From MediaGuardian.co.uk [Requires registration]
‘Sexist’ BBC show leaves viewers barking madThe BBC has been forced to apologise after 200 viewers complained about a hidden camera show in which women train their husbands like dogs.
BBC2’s Bring Your Husband to Heel features dog trainer Annie Clayton using traditional dog-training techniques to improve husbands’ behaviour.
The show, based around the premise that men share 85% of their DNA with dogs, uses hidden cameras to film the men, who think they are taking part in a documentary about relationship roles.
Dozens of viewers complained on the BBC’s Points of View website, branding it “sexist, offensive and degrading”.
This is idiotic. Both women and men share 85% of their DNA with dogs but that is not the point. The point is that animal training techniques work on all animals - including human animals.
There is an excellent book about just this: Don’t Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor. The Amazon description says
The principles of the revolutionary “clicker training” method. Eight methods of ending undesirable habits - from furniture-clawing cats to sloppy room-mates. The ten laws of “shaping” behaviour - for results without strain or pain through “affection training”. Tips for house-training the dog, improving your tennis game, or dealing with an impossible teenager. Explorations of exciting new uses for reinforcement training.
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