Dog Whisperer

Do not attempt the techniques you're about to see without consulting a professional.

On this special episode of Dog Whisperer, Cesar goes to Oz.

Australia is famous for its boomerangs, its didgeridoos and the Great Barrier Reef.

A lesser known fact about the residents of this southern continent is how crazy they are about their canines.

There are nearly four million dogs down under, and three of

them are about to come face-to-face with the Dog Whisperer.

On my quest to rehabilitate the dogs and humans of the land down under,

I visited two of Australia's most magnificent states, New South Wales and Queensland.

In every case, you'll see that it doesn't matter what kind of accent you speak with,

you'll still need to learn how to communicate with your dog using the

universal language of calm assertive energy.

When people come over to our place, if they try to get in the yard, he will get in their face.

That'll escalate and he'll turn on Paris.

You can see it in his eyes, he just gets so focused.

He almost becomes possessed.

The thing I fear the most is if Christine has to deal with a fight, that she may in fact get bitten.

As soon as I get the lead out to take the dogs for a walk, Astro starts barking.

Trying to get out the front door, it's craziness.

He's always barked in the car.

If I get onto the exercise bike, Astro starts barking.

I get frustrated, I do get angry, it's really hard to live with.

I just can't control him.

I didn't notice the postman coming, so he drove then toward me to give me the

letters, at which point Sydney grabbed onto his knee.

Sydney felt he was protecting her, but it was a good nasty bite.

I'm afraid that my dog will harm another person and in the end have to be put down.

When good dogs go bad, there's one man who's their best friend, Cesar Millan.

No dog is too much for me to handle.

I rehabilitate dogs, I train people.

I am the Dog Whisperer.

Our first Australian story actually begins halfway around the world in Ireland.

In Ireland we had a big property and we were farming and there was forestry.

I went for a very brief period in Ireland with no dog and it was like a part of me was missing.

We were given Match by a neighbor.

We were in sheep country and we were using Match as a sheep dog.

We purchased Sydney because we also had deer on the farm.

Sydney is an all-around hunting dog.

He's a pointer, setter, retriever.

That's his breed.

And so we were training him to become a hunting dog and he was coming along very well.

At the end of 2002, we moved to Australia and we brought the dogs with us.

For the two dogs from Ireland, the move wasn't just a change in

hemisphere, it was a completely different life in the Sydney suburb, Eleanor Heights.

They had a big lifestyle change in Ireland.

They had free rein on a very big farm.

They didn't have jobs, you know, perhaps retrieving was

a job, but not in the same way as they had in Ireland.

So now they are an enclosed area.

Over here in Australia, they had to be behind the fence.

It's completely different now for them.

About two and a half years ago, we went away.

And the dogs were here.

My father-in-law was looking after them.

And when we came back, my father-in-law told me that a man on a bike had been at

the front gate there and had hit Cedny with a stick.

And ever since then, he's been different.

Cedny's fear of motorbikes is tested daily since mail carriers in Australia чаid postie bikes.

It was just over two years ago now and I arrived home and had put the roller door

up, I didn't notice the postman coming and I was holding one of my children as well

as being pregnant so he drove then toward me to give me the letters at which stage

Sydney was barking quite a lot and I expressed, oh he's harmless, he's all

bark, don't worry, at which point Sydney ran from behind us and then grabbed onto his knee.

The postman was shocked but it didn't hurt him terribly much.

Cesar Down Under, Australia, Sydney, Paul Watson, fitness coach, Sydney was

obviously more protective while Amanda was pregnant.

You could well understand that Sydney felt he was protecting her.

In 2008 the Australia Post logged almost 400 dog attacks, most of them red postie bike related incidents.

They informed me that our dog has been considered dangerous and therefore we

won't have any parcels delivered to our house anymore.

We'll have to drive up to the post office to pick them up.

After the incident the Rochas managed to keep Sydney away from the posties.

But while on a family visit to a nearby farm they wandered into an unexpectedly risky situation.

Like a lot of farms they have red postie bikes that they do the farm chores on.

We were talking to the worker he was straddled over the red postie bike for

about 10 minutes and then he said oh I'm going to have

to go off and do some work and he kicked over the bike.

Before they could stop him Sydney was charging the bike and clapping his teeth on the workers knee.

It was a good nasty bite.

Yeah he was in quite a lot of distress, the poor man.

I'm afraid that my dog will harm another person and in the end have to be put down.

If I was bitten by a dog and I didn't have enough assurances from the owners that

they could control the dog in other situations, I would insist for other

people's safety that they would put the dog down.

And that's why we were so keen and so anxious to have Cesar

come and have a look at the situation and see what he could do.

And that's how a Mexican-American from California came all

the way to Australia to help an Irish dog named Sydney.

