Dogs of the World Unite

I apologize if I'm coming to this party a little late.  The original article appeared in the June 25th edition of the NYT and was written by animal trainer, Amy Sutherland.  Now, you're probably asking yourself, "Why the hell is Dubya writing about an animal trainer?"  Thank you for asking, let me tell you.  On Wednesday, I stumbled across this on MSNBC: • E-mail: Want to train your husband?   I was intrigued.  Not about training my husband, but how I could be trained.  So I clicked.  Oh, how I wish I hadn't.  Here's what's there:

Want to train your husband to be perfect? Tired of your better half leaving dirty dishes in the sink? Not listening? Being chronically late? Or losing his temper? Ask Amy Sutherland, who studied exotic animal training, for tips on how you can change his bad habits. Sutherland, author of 'Kicked, Bitten and Scratched,' applied her unusual expertise to improve her husband’s behavior. She’ll answer your questions in a column next week. Write to us today!

Now, usually I just laugh this stuff off, but for some reason it struck a nerve.  Most pieces of this kind are generally written tongue-firmly-in-cheek.  But, after Googling her name and coming across the original article, I found myself biting my tongue.  Now, I know it's Friday and we're all usually a little loosey-goosey (what am I?  80?) around here, but I was just wondering what everyone else thought about this?  Men?  Ladies?  Did you read it?  Did you think about it?  Did it anger you in any way?  Allow me to provide some excerpts - just some food for thought, if you will (any emphasis all mine):

I listened, rapt, as professional trainers explained how they taught dolphins to flip and elephants to paint. Eventually it hit me that the same techniques might work on that stubborn but lovable species, the American husband.

The central lesson I learned from exotic animal trainers is that I should reward behavior I like and ignore behavior I don't. After all, you don't get a sea lion to balance a ball on the end of its nose by nagging. The same goes for the American husband.

...I followed the students to SeaWorld San Diego, where a dolphin trainer introduced me to least reinforcing syndrome (L. R. S.). When a dolphin does something wrong, the trainer doesn't respond in any way. He stands still for a few beats, careful not to look at the dolphin, and then returns to work. The idea is that any response, positive or negative, fuels a behavior. If a behavior provokes no response, it typically dies away.

In the margins of my notes I wrote, "Try on Scott!"

I really feel for Scott.