Cessar Millan: Can you critique these points: http://www.4pawsu.com/cesarfans.htm?

Question

The author of the article cited states these points which I would like arguments against: Cesar Millan hurts dogs, his traditional training methods are cruel, critics are not jealous of his success, critics have watched "The Dog Whisperer" and still criticize it, he doesn't rehabilitate dogs, others could help the dogs he works with, positive trainers have not said to euthanize the dogs he helps, other trainers techniques work just as well, Cesar doesn't educate himself, dogs get plenty of excercise, food rewards work with aggressive dogs.

Answer 1

There is a new dog training show on Animal Planet. I encourage all to watch. Victoria Stilwell is truly a "dog whisperer", that always gets to the heart of the problem. It shows results over a 3 week period, and her training methods and results are amazing. She teaches the owners the appropriate methods, and follows through until she knows the behaviors are changed, and the CAUSE of the behaviors is repaired. .
You can see a little about the trainer and the show at : It's Me or the Dog> http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/I/itsmeorthedog/interview.html

SO much better and more effective than Cesar.

Answer 2

Well, I have seen his shows, and I agree with the site. Cesar Millan has not moved forward.......he has not learned anything, and he is not doing anything new. The dogs I have seen on his show have been stressed. Stress does not help a dog in the long term. His other big "thing" - exercise - does not in itself help a problem. Anyone who watches the programmes and believes that he was the only way these people could solve their programmes are being naive. I have moved on from negative training to positive training, and yes, I have trained quite a few aggressive dogs with food rewards.

Answer 3

I am tending to agree with this article on all points. While Cesar uses some techniques that are appropriate (heavy empahsis on exercise for example) I often don't agree with his methods. I think dog training has gone way beyond his techniques in recent years and it's his ability to attract an audience and his showmanship that make the series successful rather than his skill as a trainer - I don't think he really brings anything new to offer. I also feel the show favors short-term results with little focus on how the dog's behavior changes in the long-term. It also doesn't show you his failures and I bet there have been some.

Answer 4

Sorry no arguements against the article from me because I agree with the article, his training methods are outdated, I have been around for 50 years and watched animals raised using both methods
Cesar could never achieve this level of training with a dog using his methods http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM because his method focus on punitive which will not bring out the desire to learn because they would fear making mistakes, so it creates mental blocks and sets up fears and anxieties about learning new things
Posaitive training methods help to build the dogs confidence and brings out the desire to learn new things.

I have a special needs dogs here who is exremely fearful if he try flooding with her he would likely kill her because when she become overstressed her body temperature soars and her brain start overheating which can causes seizures/coma/ death, she needs to be immersed in cold water to bring her temperature down, plus she panics and her mind shuts down and she reacts on sheer instinct which is to flee even if it kills her trying, so she act like a wild animals trying to escape. Most trainers know that inorder to accomplish anything with her she need to learn how to trust first and than gradually exposed to new situations so she gains confidence, bullying her and forcing her to accept her fears will not work because she would just shut down mentally she did this enough times just trying to get used to living in a house or seeing neighbours outside over the first 2 years and I have had to deal with the hyperthermia a few times because she became so fearful and panicky just hearing voices on the tv was enough to set off one incident. Not all dogs handle fear the same way, I have taken in a number of fearful dogs some you can push a little harder than others but this girl cannot be forced, she has come along a long ways in 3 years, but even today if somethings scares her bad enough she become withdrawn and reverts back to her old self for a few day and will go back into hiding afraid to even let me near her, this behaviour will likely continue for 2 or 3 more years before she can mentally accept nothing bad will happen to her, if I used Cesar's methods chances are she would be trying to protect herself using her teeth and attacking as a final resort and she would end up destroyed instead.

Yes he may be able to get the dogs to do want he wants but that does not equal the dog being rehabilitated if the dog does not view and fear it's owner in the same light as it views Cesar the dog will not obey it's owner so the training is useless unless the owner can emulate Cesar and the dog view the owner the same as Cesar, this is the other reason his methods do not have high success rates, it looks impressive on tv but it is also the reason they have to post warnings not to try yourself because dogs have attacked their owners or families member when thy tried emulating what he does on TV

Answer 5

Wow, what a great article!

No arguments from me. Milan trains dogs the way I did 25 years ago when I was just starting out, before I learned better methods.

