both the front and back. However, Cesar Millan explains that while this makes complete sense, a harness that pulls back in such a way actually has the OPPOSITE EFFECT, and encourages a dog to fight and pull forward aggressively.
“People often make the mistake that by using a harness it will give them more control, but if it’s used wrong, it will be the opposite,” explains Cesar.
“When the owners try to hold the dog back by pulling on the harness, their tense energy feeds the dog’s excited mind, and the dog will pull EVEN HARDER, eventually become PROTECTIVE and EVEN ATTACK,” Cesar continues.
“The harness will work as long as the brain is not excited.”
Cesar Millan deduces that the reason why Bowerman is attacking is because:
- The dog is already overly excited
- The owners are FEEDING the excitement incorrectly by pulling BACK on the harness
- This causes Bowerman to instinctively pull FORWARD and want to lunge/attack!
In order to prove his point, Cesar swaps out the harness for a slip leash and positions it high around Bowerman’s neck. He also requests that a helper go by on a bike again. However, this time, once Cesar senses that Bowerman is getting worked up and excited, he preemptively offers a correction to snap his brain out of it. This way, the Doberman understands that when a bicycle appears, he should snap his mind out of a state of over excitement!
“It’s only that one second. That one second that the brain became too excited of the situation. And that’s when the human snaps the brain out of it,” states Cesar.
Next, he wants Lily to give it a try. Cesar directs another helper to go by on another excitable object, a skateboard, and wants Lily to correctly sense and preemptively offer a correction.
We see Bowerman start to perk up and show physical signs of excitement, but once Lily offers a correction to snap him out of his trance, he immediately calms down and remains so once the skateboard goes by!
Watch the full lesson below:
Cesar 911 is on Sundays 10:00AM Eastern | 9:00AM Central! Watch for FREE on Dabl - click here to find out where to watch! You can always check our schedule here.