Looks like "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan is finally starting to lose that shimmering shekinah of invulnerability! New York Times Op-Ed Contributor Mark Derr heads his critique of the Millan mystique with the phrase:
"Pack of Lies"
According to Derr, Millan's method is firmly in line with a long line of past dog training methods involving mostly stern disciplination and domination. He says "it flies in the face of what professional animal behaviorists — either trained and certified veterinarians or ethologists — have learned about normal and abnormal behavior in dogs." Derr calls Cesar Millan's techniques "confrontational" and goes on to say, "He’s a charming, one-man wrecking ball directed at 40 years of progress in understanding and shaping dog behavior and in developing nonpunitive, reward-based training programs, which have led to seeing each dog as an individual, to understand what motivates it, what frightens it and what its talents and limitations are."
Guess it just goes to confirm that it's hard to find anything really new on the box. The Koehler Method was widely approved when I was a young man, and Millan's tactics don't really seem that different.
A commemorative race following the original 408-mile route of the All Alaska Sweepstakes is planned for 2008, the hundredth anniversary of the first running of the fabled dogsled racing event in Alaska. The race start is scheduled for March 26, 2008 at 11:00 am; entries are being solicited and accepted far in advance. In fact, entry fees are structured on a four-step incremental scale starting with a relatively attractive US$1500 + 1 ounce of gold for early birds who sign on between February 1, 2007 and August 1, 2007, increasing finally to US$4000 + 1 ounce of gold for habitual procrastinators who register after February 1, 2008. The registration deadline is March 1, 2008. A purse of US$100,000 is guaranteed; winner take all. The race rules appear to be substantially the same as when the race was first run, with the exception that teams will start two minutes apart.
Prospective competitors and volunteers should contact:
All Alaska Sweepstakes
P.O. Box 2 Nome, Alaska 99762
E-Mail
907-443-2919
An account of the history of the Nome Sweepstakes and other information are available on the following website:
http://www.allalaskasweepstakes.org
Four-time Iditarod Trail race winner Susan Butcher is dead in Seattle on Saturday 5 August 2006, of leukaemia, at age 51. She had fought the disease for the last year and a half. The news left the Alaska dog driving community thunderstruck, as it had been generally assumed that Butcher would beat the disease, particularly since at one stage last May her condition was hopeful and her leukaemia in remission. She is survived by her husband David Monson and two daughters, Tekla, age 10 and Chisana, age 5.
The full story is available from the website of the Anchorage Daily News:
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/butcher/story/8045354p-7938337c.html