I Work With Animals: 'It's Me or the Dog' Host Victoria Stilwell

What animal lover hasn't daydreamed about applying for a job at the zoo? Or at a doggy daycare? Or tracking gorillas in Africa? We sure have, but since most of us may never actually get to work with the animals we love, we thought we'd introduce you to a few people who do.

Name: Victoria Stilwell
Age: 40
Job: Dog Trainer and Host of Animal Planet's "It's Me or the Dog."

You started out as an actor, walking and training dogs on the side. Why did you move away from acting?
I would go to an audition and come out feeling terrible and I would go to a dog training and come out feeling amazing. I remember thinking, "Someone's trying to tell me something." That was in 2000. I still did a few little acting jobs, but I came off the audition circuit and immediately felt so much happier.

How did you learn your training methods?
I learned from a lot of different people. I studied, I read a lot, I went to seminars and became certified. The whole idea of positive reinforcement has been around for decades.

You come down hard on dominance, or punishment-based training. What's the problem?
I always ask my clients: 'Do you want your dog to follow you because it wants to, or because it fears what's going to happen to it if it doesn't?" I've proven on my show, and thousands of trainers like me who use positive reinforcement prove that you can train a dog much more effectively. It doesn't matter whether you're just doing a little obedience training or you're dealing with the most aggressive animal.


On the show, there seem to be common themes in a lot of the episodes, and the issue is not usually the animal's problem.
It all stems from a lack of understanding. People not understanding or blaming a lot of the dog's bad behavior on the dog when it really is them who hasn't taken the time to train the dog. Dogs don't speak our language. It's like us going and living on Mars with these people who are completely different and yet we have to try and live by their rules. Try that without being taught.

Have you ever had a dog you couldn't train?
There were two cases where the medical issues were so severe they made the dogs extremely dangerous. I know there are people that say every dog can be worked with. But they're unfortunately very wrong. We have a duty as dog owners to keep society safe. I'm not going to risk the life of a child.

Are British dog owners different from Americans?
Their passion is the same, but I think they [Britons] are far more advanced when it comes to humane treatment. There are no prong collars in Great Britain, and shock collars that are used here are starting to be banned in Britain.

When did you get your first dog of your own?
Two years ago. That was Sadie. First, my husband and I were actors touring around. And then when I was doing acting and training at the same time, I was still traveling around. Then with the show you're filming 12 to 14 hours a day. There's no way we could have a dog. We barely had a child for goodness sake. But then when we settled in Atlanta, we thought, "This is it now."

Where does Sadie sleep?
She would sleep in our bedroom. I have no problem with dogs on the bed as long as everyone's cool with it, or as long as the dogs aren't guarding the bed, or they get up when you say. But she's too much of a snorer. My husband's bad enough; I can't have two of them.

"It's Me or the Dog" airs Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET. For more information about reward-based dog training, visit Stilwell's official Web site.

Tags: dog training, dogs, DogTraining, dominance training, Its Me or the Dog, positive reinforcement, Victoria Stilwell