Having grown weary of seeing this kind of attack on Cesar Millan, and now having a platform of my own to express my thoughts on the topic, I am doing so here.
The first thing I have said before in other platforms (web groups, letters to editors, etc.) but it is the most important and bears repeating over and over: Cesar Millan is not a dog trainer. Millan trains people how to handle their dogs, he does not train dogs, he rehabilitates them.
The second most important thing to note is that Millan's methods are not meant to be used on Fluffy the adorable Bichon Frise who never misbehaves and always walks by his owner's side. Cesar's methods are used on "good dogs gone bad".
Cesar Millan is solely responsible for saving the lives -- savings the lives -- of hundreds of dogs whose owners felt they had no choice but to kill their out-of-control dogs.
The premise is simple: dogs need exercise. That is the first and most basic rule. Now I've know this my entire life. I've always had a natural "knack" with dogs, and from day one my dogs are walked and exercised every single day as often as possible. Many Americans adopt a dog or a puppy, put it in the house, and go to work every day. Dogs were not meant to sit in the human's house, they were meant to walk long distances every day.
An un-exercised dog spells trouble. And many of Millan's clients are known to give him an incredulous "You mean you're going to teach me how to walk the dog?!" Yes, that's right folks, you are not walking your dogs, and you need to, and by doing so you will solve the majority of your problem behaviors. A tired dog is a good dog. Everybody says it, including those nasty anti-Cesareans. (An extra added benefit, you, and the dog will both be healthier! What could be more simple?)
The problem with the anti-Cesareans is actually quite humorous. None of them realize it, and I've even personally pointed it out to some of them, but they are already using Cesar's techniques with their dogs! Those who scream the loudest have a natural ability with dogs, just like I described myself -- they have a "knack" in understanding how dogs think, behave and act. They already practice leadership with their animals. They already are "the boss" in the relationship.
The next premise that Millan teaches people is: how to be a leader. As we all know from being out there in the world, particularly in business or in school, is that not everyone is a leader. Leaders are the few. We've all worked for or admired someone who is a natural-born leader. I am a natural-born leader, and demonstrate this best at my office on a daily basis. Better still is the owner of the company I work for, a man much like Cesar who leads with a firm but loving hand. And, like Cesar, he is very charismatic.
The majority of humans are not leaders. Being a leader of humans is not easy, but it can be learned. Being a leader of dogs is also not easy, but it's easier than leading humans, and it can be taught and learned relatively easily. Cesar teaches his human clients how to lead their dogs, which he refers to as "the pack". Lead your pack, and you will have fewer problems with badly-behaving dogs.
This theory cannot outrage anti-Cesaraens, because they all write about it in their own books -- "be your dog's benevolent leader" one trainer wrote a whole book on this topic. (That same trainer was acknowledged in the bibliography of "Cesar's Way" by Millan, then took an apparent between-the-lines "dig" at Cesar in her latest book, mocking Millan by saying that she should claim she was born with a gift, and that she should call herself "a dog whisperer".)
Cesar is doing nothing different than these trainers. He is practicing, and very successful at, being a benevolent leader to his pack. He teaches his human clients to do the same.
The anti-Cesareans get stuck on the semantics. They obviously have never watched the show for more than a few minutes, probably shutting it off in disgust after Cesar walks into a house and makes no eye contact with the dog. Funny, that really does stop the dog from jumping on the visiting human. Just like that.
The semantics they get stuck on are "dominance" "submission" and a few other one-word bullet points Cesar uses in training the humans. Cesar's show, "The Dog Whisperer", in my opinion, was never intended to be a "do it yourself" show for dog owners. It was intended as a reality show where Cesar helped people and helped their dogs, too. "Don't try this at home" is displayed throughout the show constantly. More recently still, and no doubt due to the unscrupulous acts of the anti-Cesareans, the show runs a disclaimer saying "There are many ways of training your dog, choose the one that's best for you and will keep your dog healthy and happy." But I maintain, this television series was never supposed to be a "how to" show. But human nature as it is, everybody started trying these methods at home.
