I have to admit that I am fasinated with Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. I even added 100 more channels just so I could get the National Geographic channel! Every afternoon from 2-3pm I'm glued to the tube in awe of what he can do with an unruly dog. Even the not so unruly ones, today there was a Newfoundland that would not eat his food. He doesn't claim to be a "dog trainer" but a dog phychologist. "I rehabilitate dogs, train owners".
The fact that his "pack" can all wait for Cesar to hand out chicken and none of them fight over the food, just amazing to me. They also do not bark constantly once "shhhhst". Wouldn't that be great for daycares?
I have a problem with Logan running at the door and barking. I've tried shaking a can of pennies, telling him to "shush", etc. After watching an episode of "The Dog Whisperer" I've gone to "claiming my space" in front of the door to keep ALL the dogs from crowding me. This has been very effective. I like it much better than the "throw them outside" method I had been using.
There is even an article in my son's Cub Scout magazine about him.
What does everyone else think of Cesar???
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
p.s. I wonder if he'll fix my children.
Even I wouldn't touch children. LOL
In my opinion, and I realize that I'm still very much a novice at this, but most of what he does with his pack is establish his "Alpha" role. And the claiming of the space is definitely an alpha behavior.
What they don't show you when he introduces (pretty much scaring the crap out of a new dog by dragging it into an established pack) a new dog, is what would happen in a few days when that specific dog is tired of being omega.
As for the dog that wouldn't eat it's food, what was the history to why he wouldn't eat? Were the people feeding him table scraps? Did he have a prior medical condition? I know if mine won't eat when it's offered, it gets picked back up. That may seem "old school" but thinking about a pack, if you don't get your share when it's available, someone else is going to eat it.
Now remember, I'm the novice and these are my slightly educated thoughts, don't feed me to the wolves ;)
The dog that wouldn't eat was pampered by the owners and never had to "work" for his food. Cesar took him to the pack to learn how eat. By walking and making him work he then became hungry. Before, the food always came to the dog for not doing anything. The dog was a couch potato and never got any exercise. That's the condensed version.
I've seen shows where he takes aggressive dogs into his pack for "rehab" and their success is dependent on the owners being able to changing too.
The Horse Whisperer basically does the same thing, he "talks" to horses using their own language to rehabilitate problem horses. If only we could all "talk" to animals.
Last night I could have used some help... I take the "boys" to soccer with me to get some extra training in with distractions. There is another person who brings their pampered little puppies and Logan goes NUTS over them. As long as we are "working" he is focused and fine. But as soon as I ask him to settle and lay down so I can watch my other boys play soccer he is a mess. he actually tried to bite me when I was being assertive with him to stay laying down. Foster even diceplined him for being "unstable". If I hadn't seen the Dog Whisperer I would have thought Foster was just being a bully too.
If Logan continues with this "reactive" behavior I'm not sure what I'll do with him.
Well, well, well, I've been wondering when the Dog Whisperer issue would come up on the blog. What do I think of Mr. Cesar Milan? Well, first let me mention the things I do like ....
1. I LOVE how he and his show have gotten the general public interested in training their dogs.
2. I like that he points out the necessity for EXERCISE.
3. I like that he shows dog owners how their behavior impacts and influences their dogs' behavior.
4. I like that he emphasizes that dogs are not humans - and we do them a disservice by treating them as such.
Now, for what I don't like ....
1. His methods are hardly revolutionary. They are old and antiquated. I see absolutely nothing new. In fact, his methods are a throw back to the way we trained 15, 20 years ago. Tight leads, forcing a dog into a position, choke chains, prong collars, leash jerks, holding dogs down and physically dominating them is old stuff.
2. His presentation of completely changing a dog within a 30 minute episode is both misleading and dangerous. Dogs that are aggressive to humans and other dogs are nothing to be toyed with. I feel showing him miraculously (ah the power of editing and television) rehabilitating an aggressive dog so quickly will make owners think it is easy. I'm sorry, but there are some dogs that can't and shouldn't be rehabilitated. Some dogs need to go nighty night to get permanent relief from their mental turmoil.
3. There is no follow-up. Rather than show dog after dog after dog, I think it would be more helpful and more realistic if they monitored the progress of a single dog over the course of several months, or a year. But I guess realistic isn't what they're going for, huh?
