I'm Not Cesar Millan!

I don't want to be. I'm very happy being who I am.

But, the fact remains, I have been introduced by friends & clients so many times as "that dog whisperer lady".

It used to actually bother me, because that introduction seemed to coincide with the arrival of the TV show. I'm not that guy!! I'm me!!

I used to explain that while, yes, I am a natural, I also understand the "nuts & bolts" of emotions & learning in dogs ... to an insane degree! I can clicker train, I can humanely use compulsion, I have an enormous range of understanding at my disposal...

But I hear back, 10 days later, from a client who I visited 1 time for 3 hours that she has absolutely revolutionized her dog's behavior, going from a leg full of bruises from redirected aggro (actually redirected bitchy adolescent female frustration, not so much intent to injure or kill) to dog not even aggressing at all?

Am I really THAT good? I strongly doubt it. But it confirms my suspicion that calling me "that dog whisperer lady" is intended as a compliment to my effectiveness, not a not to some kind of magical power. So I embraced it. I'm Ms. Whisperer, and that's ok.

P.S. Will this client never again see aggro after this? It's a possibility, ...but not a probability. Typically, behaviors fade. It's not like a light switch. And, often, the intensity of the behavior doesn't significantly diminish, it simply occurs less frequently. But I do have every reason to believe that 12 months from now, this particular team will have steered scary adolescent behavior to amazing adult partnership.