Now most of us do not have a Pit Bull that tries to kill everything in its path. Some of the dogs showcased on the series are that vicious and dangerous. Most of us just have annoying problems with their dogs such as jumping on guests, running away, not listening or obeying commands, dragging the human on walks, being unruly in the car or at the vet's office. For those of us who have these small annoyances, and have "tried everything" (such is the case with me), if you practice Cesar Millans' methods, they work. Period.
One thing in the editorial letter mentioned above is a belief that Millan's methods are purported to be "instant" or "magic". This couldn't be a more grave misconception. The show is edited down to three 20-minute segments about three individual families and their dogs. On the surface, because of time constraints, it appears that Millan "instantly" transforms these annoying dogs to well-behaved, subservient family members. The viewer, like me, who watches the show -- really watches it and studies it will see that the amount of time it took Cesar to get results is noted regularly. Sometimes it's three hours, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes two or three days, sometimes repeated visits over several weeks. In rare instances, Cesar will take the dog to his Dog Psychology Center and work with it with his own pack for two to three weeks. This stuff is not instant, I can tell you that from first-hand experience.
I found the show "Dog Whisperer" one year ago, after having had several months of problems with my dogs. I had no control over my dogs, and was getting into scuffles with humans and other dog owners because of it. If I heard one more person say to me, "Get control over your dogs, or stop coming here" (at the dog park) I was going to lose my mind. In addition, during these scrapes, I literally got scraped, bruised, broken, cracked and injured several times. My dogs don't bite and are not aggressive. They are overly-friendly, annoying and huge. There is not an anti-Cesarean out there who would not agree that you have to "control" your dog. There goes that suggestion again that anti-Cesaraens are already "controlling" their dogs -- oops! we didn't just admit, did we, that anti-Cesaraens are the bosses of their dogs. Did we? Let me tell you again. At the dog park, all of the "positive reinforcement" owners were mad as hell, at me, and wanted me outta there. I've never attended a training class in my life. I've always trained my dogs myself. But, I had never had a "pack" of dogs. It was always one-on-one. This was a new challenge, owning two dogs -- both males, and big. The day I nearly got beaten up by a woman on the beach was the last straw. I was done taking my dogs to the beach, I was deflated and defeated. Nothing could help me. I would never take my dogs to the beach again. When I got home from my trip to the beach the next day, I turned on the TV and there was this man, Cesar Millan, on "Live With Regis and Kelly". I watched, fascinated, as Millan trained Laurie Schulweis (one of the producers of R&K) how to interact with her dog. At the end of the segment, they mentioned his show, "Dog Whisperer", which I'd never heard of.
The next time "Dog Whisperer" aired, I watched it, and I was instantly hooked. The charismatic and charming Millan was an inspiration. The show made me cry, I was so touched by his way with people, his kind heartedness, and his love of dogs. Whereas a few days before, I was devastated and wanted to give up ever walking my dogs again, I instead started watching the show as often as possible, taping it, and re-watching it repeatedly like a "student" "studying" how it is done. The disclaimers I read as they popped up on the screen, but I didn't care, I was trying this stuff, it was my last hope.
I started walking my dogs the way Cesar demonstrates on the show. So far, so good. I haven't been pulled down on the ground by my huge hounds since, and it's been a whole year. Now, I remind the anti-Cesaraens, if they're reading this, I didn't start doing this after watching 15 minutes of the show, I watched the show for hours and hours on end, studying, rewinding and studying some more. I practiced in the house, then in my yard. Eventually, after several weeks of practice in my yard and on the road in front of my house, I was able to venture forth on longer walks. I did this piecemeal, slow and steady, one step at a time.
