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The Dog Whisperer
"Judith Althouse" wrote in message: Thumbs up or Thumbs down??? I love him. He is my idol, my hero, my guru. i want to be him when I grow up so, whadda ya say do ya like him or not? I say Thumbs UP!!!!! I am kind of neutral on him. He clearly has decent dog skills, and has excellent people skills, which is often what it takes to make people really listen. He is absolutely correct in identifying lack of exercise and leadership as some of the primary causes of behavior problems in the dogs. Beyond that, I have disagreed with some of his methodology, believe that they really do need to show the extent of the work done instead of portraying him as some kind of miracle worker, and show the real dangers behind what would happen if someone without serious dog skills were to apply some of his methods. Suja |
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The Dog Whisperer
This is the Pat Miller review. She's a trainer, author, and current
APDT president. --- (cross posted with permission) Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding & Correcting Common Dog Problems By Cesar Millan, with Melissa Jo Peltier Harmony Books, 320 pp., 2006; $24.95 Reviewed by Pat Miller Almost every dog-training book has something to offer the discerning reader, and Cesar's Way is no exception. The book's strength is as an autobiography of National Geographic's TV dog-trainer star, Cesar Millan. If you're curious about how Millan got where he is today, this book will tell you. If you're looking for significant help training your dog, however, look elsewhere. Many in the behavioral science community view the tenets-and consequences- of Cesar's "way" with trepidation. In an interview published in the New York Times in February of this year, Dr. Nicolas Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, observed, "My College thinks it is a travesty. We've written to National Geographic Channel and told them they have put dog training back 20 years." Millan provides little in terms of concrete training information, offering instead broad generalizations about projecting "calm-assertive energy"-a Millan catch phrase-and instilling "calm, submissive energy" in your dog. For example, in Chapter 8, he offers "Simple Tips for Living Happily with Your Dog." His "Rules of the House" include: "Wake up on your terms, not his ... condition him to get quietly off the bed if he wakes before you do." "Don't allow possessiveness over toys and food!" "Don't allow out-of-control barking." Good advice, perhaps, but, nowhere in the book does he explain how to accomplish these things, other than by using calm-assertive energy. Millan is nothing if not confident. He admits to his "politically incorrect" reliance on old-fashioned dominance theory, stating, "To dogs, there are only two positions in a relationship: leader and follower. Dominant and submissive. It's either black or white." He even has the hubris to bemoan the unwillingness of authorities to allow him to rehabilitate Hera, one of the two notorious Presa Canario dogs who killed Diane Whipple in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building. In Millan's world, every behavior problem is addressed in terms of dominance and submission. He even uses the alpha roll as part of his "dominance ritual"; this technique-forcibly rolling a dog on his side or back and holding him there-is considered by many to be a dangerous practice based on faulty interpretation of wolf behavior. It long ago fell into disfavor with trainers whose methods are based on the science of behavior and learning. Where Millan talks about "energy," science-based trainers talk about behavior, and generally agree that status in social groups is fluid and contextual, not black or white. Truly effective and long-term success in behavior modification requires a far more studied and complex approach than simply asserting dominance. Interpretation of dog body language diverges just as widely. Millan refers in his book to Kane, a Great Dane who appeared on his TV show who was afraid of slick linoleum floors. Millan claims that with less than 30 minutes of his calm, assertive influence, Kane was striding confidently down the slick hallway. Every trainer I know who has watched that segment notes the dog's post-Millan, obvious and ongoing stress signals: head and tail lowered, hugging the wall, panting. Millan touts the benefits of exercise in modifying dog behavior, a concept I heartily endorse. However, his book starts with a description of the four-hour exercise session he engages in with his pack of dogs every morning in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California, followed by afternoons spent rollerblading with those same dogs, 10 at a time, on the streets around his training center. One of the tenets of a successful training program is that it gives the dog owner tools he or she can apply. How many dog owners can spend six hours a day exercising their dogs? How many can project "calm-assertive energy"? The danger of Cesar's Way is that it assures owners that quick fixes and easy answers lie in the hands of a smiling man with the elusive calm-assertive energy. In fact, answers are better found in the beautiful complexity of life, where solutions are often not quick and easy, but are solidly built on a sturdy foundation and an understanding of how behavior really works. |
