Ego Vs. Safety - Kikopup Video

Oko

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#22
I found the video to be too extreme. Dogs are dogs. Be responsible and you'll be fine.
I think that you also have to consider that a lot of the time, her videos are aimed at average pet owners who do not know what a lot of us know, and assume to be common dogsense.

As others have stated and I agree with, yes, it's too extreme imo. But I think it is something to remember that we might not necessarily be the target audience.
 
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#25
I guess I feel like she tends to undermine her normally pretty valid base opinion/view by taking it way over the top and loosing most people in the process.

No matter how good of point you have, people typically are going to stop listening when you start sounding like a zealot or you go overboard.
 

Lizmo

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#26
Like the rest, I think her point if super valid (like the video recently going around that had a dog jumping off a CAR into a persons ARMS? Hell no. There is NO need for that and holy cow talk about setting up to fail and break, or kill, a dog) but taken to the extreme, even for your average person.

Btw, I only watched half. She got boring. :eek:
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#27
Like the rest, I think her point if super valid (like the video recently going around that had a dog jumping off a CAR into a persons ARMS? Hell no. There is NO need for that and holy cow talk about setting up to fail and break, or kill, a dog) but taken to the extreme, even for your average person.

Btw, I only watched half. She got boring. :eek:
You missed her knocking agility? And climbing stairs? And crawling!?
 

Lizmo

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#28
No, it was about at the 'no climbing stairs, no doing agility, no handstand' part I was like, huh, let's go finish my research paper. :p
 

Katem

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#33
Guess I'm not going to take my dogs outside anymore. Don't want to risk that slight possibility that a car will hit us.

Shouldn't let them chew on things either, choking hazards and all. Maybe I should be safe and just not feed them all together. Can't choke if nothing ever goes into their mouth.

In all seriousness, I'm all for risk assessment, but that kind of thinking is just taking it too far. I used to love kikopup, but I've pretty much stopped watching her videos after hearing about that whole collars are abusive thing. She's a good trainer, but some of the stuff she comes up with is batsh*t crazy.
 
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#34
Ok, I watched it. And yea, she's a worry wart who overstates the risks of a lot of things but at the same time I think some of the criticisms here of the video are a little overstated, too. She's not saying NO dogs should ever back up or crawl or do stairs or do agility, she's saying what the PT told her HER dogs shouldn't do (which seems kind of weird to me, but whatever she wants to do, I guess). She's not saying dogs shouldn't do ever do position changes, she's saying she felt like asking for the super fast flashy down from a stand was hard on her dog physically. She's not even really saying agility is bad, she's just being super, super risk averse.

I think it's a bit silly to suggest people need to take their dogs to a PT before starting any sport, and I think she worries way too much about things that might possibly maybe theoretically happen, but her overall message isn't a bad one, I think. It's not a bad idea to step back and think about why you're doing something with your dog... although I also think "are you doing this for your dog or for yourself" is a false dichotomy and it annoys me - there's no reason it can't be both.
 

Fran101

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#35
As usual, she has a good point wrapped in 20 layers of worry/crazy and a video that is far too rehearsed and far too long and far too monotone. She loses half her audience in these kind of videos because she ALWAYS goes to the extreme.

It's not "oh I don't do this because ___"
It's always "don't do this or else you are a horrible dog owner/person!"

If she would've stopped at her dogs, fine. But no, she had to take it to other people's dogs and "well because people want to look cool" or "the human ego" selfishness etc.. even though she has NO IDEA what the working relationship or health of those people/dogs are.

If I do recall there are also videos on
- The dangers of washing your dog (BATHS! THE HORROR!)
- The dangers of a dog wearing a collar (THYROID! AGGRESSION! CANCER!!)
- The dangers of ever saying no/eh eh/stop (YOUR DOG WILL HATE YOU!)

Really..stairs? STAIRS?
Well, if I lived in a 5th floor walkup I guess it's time to get rid of the dog!

Dogs are sturdier than we give them credit for. Things happen, we measure safety, risk vs reward and let them just.. be dogs!

