It's Me or the Dog
| It's Me or the Dog | |
|---|---|
| Genre |
Factual Reality |
| Directed by | Dan Peirson |
| Starring | Victoria Stilwell |
| Narrated by | Sean Chapman (UK) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 8 (UK & U.S. combined) |
| No. of episodes | 38 (UK) 77 (U.S.) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jo Ball |
| Producer(s) | Abi Clarke Dan Peirson |
| Running time | 30 mins (UK) 60 mins (U.S.) |
| Production company(s) | Ricochet Television |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Channel 4 (UK) Animal Planet (U.S.) |
| Original release | 31 August 2005 – 10 May 2008 (UK) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
It's Me or the Dog (U.S. version) Supernanny (format) |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
It's Me or the Dog is a television program featuring dog trainer Victoria Stilwell who addresses canine behavioral problems, teaches responsible dog ownership and promotes dog training techniques based on positive reinforcement. The show currently airs in about 50 countries worldwide.
British born Victoria Stilwell was an actor who had built her sideline interest in dog training into a full-time business when she saw the first episode of Supernanny and realised she was doing with dogs what Jo Frost was doing with children. She contacted the producers of Super Nanny, British reality-show producers Ricochet Television, who responded immediately, and production began on It's Me or the Dog. Stilwell said her motivation was to "highlight positive training because there are so many dominance trainers out there messing it all up". Stilwell acknowledges that training a dog on television is not the same as training without the cameras and crew.
Most episodes begin with a brief interview with the dog owners on when they first met their dog(s) and how their ordeals began. Victoria observes the dog and owners in their home and in a range of situations. Once there's sufficient evidence of the bad behavior, she then spends two or more days teaching the owners how to create a better atmosphere for both dog and owner, and how to train specific behaviors. On occasion owners are taken to shelters or training centers to provide them with additional information. Victoria then leaves them to implement her training regimen on their own. After some time (usually several weeks), Victoria returns to evaluate how the dog and owner are progressing, and, when necessary, dispenses more training advice. This format mirrors the format of Super Nanny.
US Season 3, filmed in New York, took a looser documentary format. Stilwell sometimes implements a technique as soon as she sees a behavior rather than waiting until after the Confrontation.
There have been three US seasons and four UK series of It's Me or the Dog so far, the first running for six episodes from 31 August 2005, and earning record ratings for Channel 4. The second series aired from January – March 2006, running for twelve episodes. The third series transmitted from October to November 2006, and was eight episodes long, which included two-hour long specials wrapped at each end; It's Me or the Dog – The Event and It's Me or the Fat Dog. In 2007, a special one-hour show at the Crufts Competition was shown on 13 March, and a fourth series of six episodes aired in July and August.
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