Don’t Call Her a Dog Whisperer

Like Mary Poppins, Marilisa Markey travels with a magical bag. What seems like an ordinary black briefcase holds a never-ending supply of toys, treats, and tools to tempt her canine clients. Although she can’t speak to dogs like the eponymous nanny, Markey has a seemingly supernatural ability to see the world from their perspective. Just don’t liken her gift to a certain celebrity dog trainer. “I’m not the Dog Whisperer,” she says.

Fostering Fun over Fear

Markey founded Doggywood, a pet talent agency and dog training business, in 2011 to counter misinformation being peddled on reality television. Alarmed by the rising popularity of shows like “Dog Whisperer” that promoted fear-based training methods, Markey worried that dog owners might put themselves and their pets in danger. 

These shows’ outdated training techniques — which include finger jabs, pinches, loud noises, and choke collars — are based on a discredited dominance theory. “It’s abusive,” says Markey. “It’s actually set back a lot of training and hurt a lot of relationships with dogs.”

Most modern-day trainers endorse positive reinforcement and reward-based methods that build trust between dogs and owners. But building trust takes time, and some owners aren’t willing to wait.  

People are lured by the quick fixes they see on television, and Markey sometimes encounters impatient pet owners who want instant results with minimal effort. They want to know precisely how long it will take for their dog to learn new behaviors or break bad habits. 

Markey compares this request to asking a teacher how long it will take a child to learn to read. She says it depends on how much they practice. “I have to remind people, ‘I don’t live with you, so I don’t know what you do to the dog when I’m not here.’”

While television shows are edited to make training appear fast and exciting, real-life training is slow and repetitive — and sometimes boring. Trainers often practice the same commands tens or hundreds of times. “It doesn’t make for great TV,” says Markey. 

But she insists the benefits of positive reinforcement outweigh the time investment. Much like a spoonful of sugar makes medicine palatable for children, treats and toys make training pleasurable for pups. And when training is pleasant, the results last longer. “The reward-based training might be slower,” says Markey. “But you’re going to end up with a better dog in the long run.”

Staring Down Sea Lions

Growing up, Markey never envisioned a career training animals. The vocational assessments she took in school matched her with animal care careers, but Markey wasn’t sure what that meant. “I thought you had to be a veterinarian,” she says. 

A chance encounter with a zoo trainer steered her to Moorpark College’s program for exotic animal training. After graduating, Markey worked as a Hollywood animal trainer before landing a job at the San Diego Zoo. 

Training exotic animals repeatedly tested Markey’s problem-solving skills. She says finding each animal’s favorite reward was essential. Jabba, one of the hippos at the Zoo, loved watermelons, so whenever he correctly responded to a training cue, Markey tossed a whole watermelon into his gaping jaws. The mess was incredible, but Jabba enjoyed himself and stayed motivated for the training sessions. 

But even the right reward wasn’t enough motivation for some animals — like the stubborn sea lions Markey had to train for a Hollywood film. The movie’s producers mistakenly scheduled filming during rut — the time of year when the animals stop eating and fixate on breeding. Since sea lions only want to work for food, coaxing a fasting sea lion to perform tricks wasn’t easy. “They’re not like a dog where they’re like, ‘I’ll just do it for fun,’” says Markey. 

Making Magic and Miracles

These days, Markey trains more puppies than pinnipeds, but she finds the work equally rewarding. She especially enjoys helping fearful or aggressive dogs and “gets goosebumps” when they allow her into their circle of trust. 

But Markey’s most memorable client was a bumbling 60-pound hound-mix with a deadly illness. 

Julie Bradley’s 4-month-old puppy, Spot, was diagnosed with a fatal heart condition and needed to fly across the country for life-saving surgery. Spot’s fragile condition prevented him from flying in the cargo hold. So with just three weeks until the operation, Bradley had to teach Spot to behave like a service dog so he could ride in the cabin. 

After spotting Markey’s business card in her veterinarian’s office, Bradley made a desperate call to Doggywood. “Marilisa was so calm,” she says. “She was like, ‘It’s okay. I think I can do this.’” 

Markey scouted the airport and created a list of potential problem areas. Slamming doors, booming announcements, squeaky suitcases — noises human passengers barely noticed might startle Spot. 

During one of their training sessions, Markey pulled a faded bath rug from her bottomless bag and showed Bradley how the so-called “magic mat” could ease Spot’s fear of these unfamiliar noises by giving him a familiar place to lie down. 

With repeated field trips to the airport and lots of practice with the magic mat, Spot’s confidence increased. On the big day, he sauntered through the terminal like a seasoned pro, although Bradley overheard some snickers from fellow passengers. “I heard them say, ‘They have puppies now as service dogs?’”

Bradley calls Markey’s efforts miraculous and credits her with saving Spot’s life. “She put her heart and soul into it,” she says. “She’s such a smart woman and so resourceful.”

Teaching the Tricks of the Trade

Of course, Spot is just one of Markey’s many success stories. Doggywood’s online reviews pay tribute to Markey’s ability to heal families and build bonds between dogs and their owners. But Markey says she primarily wants to empower owners with the confidence and skills they need to continue without her. “I want my clients to know how to train their dogs so they can handle the issues and go, ‘Oh, I’ve done this. I know what to do.’” 

Like Mary Poppins, Markey recognizes when to pack her magical bag and move on. 

If you would like to read more about people who work with animals, check out this article about a scientist at the San Diego Zoo.