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 (2005-08-31) – 10 May 2008 (2008-05-10) (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.

Beginnings

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 Super Nanny and realised she was doing with dogs what Jo Frost was doing with children.[1] 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".[1] Stilwell acknowledges that training a dog on television is not the same as training without the cameras and crew.[2]

Format

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.[3] 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.

Series and success

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.[4] 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.

Victoria Stilwell has also written two accompanying books, published by Harper Collins and titled It's Me or the Dog: How to Have the Perfect Pet and Fat Dog Slim: How to Have a Healthy, Happy Pet..[5] The first book has also been published in the USA by Hyperion. Stilwell and her husband, Van Zeiler, have established a website titled Positively.com to raise awareness of the benefits of using humane training tools.,[1]

U.S. version

The show premiered on Animal Planet in the United States on 16 April 2007. In this version, the first season consists of various British families and their dogs (including the It's Me or the Fat Dog special) while the second season has American dog owners. Animal Planet's second season premiered in the fall of 2008.

In 2011, the show attempted a new direction with a New York theme which became US season three. US season 4, also filmed in New York, premiered on 2 June 2012. It included 10 episodes with one released each week. The show attempted a new direction where it focused more on the owners and their personality traits than on their pets. It included such episodes as 'The Castle Goes to the Dogs' with Matt Demar and Melissa Ballacchino, a former white-rapper whose clubs later came under investigation for drug sales and his then-girl-friend, and another where a German shepherd's owner taught his dog to bite trees.

While the show hasn't been officially cancelled, there is no discussion anywhere of it being continued, and it has been dropped in the UK from Channel 4

Transmissions

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 31 August 2005 5 October 2005 6
2 10 January 2006 28 March 2006 12
3 3 October 2006 5 December 2006 10
4 12 July 2007 10 May 2008 12

U.S. version

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 11 October 2008 14 March 2009 20
2 1 August 2009 20 June 2010 26
3 8 January 2011 21 May 2011 21
4 2 June 2012 4 August 2012 10

International broadcasts

It's Me or the Dog has aired on several networks around the world, including:[6]

Country / Region Network
 Algeria Discovery Channel
 Andorra Sogecable
 Australia Network Ten (UK version)
BBC Prime
Seven Network (US version)
 Belgium Vitaya
 Benin Discovery
 Brazil Globosat
 Burkina Faso Discovery
 Burundi Discovery
 Cameroon Discovery
 Central African Republic Discovery
 Chad Discovery
 Congo Discovery
 Czech Republic Spektrum
 Denmark TV2 Denmark

Country / Region Network
 Djibouti Discovery
 Dubai BBC Prime
 Estonia Kanal 2
 Faroe Islands TV2
 Finland Liv
 France Discovery Channel
 Gabon Discovery
 Germany sixx
 Greece Skai TV
 Greenland TV2
 Guinea Discovery
 Hong Kong unknown
 Hungary Spektrum TV
 Ireland Sky TV

Country / Region Network
 Italy Discovery Channel
 Ivory Coast Discovery
 Japan Discovery Channel
Nippon TV
 Lithuania TV1
 Madagascar Discovery
 Mali Discovery
 Mauritania Discovery
 Mauritius Discovery
 Morocco Discovery
 Namibia unknown
 Netherlands unknown
 New Zealand Prime
 Nigeria Discovery
 Norway TV Norge

Country / Region Network
 Poland TVN Style
 Romania Digi Life
 Rwanda Discovery
 Senegal Discovery
 Singapore unknown
 Slovakia Nova
 South Africa BBC Prime
 South Korea sky Petpark
 Spain Cuatro
 Sweden TV4 Sweden
 Togo Discovery
 Tunisia Discovery
 Turkey NMI GbR
 Ukraine unknown
 Zaire Discovery
 Zimbabwe BBC Prime

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Katie Leslie (January 2010). "Victoria Stilwell Advocates Positive Reinforcement Training". The Atlanta Journal.
  2. Mary-Jo Dionne (February 2010). "Think Dog". Modern Dog.
  3. "It's Me or the Dog". Side Reel Television Reviews. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
  4. "It's Me or The Dog". Series 3. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
  5. "It's Me or The Dog Book". Information on Victoria Stilwell's Book. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
  6. "Show schedule". Retrieved 12 September 2012.

Further reading

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