Cesar Millan - The Dog Whisperer

[Dog-amoto]

Well, it's taken well over five years, but I've finally made it to the 1000 post mark. Yay! Has anyone taken longer to reach this?

 

Anyway, for my 1000th post, thought I'd create a thread which will hopefully provide some good debate, so here goes:

 

I've stayed quiet about this guy for a while, but a recent conversation on Facebook got me wondering what other people think of him.

 

Personally, I can't stand him. He is unqualified as a dog trainer and his methods are cruel and potentially dangerous. His style of thinking about pack theory and dominance was disproved in the 80s. He has set the dog training industry back a good 30 years with his show.

 

He uses shock and prong collars, both illegal in this country so a lot of the stuff we see in Europe doesn't seem that bad, but look at this, frankly, quite disturbing video.

 

 

Notice how he kicks the dog subtly before it starts going mad. Then he strangles it with a prong collar until it eventually gives up and lies down. What the video doesn't show is how much time is elapsed. The dog is exhausted - just look at how it breathes after it collapses. Also, Cesar is totally out of breath so it seems like it was going on for quite a while. He then tries to justify his actions by saying the dog was trying to be dominant over and over again and now it is "calm, submissive" which is bollocks - it's knackered and doesn't care about the other dog anymore. It hasn't learned anything other than seeing other dogs brings pain, so it is likely to become worse and more unpredictable.

 

In this next video, he deals with a dog who goes mad when he sees the cat. He has a concealed shock collar which he uses everytime you hear the dog yelp in pain.

 

 

After a while, he brings the cat in and the dog cowers away. At one point, it even tries to bury it's way under the chair to escape. Look at the dog's body language - It sees the cat and thinks: cat = pain. It's terrified.

 

I know these are two extreme examples, but even his poking of the dogs and forcing them to roll on their backs in just plain wrong, cruel and unnecessary. His pack theory, even if it was true in dogs, is all wrong anyway. Alpha wolves let subordinates walk in front and the puppies and the weaker ones eat first. Cesar uses what he called dominance, and it is borderline bullying. An alpha wolf would not attack his pack, nor would it force them on their backs or make them walk behind.

 

A dog needs to be trained using positive methods where good behaviour = reward. The dog will learn from this.

 

I just hate this guy so much. The best thing about him is his PR machine, which makes him look like he knows what he's doing. It makes for great tv where you see instant results, but all you see are quick fixes which are unlikely to give a lasting solution.

 

Hopefully this thread will provide some interesting debate, as I'll bet that there are a few Cesar fans here, but we will see.

[Happenstance]

Ive only ever seen him on an episode of Bones so I couldnt really comment on his techniques, will watch the vids you've linked to

[Paj!]

My sister has a book of his and I hear his name mentioned every so often.

 

I'm not really that interested in our dog (), let alone how we're "meant to train him".

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Well, from what you're describing, I already hate the guy, and I don't even want to watch those videos if his methods are like that.

[Pyxis]

What a ****, people like him shouldn't be allowed around animals. I'd like to see him savaged by a pack of pitbulls and watch that on youtube! People like him actually deserve to be tortured.

 

Dogs are just like people, with a couple of tiny and subtle differences in their behaviour, which often disappear once they've grown out of being a puppy.. At that age, they are no worse than children and can be effectively treated the same way. Neutering and castrating dogs should solve any problems with aggression and any other problems are just caused by cr*p owners and breeders. There are only a small handful of dog breeds that have bad characters and the majority of them are banned from the UK for that reason.

 

To make a dog good, you reward it for being good with affection and treats (being good is simply when they've decided themselves not to be bad). You allow them to make their own conscious decisions about things. They know what is good and what is bad, they just love testing people when they're puppies. You can stop them from doing bad things by being expressive with your voice and making them feel guilty about their own actions..that's all it takes. You control them through emotion, not by being physical. If you need to be physical, simply holding the dog firmly for a couple of seconds will do the trick.

 

Our female German Shepherd was a real challenge when she was a puppy! She was alpha female material and a right nightmare.:p Now she is an angel and devotes herself to being as cute as possible for treats. We currently have another German Shepherd who is in his teenage years (approaching adulthood) and he is a pain with the cats, but that's because my mum is dreadful when it comes to discipline. "his problem is that he loves Charlie (the cat) too much!"

Edited March 2, 2010 by Pyxis