Alysser, I could not agree with you more! I get those comments from CM people... "ugh, your dogs are obviously leading you" as my dogs walk politely with a loose leash. How does it make you a "leader" to FORCE your dog, jerking them on leash, to walk behind or beside you? My dogs compete in Obedience and will heel the second I tell them to - but won't trudge with head and tail down behind me at all times - and that is fine by me!!! I taught them that it's a law of nature that we don't move forward if the leash is taut, so they stay loose leash all of the time and have a blast on walks. Why even walk a dog if they aren't able to get any mental stimulation from it, smell the grass, and stretch their legs? Yeah, I'd much rather have a happy, confident, naturally behaved dog who is enjoying every minute with me, even if you perceive him as DOMINANT. I'd rather have a 'dominant' dog than a miserable robot of a dog, who is too afraid that I'll jerk them, hand-bite them or shock them to do anything at all! If you want your dog to be "calm submissive" and barely function at all times, best get a giant stuffed animal and not put a living, feeling, loyal, social creature through a life of fear and suppression.
I find that Cesar humanizes dogs more than the ridiculous people he consults who baby their dogs to the max. At least those people show their dogs love and empathy! Cesar, on the other hand, is hell-bent on alpha rolling, hanging and scruffing dogs into complete learned helplessness... in his mind, dogs are evil, maniacal creatures who are constantly striving to be "dominant" over their human owners. Is that not humanizing dogs to the max?!? Humans (men in particular) are the only animal who obsesses over being the dominant species! Why project that onto our loving dogs who just want to make us happy and work for us? Dogs are not people. Dogs are not wolves, either! If they were, dog parks, dog daycare, service dogs, etc would not exist. His methodology is based on his own uneducated observations of Mexican strays & dominance theory is based on a captive wolf pack study from 60 years ago that has been completely disproven. He has never been educated in animal behavior, and despite making millions he has no interest in proven, science-based methods. He started out an aspiring actor. EVERY single veterinary behaviorist in the country speaks out against Cesar. I suppose behaviorists with PhD's just know nothing, because they don't have a fancy, fictional sensational TV show.
Anyone who questions for a second that Cesar Millan is an abusive, baseless moron needs to watch these two videos. In the first, a German Shepherd chases a cat... wow, lady, how are you shocked (pun intended) that your high prey drive working GSD chases your cat?! Desensitize her to the cat's presence and keep the cat comfortable and safe. But instead, CM slaps a shock collar on the dog obviously on a very high setting, freaks the poor cat out beyond belief, and hurts/scares the dog to the point that she redirects and bites her owner (this dog has never bitten before)! WTF how is this considered training?! What's worse, a dog who has natural prey drive and simply needs obedience training, or a dog who is pushed and confused beyond belief with a painful shock collar and has learned to BITE her owner? The second video is a primitive breed, a Jindo, rescued from living as a stray in a 3rd world country... the owners say the dog is perfectly content and friendly living outside, but they want him to come inside. So Cesar drags him inside and strings him up on a slip lead until he begins to asphyxiate. Again, how is that not abuse? If you saw some one hanging a dog, would you not report it? Why is he so special and allowed to set dogs up for failure and then hang them, because it's a "last resort"?... so, why doesn't he ever exhaust any positive methods, which have been scientifically proven to modify aggressive behaviors, before resorting to violence? NEVER. He even says that treats only work for "training", not "rehabilitation". How is training not the same?! It's all part of his senseless babble that he sells to unassuming viewers all too well. And he creates ticking timebombs who fear human hands and "behave" only because they are shut down. I know several people who paid Cesar to train their dogs before he became famous and forced people to sign confidentiality agreements, and all of them either felt their dogs were ruined by him & took years to recover with positive methods, or had to euthanize their dogs because the methods pushed them over the edge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GptupfqLYwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyw4bZ1urRE (skip to 6:00 and MUTE the ignorance)
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