Dog Whisperer

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

On this episode of the Dog Whisperer.

When I take on walks, it's impossible.

She puts her tail between her legs and she's just paralyzed with fear,

it looks like, and ends up kind of pulling me back home.

Molly will chase any tire.

She has no preference.

Molly is so small that if one of the tire tractors would get her, there would be nothing we could do.

Eventually, she's going to get hit and it will kill her.

She gets very, very anxious whenever I go out to the garage and work with my air compressor.

She just tears out for the furthest part of the property so that she can hide.

It's like a panic attack.

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.

Growing up on a farm was the best experience in the world.

I'd recommend it to anyone.

It was so different than what I see nowadays.

When I was old enough to walk, I was out trying to help.

I mean, always trying to do something.

I was always with the animals.

I grew up in the cow lot.

That's just the way it was.

I ran around barefoot.

I got to the city and they said, you have to wear shoes.

And I said, what?

Three generations of Eggers have farmed this land, and always there's been a working farm dog by their sides.

Molly's first and foremost duty is to be my dad's working companion and help us work the cattle.

Because cattle is a big job.

You can't do it by yourself a lot.

You have to have that dog to help you go around, whatever.

She does a very good job of that.

We're really happy with her doing that.

Blue Heelers are bred to work livestock.

That's what they are.

They're a livestock dog.

And, you know, that's their top priority.

You know, I've had her kicked before by a cow.

And rolled her 10, 15 feet.

And she gets up and she's right there again.

She will not back off.

There's a strict division between a working dog and a pet.

Molly has completely combined those roles.

We just fell in love with her.

She's more than just a working dog to us.

She's a sweetheart and she's my dad's best friend.

I have never seen my dad play with a dog before and he does that with Molly and

it's just hilarious because he doesn't do that.

He's a farmer, he's gruff and that's him.

Even though Molly won Mark's heart, the Eggers soon realized she had a life-threatening obsession.

She started biting tires when she was probably 8 months old, 10 months old,

I mean old enough to be out on the farm and be around the moving tires and then

she just decided it was a game one day and we don't even know how it started.

Molly will chase any tires, anywhere from a four-Wheeler tire to a tire this size.

It doesn't make any difference.

She has no preference.

She's been ran over three times and she's a year and a half old.

Most dogs, if they get hurt one time, they'll back off and learn from it.

For some reason, she's got a draw at the tires that she wants more.

Her first initial hit, she bit the tire and couldn't release her teeth and so she

got flopped with the tire and then she got hit again and

her teeth got pushed up through the roof of her mouth.

Then she got hit a third time and lost her eye because

the pressure of it popped her eye right out of her socket.

Molly is so small that if one of the tire tractors would get hurt, there would be nothing we could do.

Eventually she's going to get hit if we don't stop this and it will kill her and

that's not something that we want to handle.

She's part of our family.

We just don't want her to die.

Dog behavior expert Cesar Millan drives 160 miles outside of Omaha to visit the.

Eggers only to find himself in familiar surroundings.

So here we are in Ruskin, Nebraska.

You know we're surrounded by cows, we have pigs, frogs, everything.

It feels at home.

Now I can totally say I feel at home.

Cesar grew up on a working farm in Mexico, but city dog Daddy isn't used to the country lifestyle.

He's a city boy.

You're a city boy, Daddy.

Thanks for having me on your farm.

How can I help you?

Well, we got a dog that bites tires.

Any kind of tire?

Any kind of tire.

Moving or stationary.

A lot of farm dogs bite tires and tires.

It's like you're going to chase cars and stuff, but a lot of times if they get

rolled over or nicked a little bit, they'll learn.

But Molly seems to not learn, so she's down to one eye.

Wow, and this is cars belong to you guys, or cars belong to neighbors?

This is my pickup.

She's either riding in the back of my pickup, or she'll run beside me or ahead of me.

My pickup when I'm doing chores, or just around the place here.

And all three times it happened right here in the place.

Have you ever disciplined her?

Yeah, you know, we stopped and got after her.

Usually it's just her and me, you know, doing chores.