Now, Janet, my question for you is, what were you doing to assert yourself with Logan? Were you attempting to physically hold him down? If so, then I'm not at all surprised that he tried to bite you! ;-) Which again, is one of my concerns about Cesar and the Dog Whisperer show. I would love to find out how many owners have been bitten by following his assertive techniques. And while we're on the subject let's just call a spade a spade. Physically dominating a dog isn't being assertive it's being aggressive. My feelings are, if I have to muscle my dog to get him or her to do something, then I've made a wrong turn somewhere. How old is Logan? 10 or 11 months at best? I lose track. Well, I'm sorry, but I don't know many dogs that age who want to lie down in a settle while at a soccer field and he sees kids and other dogs playing. Why wouldn't he want to play too? Personally I think that is being unrealistic to expect him to lay quietly while all that is going on. Here's what I would do....
1. Don't feed him the day of a soccer game and bring his meal along with you to the game. Let him know you have it on you then give him some periodically through the evening only when he is behaving, is settled and is looking at you.
2. Take his favorite chew toy with you to the game - something special that he will only get while at a game.
3. Leave him at home! ;-)
How about those for options?
Well, Logan is 9 months. You guys do not see the Logan that lives in my house. I'll try to get some video for you... But in the mean time, I do not think a dog's age should dismiss a behavior that is undesirable. I think that by keeping him home would not at all help the problem. And he isn't just interested in playing. I think his reaction is a little more hyped up than that. And the fact that Foster isn't tolerating it either leads me to believe that this could escalate into something more. I do make sure that he hasn't eaten and I bring yummy treats to keep him interested. And toys and chew things are not his thing. I don't expect him to lay quietly for the whole hour. I heal with him, play, do recalls, etc. I even click and treat when he is lying quietly. It's the fact that he pulls and leaps as if I'm not even at the other end of the leash trying to get him back to being "calm" that concerns me. Do you really think he'll "out grow" this?
Today I biked with both dogs for about 15 minutes, it was hot. They did fine, I've done this before. They also where Halti's so I have better control.Tonight when I went again we passed three different dogs. The first one was being walked by it's owner and I was forced to get off my bike to regain control. The next dog was in a fenced yard, Foster didn't care but Logan went into lurch and pull mode again and was "yelled at" by Foster but I still had to come off my bike to regain control. The third dog was on a leash laying in the grass while it's owner talked to another neighbor, it yipped once or twice and then stopped, but that was enough to send Logan into one more "spaz" mode. Luckily I was able to keep him moving this time, so I felt like some progress was made. But I'm sure I'll have the same reaction tomorrow if we encounter another dog on our bike ride.
I really do think he is a "reactive" dog in new dog/dog situations and I would love to know how to deal with it. I'm frustrated because I think I've done everything right since he came to live me. I did puppy class, I socialized the snot out of him, I continue to do class and expose him to the outside world. So when did it all go wrong??? Hormones? Did I miss a step in his training?
Now I know I've rambled on for a while so let me just mention some good things about Logan...
1. he is good with the kids
2. he does well in class
3. he really is good dog most of the time. It's the "reactive" times I have a hard time seeing the good in him.
Maybe we should schedule a home visit Laurie ;)
hello
sorry about that - just testing out my differen passwords. I think I finally found the right one.
I too used to be fasinated by Ceasar, but let me put emphasis on "USED to be". The problem was the dog would attack the vaccum whenever she took it out. It was a 6 lb Yorkie. The dog would start to reverse sneeze, while being corrected while on a kennel lead with Ceasar on the other end, he said it was sneezing as an avoidance to being corrected. As we all know reverse sneezing is due to an over growth of the soft pallette that gets reversed and it covers the air way, so hence sucking in air to get it back down the throat. Plus any dog will most likely change his behavior when someone has a very tight noose around it's neck, and a much more confident demeanor. I will give the man credit, he has balls to even get near some of the aggresive dogs he does work with. I agree w/Laurie that he doesn't do follow up often enough, and I did see an episode which did say that a family he tried to help ended up putting 1 of their 2 dogs down, because his methods didn't help. You can't fix inbedded behaviors in 30 min.s I also feel it gives people false hope.
And speaking of a pack, think of what you would do if thrown into a large group of people wanting to touch you and speaking all at once. But remember you are tied to a pole in the middle. What choice do you have but to submit.
