The whole thing started with The Horse Whisperer, a book and movie about a man who had an unusual ability to communicate with horses. Based on a real man, the idea of people who could communicate with animals in order to work out what was wrong in the animal's life and fixing it was put in the popular consciousness.
But not a lot of people own horses, at least compared to the number of people who own dogs, so it was no surprise that people would look for a dog whisperer, someone who could talk to canines in their own language.
The man who made the term famous is Cesar Millan, who is the host of the television show The Dog Whisperer. Born in Mexico, California based expert in dog behavior, Millan teaches a calm, assertive method of dog training.
This technique is based around the idea that when a pooch knows exactly who the alpha is in the relationship, which should be the owner, they will be happier and better behaved than dogs who are still trying to assert their dominance.
The term Dog Whisper was first coined in the 1999 book of the same name by Paul Owens. The techniques that Owens teaches are based on positive reinforcement methods, where you reward the dog when it behaves the way you want it to and ignore when he doesn't.
A dog whisperer essentially, is someone who has learned how to speak their language. They come and look at a dog and try to deduce, by observing the dog's behavior in different situation, what the dog is thinking and feeling.
One of the big reasons that we domesticated canines to begin with is that we find it fairly easy to read what a dog is feeling, and vice versa. Dogs don't have a language of their own, but they do communicate with each other and with humans through their body language.
What makes a dog whisperer different is that they have actually taken the time to study K9 behavior and communication. This gives them the ability to study a pooch and figure out exactly what they are thinking and feeling.
Where this is useful is when you're having trouble training your dog or when your dog suddenly starts acting differently. If, for instance, you have a dog that's five years old who suddenly starts going to bathroom in the house after years of perfect potty training, or suddenly turns aggressive towards dogs you may want to contact a dog whisperer to figure out what is going on in your dog's head.
The way they do this is by observing your pooch as it interacts with your family, people other dogs etc. looking for the subtle behavioral clues that will show them what the issue is. This is usually accompanied by them asking you questions about your dog and the home environment, which help diagnose the problem.
The goal is to be able to recommend a course of action that will correct the behavior that had you seek out the dog whisperer. What they will always try to do is to come up with a solution that makes both you and your furry friend happy.
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