Cesar 911
Cesar Millan Steps in When a Grandmother Needs to Choose Between Keeping Her Dog or Protecting Her Grandson
An aggressive labrador retriever stands in the way of a distraught grandmother and her terrified grandson.
“He’s definitely terrified,” observes Cesar Millan.
It’s apparent from the beginning that Mason, a young boy, is absolutely terrified of his grandmother’s dog, Buddy, an uncharacteristically aggressive labrador retriever. He tenses and shrivels up as his grandmother, Leslie, yells at Buddy to quiet down.
“Buddy seems to be afraid of just about everything,” confesses Leslie.
Leslie shares that upon seeing neighbors’ dogs, Buddy will start snarling, barking and pulling at his leash uncontrollably.
“I’m afraid one day he might pull me down. It’s kind of scary to me,” shares Leslie.
“But to a child, something that loud with teeth showing and spit flying…it’s terrifying!”
Leslie is very aware of how her misbehaving dog’s behavior is having an adverse effect on her grandson Mason.
“My grandson won’t even come into the house because he’s afraid of Buddy,” Leslie says.
“And if Mason can’t come into the house, I can’t give Mason happy Grandma memories,” Leslie shares while crying.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t get the help,” she states while hugging Buddy.
Cesar certainly has his work cut out for him. He intervenes and instructs Leslie to put a slip leash on Buddy, immediately placing a sense of control over the dog.
“So we put a leash on a dog. That puts a dog in a different state of mind. Why? Because now the dog feels that the human has some kind of control,” states Cesar.
However, this doesn’t stop Buddy from growling at Cesar and Mason. Cesar snaps his fingers at the dog, but more importantly, instructs Grandma to STOP giving affection to Buddy while he is snarling. He points out the obvious - that if she is providing affection while Buddy is behaving badly, she is only nurturing the poor behavior.
“She is reinforcing the behavior she doesn’t want,” says Cesar.
Cesar wants to put this to the test, and asks Mason to go back outside and knock on the door to see if Buddy’s behavior will change.
Buddy starts to growl and pounce, but Cesar offers a correction on the spot. In a shocking moment, Buddy continues to growl and bark.
“I’m going to stop,” says Cesar.
Cesar notices that Buddy continues to jump on the couch to bark and growl.
“If he goes on the couch, what he’s doing is the equivalent of finding a bed to go under. This dog is more afraid than anything else,” shares Cesar.
While Mason and his mother believe the dog is being aggressive, Cesar confirms Leslie’s beliefs that Buddy is simply acting up because he is scared.
“Buddy uses the couch to hide as his safe place. So when he jumped up there when there was a knock on the door, I knew that he was a fearful dog that acts out because he’s afraid,” concludes Cesar.
Would you take the time to correct this behavior, or simply re-home the dog to hurry up and spend time with your loved ones?
Watch the full encounter here:
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