Plus 2 things I say to my classes are "Do you know what kind of dog is the best dog? A tired one.
Do you know what kind dog is a tired dog? A happy dog.
Ps. I wouldn't let him near my kids or dogs.
Having watched two of his programs, I think the man is scary. He actually was bitten in the first show I watched. I do not like his heavy-handed tactics.
I googled "Cesar Milan."
Of course articles both pro and con are available.
Two articles I found particularly interesting -
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/15/CMGPHL9D1N1.DTL
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/opinion/31derr.html?ex=1314676800&en=a90240e104db46c9&ei=5090
The first article is especially good. It's about Ian Dunbar. He's a founding member of APDT. I respect his opinion on this matter.
The second is an article that has been circulating around for awhile.
Just some food for thought.
The bottom line is, neither Cesar nor any trainer can rehabilitate or change a family dog's behavior without changing the people first. And, quite frankly, I think many, perhaps even most of the dog owners featured on the program just do not have the personalities to become alpha in their dog's eyes. If they did, would they be in that position to begin with? Would they have allowed their dogs' behavioral problems to get that bad from the get go? I think not. Changing a person's core behavior is a lot harder than changing a dog!
I must admit I fascinated by the Dog Whisper too, I do think many of his methods are out dated and heavy handed, but I like his basic ideas of what dogs need to be happy and balanced; exercise, discipline and finally affection. Although I prefer to think of discipline as establishing consistent rules instead. I think you have a lot less trouble preventing the behavior than trying to correct the behavior later.
I have an aggressive dog Oscar who has bitten more than once. We actually considered having him put down. This was before the Dog Whisper craze. Our vet who I’m happy to say is very knowledgeable about dogs had us fill out a detailed questionnaire. We learned that Oscar had 4 different types of aggressive behavior. We learned a lot about how our behavior was actually trigger the dog’s aggression. To us it seem to come from no where. We completely changed the rules for Oscar in the house. No furniture, No free feeding. No fence fighting or territorial behavior allowed and tons of tons exercise. Laurie is right these problems take time. Changing your behavior is much harder than the show indicates, and I would never use some of the techniques the Dog Whisper uses with Oscar. I would get bit. But exercise, consistent rules and finally affection has saved his life. He is a much happier balanced dog now.
Hi Jill,
You hit the nail on the head. I think most people would be bitten by their troubled dog if they emulated Cesar. He's been bitten!!! I think it's irresponsible for National Geographic to portray fixing aggressive dogs so easily. That said, it is my hope that people will be smart enough to consult a professional, as directed, rather than try these techniques at home. The only thing is, it's a lot harder these days to find dog behavior specialists utilizing Cesar's methods. As I said, most of his methods are outdated big time. I've had people consult me who bring him up. I just let them know as diplomatically as possible that I don't use his methods and let it go at that.
In response to Janet's last post...
Granted yes, the horse whisperer does speak in horse language...the difference is the horse easily outweigh us humans so physical force is something that is not your first option. I know I was dragged around quite a bit until I learned what "body language" was all about. Driving from the shoulder line and giving in when the signals are given completely changed my relationship with Shady because now we understood one another. There is no physical force involved. I remember the last episode I ever watched (first and last actually) was him trying to force an aggressive dog onto it's back and he was still at it even after he'd been bitten repeatedly. My two borders and I have a pretty good relationship alpha-wise...Pepper however...No right was done by her to teach or even communicate. I was young and had no idea and now that I do, I feel that it's better to live and let live with her. She's twelve for one, and two she's very simplistic in her delights. She likes car rides and lazy days in the sun, so I give her those things on my own terms and we co-exist in that nature.
And I completely agree with Laurie. Before I started working Cote in her obedience classes, I used to hate Cote's behavior at home. Believe it or not, I didn't want anything to do with him a lot of the time. Once she changed my outlook and my way of thinking, things became extremely easy and now he refers to me for things instead of fighting against me.
I think the one thing about Ceasar that I hate the most is the "pack" training he uses. Teaching a dog to eat by thrusting him into an established pack is ludicris in my opinion. The simple thing would have been the oldie "if you don't want to come eat it, fine by me" and put it away. When you're hungry, you know where I'll be.
As for Logan, I'll leave that to the professionals ;)
Post a Comment