How can I help you guys?

I've got a Weimaraner named Sydney and he used to love the postman.

And about two and a half years ago he was hit by someone on a red postie bike with a stick.

And ever since then he's had a strong dislike for anyone on a red postie bike.

And he has bitten... So he lost the trust with somebody hit.

And anything with the motorcycle sound is... Yeah.

It's definitely an association with the bike without a doubt.

But have you tried to be on a bike and just introduce the trust through somebody familiar or more intimate?

Not, not, no, we haven't.

The way out is the way in, so you actually have to let him experience that and let

him experience in a different frame of mind.

And so you're mentioning if the bike is moving, it's not so much of a problem.

Yet when we're here, I mean, the bike, of course it's moving because it's a postman's bike and he arrives.

Sydney runs up and barks and barks.

So you're not able to stop him at that state?

Or would you try?

I've managed to, after speaking to the animal behaviorist, she said to pet him.

Calm down.

Calm down.

Yeah.

Pet him when he's in that state?

Mm.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Because that's kind of dangerous.

Yes.

Because if you pet him at the wrong time, you're nurturing that state of mind.

It goes against the nature of rehabilitation, you know, that you pet a dog when he's agitated.

Okay.

You know, they don't rationalize.

No.

You know, so you might get a dog into a lower level of intensity.

And then slowly you're moving into it, but you're still moving a dog that is in

a, you know, probably quiet, but still anxious.

So that silence is to me more powerful than a dog that is barking.

Okay.

Because they're holding on energy and they just deliver the energy versus a pop, pop, pop.

You see it coming.

Yeah.

Even though he bit already two people, we're still in a preventing mode because three strikes and you're out.

It's only two strikes, so we got here on time.

What I'm doing is I'm putting a scent that he actually loves.

He loves this thing inside of his dry liver.

So what my understanding is so far is that he doesn't react to the sight of the

motorcycle or the smell of the motorcycle, which is actually really good.

His traumatic event is related to the sound.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring the motorcycle

in and see his reaction from a nose-eyes point of view.

In America, you know, the kids go crazy when they see an ice cream truck.

So I'm going to create almost like an ice cream truck, but obviously this is like a liver truck.

Okay.

So that's Sydney there.

So that bark, it's a strong bark, don't get me wrong, but nothing to be worried about.

The reason why Sydney retained what happened in the past is because nobody did anything in the now.

Everybody hold down to the past.

That's how they hold down to the past.

So to start anew now, I have to reintroduce the red postie bike in a nose, eyes, ears format.

That's, that's what I wanted to see.

That's, that's what I want to see.

I want them to, very good, look at that.

So we introduce in the motorcycle as scent, sight, yeah, scent, sight, very good.

So we're introducing the postie bike as a liver bike.

There you go.

So I'm introducing at a low intensity, the, the, the sound of the motorcycle,

so I want to see if he reacts at that level, he didn't, you know, reacted the wrong way.

He, he stay focused on the foot, nose, eyes.

Ep 9.

Cesar Down Under, Australia, Sydney, Paul Watson, fitness coach, Well,

it was obvious to me when I move into the motorcycle that he was getting anxious

when I moved it, when he start hearing certain sounds.

Ep 10.

Cesar Down Under, Australia, Sydney, Just a little bit afraid to strike.

He was targeting from a physical point, you know, or you can feel, obviously I was

feeling it, and how he was following my leg, and how you can see his expression change.

See that sign?

That's the signage.

And the seriousness of a bite coming your way.

Very serious feeling, it's a silence.

Ep 9 Coming up, more red-hot postie bike action.

In Queensland and South Australia, you can see the world's longest continuous

fence, which is more than 3,400 miles long.

It was built to keep sheep safe from wild dogs called dingoes.

Of course, it is called the dingo fence.

Stay tuned for more true tales from Down Under here on the National Geographic Channel.

In a suburb of Sydney, a Weimaraner named Sydney attacks riders of the red postie

bikes that are ubiquitous throughout the country.

Cesar decides to make the bike more appealing by transforming it into a treat delivery system.

See that little light?

He's in there.

And the first thing he's going to, if he bites, he's going to bite this leg.

That's why I'm moving this leg very methodically.

Like this leg doesn't see a guy, he's dead.

I was very methodical with the steps, you know, step number one, or picture number one.

I want you right here.

Big step.

Big step.

Big step.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Ah, sit.

Good boy.

That's a good boy.

Sit.

What I'm doing with the sound right now is asking him that

when he hears the sound, C Down, you're going to get something.

Hey.

That's it.

That's a good one.

Now, once we have the body and the mind on that position, we're going to have a lot

of fun, then we got to do it without the leash.