Maybe you were watching tv on Saturday night, and saw this show, In the Doghouse, on the Animal Planet? The star is a vile little man named Brad Pattison, with an ugly, fuzzy little bald spot sitting in between 2 hair pods on his ugly little head, who dispenses backwards information and borderline abuses dogs, right there on tv. On the Animal Planet. Right after positive reinforcement trainer Victoria Stillwell tries to fix messed up dogs. Animal Planet. The channel with puppy cams and saving the whale terrorists. Warm and fuzzy? Big bad Brad makes Cesar Milan look like a floppy little easter bunny.
He scares the shit out of dogs. Hangs them up and lays them down with a slip collar. Tells people that training dogs with treats teaches them to bite. I'm not kidding. Will make them dangerous and starts 'em biting kids. Yanks 'em and cranks 'em and causes dog shivering and quaking and why the owners smile and say thanks, I'm not sure. Gave me the creeping willies to watch him.
He's got a barky ugly voice, and wearing a ratty beaded necklace that some surfer threw out back in 1987. Did some pseudo relationship counseling between the dog owners, that made no sense to me, and just wailed on the couple's aggressive small dog, then dished out a bunch of nonsense about training their puppy.
Honestly, that show sat with me all day. Was a long day out at a horse show, with a pack of kids who love and value their relationships with their horses, who teach their horses and demonstrate good sportsmanship and horsemanship, and I keep thinking about this fuzzy headed guy Brad, and how even my littlest pony riders would never do what he does to an animal. How we work so hard to teach kids to do the right thing, how all my girls work so hard to be champions because really, they love their horses. And that fuzzy little bald spot keeps popping up in my mind. Just seemed like something so wrong.
Maybe you've seen him and thought the same thing. He was news to me. Hell. Maybe you think he's the real deal and you gonna let him train your dog. But really sat in my craw enough all day that I dug around in the internet and found this link to the marketing people on the Discovery Channel, parent company for Animal Planet. I told them what I thought. And maybe you want to do the same thing, if you seen what I seen.
http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations
Did you ever dream that you were a dog agility super champ except then it switched and you were at some germy, grungy, derelict seaside park in the dark and the carnies were actually drug addled zombies that were shambling after you with hammers and their big teeth? And then as you're trying to escape your way out from under their oily, horrible claws by clambering up a rat infested palm tree, you're all, this is about dog agility like, how?
10 comments:
I saw about 10 minutes of that guy a month or 2 ago and that was all I could stomach, turned the channel right away because I knew all that abusive crap was coming. If they have to put a disclaimer about 'Do not try this at home' at the start of the show you know it's going to be bad stuff they're dishing out.
THANK you for reminding me! I saw this show just before I left on this trip and meant to email Animal Planet about it. Disgusting! We've got to get this thing off the air. Adding to my to-do list right now.
What's the name of the show? I never watch AP because most of the stuff on there I find distasteful and/or ridiculous.
I'm sure this guy must be their attempt to challenge the popularity of Cesar Chavez.
Show is called In the Doghouse.
lightning bolts shooting out of fingers while typing :
I'm dismayed to see the irresponsible training methods demonstrated on the "In the Dog House" show. I am a pet trainer at PetSmart, and every day I must clean up the messes caused by people who try emulate the punishments shown. Demonstrating these abusive, outdated techniques as being examples of "dog training" to the general public strikes me as the height of irresponsibility. Please cancel this show. You are on the right track with Victoria Stillwell - why have you started to broadcast a show that takes dog training backwards, not forwards?
I am extremely concerned about this as are other positive trainers, behaviorists, and experts in the field. There is not a one of us that would support the cruelty to animals and outright misinformation that you are broadcasting to the public on this show.
Thank you for your time.
Misa Martin
Oh Geez, I'm still reeling from watching only the first half of one of his shows last week. Appalling! I wrote Animal Planet, too. I can't believe they would promote such abuse. I'd like to hang Brad up by a choke chain just like he did to that poor dog on the show I watched. (You could hear the owner shrieking in the background, "Stop it! Stop it! You're hurting him!!")
'nough said.
Cesar Chavez-Power to the People! Down with shock collars and toxic grapes! Heh. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I know who she really means.
HI Guys, I'm embarrassed to say this Brad Patterson guy is from Calgary, Alberta. His show here is called "At the end of the Leash" I can't believe he gets air time either and did a complaint to the original production company a year ago with no response. He used to be only on local t.v. and now he is on beloved Animal Planet which is just terrible. I am happy to initiate some type of action if you all are willing to step in an support. Let me know. Take care, Nancy King
Has anyone else gotten this back from AP?
Dear Viewer:
Thank you for contacting Animal Planet. We appreciate your correspondence
and for taking the time to share your thoughts and concerns with us about
In The Dog House.
In an effort to ensure the highest quality programming, comments such as
these are taken very seriously. Each and every comment is forwarded on to
our programming executives for review and consideration. Maintaining the
integrity of all of our networks is our primary goal. It is these types of
comments that contribute to creating change and improving our programming.
Again, thank you for contacting Animal Planet.
Sincerely,
Viewer Relations
Animal Planet
Yes, Misa, I got that same canned email. I wonder if they will take his show off the air if they get enough emails like ours. One can only hope.....
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