And if I'm in the pickup, it's hard for me because she's just, she's going around and

she might be back here and I'm looking for her.

I mean, she's quick.

And she'll just come around and she'll nip all four tires.

But how far are you going in the discipline part?

Like when you tell Molly, stop Molly, what are you doing?

Right, we tried an e-caller on her and that worked for a little bit but it was too big.

And like if I'm standing outside and I see her do it, I'll say, Molly, no.

And that, she'll stop right away.

And if you're looking at her, she won't do it.

She knows it's wrong.

She knows she's not supposed to do it.

But she, if you're not looking, she's on the tire.

Right.

So when you're by yourself, it will be really hard for her to feel that you're looking at her.

Right.

Or I'll be in the tractor and she'll be biting the side of

the tractor tire, but I can't see that from where I'm at.

We're in a position where a dog can actually get killed by their own cars.

So we can't play around.

Timing is very important, and we've got to come out with the right strategy so we can save Molly's life.

Have you tried anything else besides e-collar?

No.

Just the scolding.

With a case this serious, I really felt that the only

suitable option was the electronic collar or the e-collar.

All right, well, I have another e-collar.

Maybe you want to try it.

I think the collar part is probably, you know.

Yeah, because you don't have to get out of the truck.

Like a normal dog.

Normal dogs stay away from things that move, you know.

I know a lot of people have dogs like that, but I've never had a dog bite tires and chase cars.

Yeah, that's two different things, you know.

One, they just chase.

They don't bite.

This is a very extreme case scenario, you know.

Molly is the typical working dog for a farm.

So Molly will be miserable if you put her away or if you tie her down.

Using the tool that we are going to use, maintain the freedom that she expects from us.

So we really have no choice.

We have to come up with a tool that can help to keep her alive.

This is a very good remote control collar or e-collar.

This is how a receiver looks like.

As you see, it's just like a normal collar that has a little box here.

Well, it's the same concept as when you put a collar on a dog, you know.

It can't be too tight, it can't be too loose.

In this case, these two prongs have to touch the skin of a dog to get the

sensation the dog needs to receive from whatever case you're working on.

Let's pretend my hand or my arm is the neck of a dog and

I just want to show you how it's supposed to look like.

Not too loose, not too tight.

But these prongs have to touch the skin of a dog.

It's very important, otherwise this will not work.

So now let me show you how the transmitter works, okay?

This transmitter I like because it has three different settings.

Nick, which will last one second.

And continuous, which is a continuous, you know, sensation.

And then the one I love is the pager part.

It's like a vibration.

I'll show you.

Vibration works this way.

It just vibrates.

It's just, it feels like a pager or a phone that is on vibration mode.

With the neck button, what you're going to see is a little bit more movement.

And it only lasted a second or less than a second.

This dial helps us to control the intensity of the stimulation.

Zero, 20, 40.

So think 20 and 40 as low.

And 40 to 80 as medium.

And 80 down, 80 to 100 as high.

The most important thing about electronic collars is that you consult with a

professional so you know how to use it properly.

Cesar explains the safe and proper use of a correctly sized e-collar to Mark and Leisha.

Right now she's in a comfortable state.

You know, she's relaxed.

And this is a good time for us to put any tool, especially because we don't have any food.

You know?

And also the affection becomes like the reward.

Right.

Yeah, there you go.

Good girl, Molly.

That's right.

So we want her to associate the tool with something positive, something that she

enjoys and affection and massages she would definitely enjoy.

We don't want to use the tool right away.

You know, we want her to wear it and feel comfortable about it.

And then eventually once we're ready to do whatever we need to do, and then we press the button.

But by that time we're not going to be related to it.

Right.

We want her to know that there's the tractor, there's the tires.

So, I feel that this is the only tool we can use because once you are inside the

tractor, you can't come out every single time.

Right.

So, it's best if we press a button and just make her stay away from, you know,

from the area that is going to eventually hurt her.

Do you have any questions for me, sir?

No.

I understand everything.

Yeah, I think I understand.

Sounds like the way to go.

Molly's first test is on Mark's pickup truck.