Dog Whisperer this past Saturday

[bckrazy]

There were some interesting techniques, but do you think we, as 'regular' people can duplicate his techniques?


And train our dogs so quickly!

Symphony
www.beginningdogtraining.com

Absolutely not.
And I do not feel that he, himself, executes the vast majority of his "techniques" in a safe or effective manner, either.

The bottom line is... HUMANS are not WOLVES, or DOGS. Cesar's attempts to emulate wolf behavior, through his own skewed perception, often fails miserably. There are many accounts of dogs that Cesar "treated" attacking their owners when they tried to apply the same techniques, and still many of Cesar being attacked while in the "training" process. The fact that his show encourages people at home to physically challenge their dogs (often dogs with real, serious behavior problems) is simply moronic and dangerous.

Cesar does not train dogs quickly. That is what they call the magic of television. Furthermore, the dogs that he claims are being "calm/submissive" are actually shutting down; their behavior has not been turned around, they have simply stopped functioning and ceased doing anything, out of fear. There is no instant gratification microwave for dog training. It takes a lot of understanding, time, reinforcement, consistency, and conditioning. And it is a lifelong process, not a 30-minute process.

Here are some really great links, from CERTIFIED behaviorists (of which Cesar is not):

http://4pawsu.com/dogpsychology.htm
http://www.urbandawgs.com/luescher_millan.html
http://www.marinij.com/homeandgarden/ci_4720342
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MGPHL9D1N1.DTL
http://www.animalbehaviorassociates....ader_myths.pdf

[Giselle]

Erika/Bckrazy, thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!

If the above barrage of links doesn't convince you, here's a book review of "Cesar's Way" written by a veterinarian for the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior:
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonli...r%20review.pdf

The American Veterinary Medical Associations take on Cesar's endorsement of compulsion training methods:
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/feb08/080215l.asp

AVSAB's take on the pitfalls of punishment:
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonli...sk=view&id=118

Bottom line: Domesticated dogs are NOT wolves. DOGS act more like extremely immature/juvenile wolves more than the coherent, stable pack of mature adults that Cesar would like you to believe. Dogs bark a LOT, whine a LOT, furiously wag their tails, etc. etc. - all behaviors that mature wolves do not regularly display.

The dominance myth has really been distorted to an absurd point. There are common arguments that claim something as mundane as a jumping puppy will turn into a dominant adult. So, then, how does one explain a jumping puppy's lip licking, whining, held back ears, etc.? If one has ever seen a band of puppies approach an older dog, the puppies will perform these behaviors while simultaneously *licking the other dog's lips*. As chance would have it, HUMAN lips are taller than the average puppy. Ergo, the puppy must jump to reach. It's not dominance. It's perfectly normal dog behavior. But somehow, we repudiate normal DOG behavior and instead substitute it with our skewed view of "acceptable" WOLF behavior.

So why is Cesar seemingly "effective"? The answer is that, whether we'd like to admit it or not, punishment often works to suppress behavior. If you hit (or, as Cesar likes to put it, "assertively touch") a dog every time he approaches a bone, that dog will learn to avoid the bone to avoid the punishment. He doesn't learn self-control. He learns FEAR. Punishment works to suppress behavior. But in and of itself, punishment is no substitution for behavioral modification, and punishment must be used only by those who know how and when to use it. And nobody should use the level of punishment that Cesar uses.

[shepgirl]

I agree with BCKRAZY on this one. Ceasar is not my kind of trainer, and the off the scene stuff people don't see would surprise most of the people who think he's so wonderful. I personally do not like him or his methods. I find him unsympathetic and even borders on cruel to animals. I see no respect coming from the dogs, only fear.

[bckrazy]

I knew you would show up with a fantastic post, Sophie.

I definitely agree with you, and shepgirl, that fear-based "training" is NOT going to produce a stable or reliable dog... ever. Any animal acting on fear is going to be unpredictable, erratic, and depending on how far that animal is pushed and where their breaking point is, will often lash out to protect themselves.

What's sad is the untold number of well-meaning owners and their dogs who have suffered because of the gospel that Cesar preaches. On another forum just last week, a woman's hand was bitten and her dog was PUT TO SLEEP, because she physically challenged him while he was guarding food... "like Cesar does"!

Instead of a .1-second, bottom-of-the-screen, miniscule "do not try this at home" warning before The Dog Whisperer... there should be a "DO NOT WATCH THIS CRAP" warning. D:

[lizbud]

I really think people confuse assertivness with dominance. It's not the
same thing at all. The "pack leader" has no need to remind the "pack" who
is in charge.

[Aston]

Cesar have a natural born good thing and this is an important factor in dog training: a calm and fearless approach. Apart from this I don´t appreciate or approve his training methods. Problematic dogs need to be corrected with love and reward based technics and not by fear. If a dog is corrected using the fear factor, he will almost all the times come back to his problematic behaviour.

[Emma<3Beth]

sorry if i cause an up roar but ummm.... I love the dog whisperer .

The things he does with dogs are amazing and i use what he says with my own dogs. I NEVER hit my dogs but i will touch the dog to snap it out of the bad behaviour.
A lot of dogs he works with are agressive and he has to be firm. If a Pit or Rottie want to get something you have to be firm.


I watched a episode a few night back and he did nothing but praise the dog. I dont always see the dominace thing but alot of it makes sense to me.

But every person to there own i guess.

it is correct that tv does distort(sp*) alot of things and it probably does take a lot longer to train a dog than it is shown.