Dog Training and Dog Care advice from UK Professionals

Cesar Millan: 'The Dog Whisperer?' Continued


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Cesar Millan - 'The Prophet'

Cesar Millan 'The Dog Whisperer' Cesar Millan is portrayed by the media as being “The Way, The Truth and The Life” and is treated as a prophet by his adoring public.

This alone should make one just a little sceptical as it shows a level of commerce and corporate branding which is far too great to really be applied to a humble dog trainer without questioning his enormous financial backing, which can often override or even replace a person's natural flair and skill for training dogs.

Cesar Millan's success probably lies more in the clever way that National Geographic focuses on Millan's showmanship rather than his training methods. Combine this with his use of vocabulary, his charm and his undeniable charismatic appearance, is it any wonder that dog owners idolise him, and believe that his methods make sense?

Add to this the ability to edit any footage before it is broadcast and you have a recipe for producing exactly what a TV company wishes to show to the public, which may not be exactly what happened, and of course it doesn't show how the owners get on with the dog after he leaves in many cases.

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As with anything televised, people only see what the television company want them to see. Causes for concern are the ways he:

Hits or strikes dogs, calling it “hand nips”.

Roughly handling dogs on a lead until they shut down emotionally, then telling the owner that their dog is now “submissively calm” when other dog professionals would instead call it 'emotional shutdown' through such a heightened level of fear or distress.

Using physical and psychological intimidation such as “finger jabs”, choke collars, electric shock collars, treadmills, and flooding (a term used to describe the overwhelming of an animal with the object of its fears).

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Millan is beamed into millions of homes every week and he has established a positive army of idols ready to implement his much criticized training methods. Millan's mantra of “Exercise, discipline and affection” may translate into a human/canine relationship where the dog is forced to submit or face their “angst” through archaic training methods resulting in a submissive but nervous animal which has no choice but to submit, not through overcoming its fear, but through greater fears being presented and forcing the dog into submission.

This is not positive dog training, and does not permanently cure a dog's fears, in some cases it will make a dog's fears far greater, and whilst it may submit to Cesar Millan, this certainly does not mean it will submit to its owners when he is no longer around. This this could be a recipe for disaster.

Cesar Millan 'The Dog Whisperer'Broadcasting giants, National Geographic and Cesar Millan have promoted a far from realistic view of curing dog's behavioural problems for the average dog owner, but of course any dog lover will find it hard to resist watching anything involving their beloved creature on TV, especially when it is packaged and presented in such a beautiful way.

Whether prophet or not, one can credit Millan for his emphasis on the importance of exercising dogs and for his firm belief that any potential dog owner should always look to a breed's exercise needs before choosing a puppy.

Millan
constantly reminds his public that it is no use choosing a high energy dog if the owners themselves are not inclined towards outdoor activities. Millan has also saved some dogs from being euthanized because of their behavioural problems, an achievement that deserves significant recognition and one which those particular dogs are fortunate to have received.

One thing is for sure, love him or hate him, Cesar Millan's methods appeal to the dog owner looking for a quick fix to their pet's behavioural problems using as little effort on their part as possible. However in our increasingly 'quick fix' and 'throwaway' lifestyles, this is not always the same in practice as it is on TV, and more and more owners are discovering this for themselves, the hard way, often making their own canine behaviour problems worse, not better.

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Owning a dog calls for dedication on the owner's part not only to the animal's physical well-being but also to treating the animal with love and respect. Under the new Animal Welfare Bill introduced in the United Kingdom earlier this year all dog owners have by law, a duty of care to their pet and failure to do so can result in legal prosecution. This law could easily prosecute certain actions which Millan uses on his TV show, if a UK citizen was caught doing so.




At K9Obedience.co.uk we do not believe that Cesar Millan's methods are either right or wrong. The reason for this is that his methods consist of many widely varied techniques and to state that all of his dog training and behaviour skills are either good or bad would be inaccurate. Some of Millan's methods are very effective, and we thoroughly agree with these such methods. On the other hand, some of his methods don't even qualify to be called "methods" in our view, and are simply an abuse of his knowledge of dogs and how their minds work.

In these ways, Millan is very good at causing a dog to submit, and whilst this is an important side to dog training and obedience, it is certainly not applicable to all dogs and all situations or behaviour problems. Submission is NOT the kind or humane way to convince a dog to overcome its fears, but sometimes it is. It depends on the nature of the dog and the level and types of fears that it has. In the great majority of nervous dogs, causing them to 'submit' in ANY way would be a mistake as their fears can't be cured by regressive behaviour, only by positive or extrovert behaviours, where they can challenge their own fears (with our help) and overcome them slowly and methodically.

Cesar Millan certainly does have a great understanding of dogs, but it is our view that the day he became such a famed icon of the TV and dog training arena throughout the world, this understanding was given second priority to the ultimate goals of TV which are ratings, viewing figures, sales of books and DVDs and general public perception of the star of the show. This is a tragedy for dogs, and anybody who watches The Dog Whisperer TV show MUST take everything they see with a pinch of salt, and should always ask a professional local dog expert to come and assess their dog to see if the methods are applicable to their dog as in many cases they probably are not.

There are many rumours and stories of abuse of dogs by staff at Cesar Millan's dog behaviour centre, however it would be foolish and grossly unfair to believe them out of hand, without sufficient evidence, as people always love to shoot down a star and always will, whether it is through pure jealousy of his fame, or indeed for truthful genuine reasons.

In the same way though, it would be just as foolish to believe that the man is a genius and a true "Dog Whisperer" purely based on the equally weak evidence of a corporate-backed, hugely advertised and very well-produced TV program. All that can be proved by the program is the fact that behind Cesar Millan exists a massively skilled, successful and wealthy marketing system which knows how to please an audience. The mainstream media is slowly showing more and more dog professionals coming out and speaking against Millan's methods, believing them dangerous and inhumane. One example can be viewed HERE. Pleasing an audience requires a very different skillset to curing dogs and helping owners overcome their dog behaviour or obedience problems.

Until we have seen him first hand working with a dog we know (something which is unlikely to happen) we will reserve ultimate judgement, even in light of the great deal of criticism from respected professionals in the canine behaviour business of Cesar Millan's methods. Anybody who has a profile as high as Cesar Millan's is going to receive a wave of both support and criticism, it goes with the territory.

As far as we are concerned, The Dog Whisperer program makes good TV, but it should do no more than that. Unfortunately this isn't the case, and many owners simply watch an episode and then begin working on their dog with the methods they think they have learned. Nothing is ever that simple, and in closing, we would WARN ALL OWNERS that implementing a technique learned from a TV show is at best misguided, and at worst dangerous and possibly even cruel.


We welcome your comments on Cesar Millan and the Dog Whisperer TV Show. Have your say in our FREE Dog Forum


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