Answer 6

I too am in total agreement with this article. I've watched Cesar Milan and I've read his book, and the one and only thing I can find to agree with him on is that dogs don't get enough exercise. (I personally also think people seem to be totally lacking in common sense, seem to be always choosing a dog without knowing the characteristics and breed traits inherent in that dog, and then dumping it when they find they haven't a clue how to train it).

Answer 7

There is nothing wronge with what what Millan does the people who find his training methods wronge are viewing dogs and there behavior and compairing them to human ideals. I read the article and the person who wrote it does not believe in training a dog on a dogs' level, Millan trains dogs via dog pack rules so some of the stuff he does may seem mean-to the human eye, I say take time and watch a pack of dogs and see how they sort out order and placement within the pack, a dog park is not the way to view this either, you'd have to do to a shelter or breeder who allows dogs to live in a decent sized group. I work at a shelter where we allow the dogs a time to spend together in a large group.
there is no perfect way to train a dog, anything can be viewed as cruel, choke chians are cruel to some, and as are shock and head collars, while some people believe the ownership of animals is compairable to slavery, so if you don't like his show don't watch it or buy any of his products, I beleive he is a great trainer, but many people who watch his show attempt to train their own dogs in the same way yet know nothing of dog behavior and end up making the dog worse.
So if I must critique something about his show is the lack of time spent on understanding dog body language and behavior.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

Caesar Milan is another flash in the pan.

First of all his methods border on, if not cross the line into dog abuse. He is being sued in Southern California by MULTIPLE people whose dogs have been hurt by him.

There is a woman in the Chicago area, Ami Moore, who claims to be a student of Caesar and by all investigation that's true. I won't give her website for fear of people going to her. She again has multiple lawsuits pending against her. She has a $10,000.00 challenge, but refuses to accept challenges from any real dog trainers in the Chicago area. I wonder why?

Abuse? How about MULTIPLE electronic collars on a dog. One around their neck and one around their genitals.

Koehler method also works FOR A TIME.

With both methods you get quick fixes that may solve the problem for a short time. You do NOT get reliably trained dogs.

Will Caesar methods work for some dogs? Yes. Is it the BEST way to get a reliably trained, willing dog? No!

Ask yourself this. This isn't rocket science. There are millions of dogs that have been trained over the last few decades. Why is there all of a sudden a "miracle" cure out there.

Answer 10

He has the ability to rehabilitate dogs, however; the dogs he is out there working with on his shows belong to other people. They need to follow through with the techniques. No he is not cruel to the animals it is an animal and you show it you are the superior.

I had some wack job come in the other day telling everyone that animals were going to take over and eat all the humans. You know at first I wanted to smack her and tell her to wake up but she may have a point at the rate things are going. It does not hurt to be held down or a smack on the ***. Why do you think the children are out of control no one will smack them or wash their mmouth out with soap.

Cesar doesn't do anything that many others have not practiced for many many years he just marketed it. When working with dogs you do have several other techniques besides one and having the ability to realize one thing may not but if you combine it with something else it can. However; it still stands a dog is a dog is a dog and some variations of the same thing always work. Working with a dogs food drive is always an optimal choice. Amazing the survival instincts all animals have. The dog wants to eat it does what needs to be done so YES food can work with aggressive dogs.

I am a huge advocate that cesar is a joke only because there are so many out here that actually do this too that one miracle in someones chihuahua doesn't impress us. In many cases it is necessary tio euthanize a dog for behavior issues because the owners don't have the ability, followthrough or conviction to realize that it is a dog and they think they are being "mean" to the poor doggie. Its a dog if it comes to me or the dog I will hit it with a big stick, however I do also realize people in most cases were in the wrong and not the dog.

I can not tolerate anymore people saying they have an aggressive puppy. Someone wanted to put a shock collar on an aggressive puppy. The shock collar can be a great training tool but not for IMAGINARY aggressive puppies.

Cesar is here for those that have lost contact with the world and need to take control that we as humans come before the dogs. DOn't get me wrong my dogs come before most people but I know when to draw the line. And you wouldn't believe what a tap on the *** will do for your dog, kids, wife.... It just gets their attention. I am not saying ever ball up your fist and start swinging unless you are in danger. But controled and firm touch will do wonders for a dog who in most cases is looking for its alpha. Its not capable of being a true alpha in a human world so it needs the owners too. I think Cesar has this belief and tries to teach people this.