I also started harkening back to my days as a single-dog owner, and I remembered that I was fully benevolent pack leader of my dog at that time. She did everything I said, and never caused me any behavioral problems. I started summoning up that person I "used to be" when I owned one dog, instead of two. The biggest thing I gained from doing this was a change in my internal energy. Millan instructs his humans on the finer points of internal energy and body language. Put aside those verbal commands. "Dogs don't have conversation." is one of his famous phrases. I stopped using verbal commands, and started using my body, just like another dog would, to convey messages to my dogs. (That trainer I mentioned above writes about this in her pack leader book, so again, the anti-Cesaraens are already doing body blocking and body language to communicate with their dogs). I started watching other dogs interact with each other. I watched how Cesar incorporated that into his interactions with dogs. I started imitating how Cesar stands tall, how he stands when he enters a room, how he does not make eye contact and does not "greet" dogs by verbal communication, but instead lets them smell him just like they do with other dogs.
As anyone who watches the show will tell you, Kane, the Great Dane who was fearful of the shiny floor, was not "commanded by Cesar" to walk on the floor. In fact, this season, Cesar went back to visit Kane, whose owner can now bring Kane to her workplace -- the whole point of the exercise. Kane now accompanies the owner to work regularly whereas before Cesar came along, that was impossible despite the so-called assistance of several "trainers." These trainers are mistaken. One of them says Cesar's Way is to "punish the dog for breaking rules he didn't know existed." As Cesar himself has said repeatedly, he does not believe in punishing dogs. Cesar doesn't punish dogs, ever. Punishment is a human psychology. It doesn't work on dogs.
The so-called use of shock collars by Cesar is another example of someone who watched two seconds of an episode and clicked the remote. Everyone who watches the show knows that Cesar allowed the use of the shock collar in one episode because the dog's owner wanted to use a shock collar. Cesar does not bring equipment to the client's home. Cesar uses the tools that the customer has on-hand. That person happened to have a shock collar. To his credit, Cesar demonstrated the proper use of a shock collar if someone felt they needed to use one. You see, Cesar doesn't have to use shock collars, or any equipment, the dogs just respect him and obey him because of his energy and body language.
Millan establishes himself as a benevolent leader of the dog or pack of dogs he has been hired to rehabilitate by frustrated owners who have all but given up on their dogs. His ability to calm animals, and to train people, is truly remarkable. He has saved the lives of hundreds of dogs about to be euthanized due to their aggression. Something that not many, if any, dog trainers can say.
The show Dog Whisperer was never meant to be a "how to" show. It is a reality show, that showcases humans unable to control their dogs and Cesar's ability to help those people. Just because some viewers try idiotic moves like shoving noses into other dogs' rear ends, or pinning a dog to the ground, or rollerblading without safety equipment is not Cesar Millan's fault, it's the viewer's fault for being downright foolish.
These anti-Cesareans should watch, really watch, the show. They have obviously not done so. Cesar's methods haven't set back dog training 20 years. They are a prerequisite to dog training. First, be the leader of your dog, then take him to obedience class. Most of us who like Dog Whisperer use both techniques: positive reinforcement and leadership a la Cesar.
Cesar uses touch to communicate with the dog, imitating how a leader in a natural pack of dogs behaves. Some fans of Cesar call this "the bite" or "the Cesar bite". If you watch dogs interact with each other, you see them do this to discipline each other all the time.
I've even used some of these techniques at work with my employees, and in other aspects of my life. This went far beyond just working with my dogs. I stand up tall and walk with intention, assertively. Where once I always "deferred" to others, now I notice people doing so to me -- letting me walk through doors first. It's all about the attitude!
Back to my dogs, I learned some nifty tricks for establishing myself as leader, such as claiming the door, the gate, the couch, the window and the leash. At all doors, and stairways, I go first. I have never pinned a dog to the ground, have never used the so-called "alpha roll" and, never will. Cesar only uses this on extremely aggressive dogs and only immediately after they've attacked another dog or human. He knows what he's doing, we don't. We shouldn't be trying this stuff at home.
All original material copyright © Kathleen S. Mueller. All rights reserved.