Alex and I spent about three hours last night watching back-to-back episodes of Dog Whisperer. I'd never seen the show before, in fact I think that we both thought it was about a pet psychic (don't ask....), but in fact it was really pretty good. Some of the episodes focused on dogs where we were both thinking either kick that dog or give it away, but I'll be the first person to admit that the love we have for Ruby could probably only be rivaled by a child, so I'm not gonna throw any stones at these people who put up with dogs that bark, dogs that bite, dogs that try to eat other dogs.

The Dog Whisperer (Caesar) is all about the "pack" mentality. He's the leader of the pack, and as soon as a dog that he is working with acknowledges that, he can start to work with the family on how to control the dog's behavior. One thing that really rang true with me was to watch how he required that the dog become submissive before he moved on to any work with them. He never calls the dog by name, it's more about body language and asserting himself as the leader. He has a sort of "dog camp" in Los Angeles that is home to around 40 dogs - some that he has rescued, some that he is working with, some that board while their people are away. All of those dogs, living in harmony. Have to say, I was pretty impressed. I think there is hope yet for my mom's crazy dog, Thor - my nephew is now responsible for him, and I told him to TiVo a few episodes of the show and watch them to get some ideas.