Calling someone an animal abuser for training hard for a sport they and their dog LOVE is like calling someone a child abuser because their kid broke their wrist doing gymnastics or playing football.

and to say that people who do tricks she does not deem "appropriate" are selfish ego driven dog owners forcing their dogs to perform is just ridiculous. I have met MANY sport teams where the dog loves the sport a lot or sometimes even more-so than the person.

She has a good point. It just gets lost. I do think more focus needs to be made on health in these high interval sports, more education on body conditioning and joint health (people jogging with their 4 month old puppies in the city..)

but the point is lost in all the fluff.
 

Southpaw

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#36
I still have 3 minutes left but at this point, I'm not hot and bothered by anything she's said.

It's her opinion, period. The fact that her dog doesn't crawl (which btw is that one specific dog, I haven't heard her say dogs in general should not do it) doesn't affect whether or not I teach it to mine. She wants to be cautious, that's fine, and anyone that watches this and decides they want to be more cautious too... more power to them.

Heck, there are times when I think I am a horrible person for playing with the flirt pole with Juno. The way she jumps and twists and lands.. in the pit of my stomach I just feel that one day she's going to injure herself because of it. And I think that if I were smart, I just wouldn't even chance it, and I'd stop using it. But I have too much fun with it myself...
 

crazedACD

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#37
You know, I go out into the yard with Romeo, and throw the ball, I will string a toy up and use it as a 'stationary flirtpole', or I do actual flirtpole with him. I put the toys in the tree. And I don't do it because it 'looks cool' or to video and show people. I do it to stimulate, engage my dog, challenge him, and provide more exercise than a meager walk. If he gets injured, well, I'll take care of that. Conditioning is a huge part too.

I haven't watched it at all yet, but... what CAN dogs do safely?
Dear god, I wonder what her opinion of skijoring is :yikes:. MAKING the dog pull you?!
 
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#38
It's not "oh I don't do this because ___"
It's always "don't do this or else you are a horrible dog owner/person!"
Except... she IS saying "I don't do this with these dogs because of what the PT said." I don't really see her saying NO DOG should do stairs, or handstands, or anything in particular. Even the disc stuff she is essentially saying she doesn't want to take the risk of a fall, not necessarily that it's a horrible sport.

I've barely watched any of her videos so it's not like I have a vested interest in defending her, I'm just not seeing these blanket statements that other people are seeing?
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#39
No one said its not we opinion, we just said its extreme and silly.

It's dangerous to ask your agility dog to run fast?

Is it equally dangerous to do dock dogs? I mean, they might fall off the dock or jump out of the pool.

Did I hear her wrong or did she say agility is dangerous and thus she will not do it anymore, not with any certain dogs. In turn that could be understood that those who do agility are egotistical and endangering their dogs.

I very much so realize she means HER dogs can't perform certain tasks but to insinuate that I am abusing my dog by asking for faster position changes due to my ego is offensive and extreme.

Your dog could pull its hammy slipping on wet grass, denying them access to the yard in the rain is the kind of insanity that is being laughed at.
 

Fran101

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#40
Except... she IS saying "I don't do this with these dogs because of what the PT said." I don't really see her saying NO DOG should do stairs, or handstands, or anything in particular. Even the disc stuff she is essentially saying she doesn't want to take the risk of a fall, not necessarily that it's a horrible sport.

I've barely watched any of her videos so it's not like I have a vested interest in defending her, I'm just not seeing these blanket statements that other people are seeing?
I really don't want to watch it again :rofl1: but for me, it's in the general tone of the video and in others like it.

The idea of it being a balancing act "is this best for me, or best for the dog"
the impeding doom "oh if I vault in the wind blows and the dog lands on it's back so I vow to never put my dog in that situation"
"there are lots of safe tricks that don't put your dog at risk"
"tricks to look cool that are dangerous"
the whole "human ego" and the idea of selfishness, the TITLE of the darn video lol
"social pressure molding" and the idea that people are forcing their dogs to do certain things

Don't get me wrong. I like her. I recommend her videos all the time and love her simple step by step videos and positive training

but her videos like this grind my gears honestly.. it's always just so...higher than thou.
 

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