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The Dog Whisperer
On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 11:20:04 -0400, elegy
wrote: [] sure there are good aspects of what he says- treat your dogs like dogs, the way you act/feel (ie your "energy" *eyeroll*) affects your dog's behavior, the root of much problem behavior is not enough exercise- but that's nothing ground-breaking. I've seen maybe 6-7 episodes. I don't see a lot of dog *training* going on, but from what I understand the show to be about, it's, "I rehabilitate dogs. I train people." That's his shtick. And I think he does a pretty good job of it. And I agree, there's nothing ground-breaking about what he does. But I think that having a show like this reach the masses, well, that *is* ground-breaking, and it just might have a positive effect on the folks out there who might recognize *themselves* in the folks and families he "trains" on his show. It surely can't hurt. And his results appear to speak for themselves. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, or what a follow-up study of how the dogs are doing after, say, 6 months, would reveal. So...from the shows I've seen so far, I'm sticking with the thumbs-UP. PS: I watched one show, where the family's children (I'm guessing about 10-12 year old) just wouldn't shut up. They actually ruled the roost. They talked over Millan. They talked over their parents. They were loud and obnoxious brats. During one of their loud outbursts, the camera panned over to Millan and it caught him rolling his eyes. He was a *lot* more tolerant of that kind of behavior than I would have been, even for a couple hundred bucks an hour. -- Handsome Jack Morrison |
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The Dog Whisperer
Judith Althouse wrote: I am not familiar with the term flooding I'm sure someone has a better definition, but it's conquering a fear by intense and overwhelming exposure to the source of the fear. My experiece with it in dogs is one of 3 results: 1) reduced fear within the session but equal or greater fear at subsequent exposure, 2) transference of the fear to a different trigger, or 3) temporary relief with eventual return of the fear at a lower level. It's usually used with fear issues, but also for things like dog-dog aggression, like the Bite Class model where aggressive dogs are turned loose together, muzzled. Lynn K. |
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The Dog Whisperer
On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 10:19:30 -0400, Handsome Jack Morrison
wrote: On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 09:52:58 -0400, Handsome Jack Morrison wrote: Put me in the thumbs-UP column. And I disagree with you that his flooding techniques would produce only temporary relief. At least the ones that I've seen him use. Anyone want to discuss the specific example[s] of flooding they've actually observed Millan using on his show? Can I see a show of hands? I'd like to read that discussion, even though the one episode of the show I saw didn't have anything to do with flooding so I couldn't add to the discussion. -- Paula "Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy, so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay |
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The Dog Whisperer
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The Dog Whisperer
"montana wildhack" wrote in message news:2006070812425475249-montana@wildhackcominvalid... We can imagine that Cesar complicates the life of trainers, but we like seeing the happy endings where people are taught how to work with their dogs and then after they make an effort to work with their dogs, their dogs' behavior improves! Yeah, he does have the "complicating" effect. Very recently, one of our trainers (an aggression specialist of over 30 years) was working with a dog in my neighborhood. Dog was lunging at other dogs on the street, so the owners decided it was time to get help. Many years ago, this trainer used to use compulsion based techniques (similar to the ones I understand Cesar uses now), but she has elected to use a more reinforcement based approach. She was in the middle of working with the dog, and about to reward it for turning its focus *away* from the trigger when a professional dog walker on the block started yelling at her "That's WRONG!!!! Cesar Milan would NEVER do it that way! You CLEARLY don't know what you're doing!!" The trainer had the presence of mind to maintain her focus solely on the dog she was working with, rather than lose the training moment, but she was seriously tempted to go smack the walker in the head. I've had plenty of people try to interrupt my classes to tell me I'm teaching something "wrong" because "that's not how The Dog Whisperer teaches it". Thankfully, their own dogs are rarely well trained enough to cause my students to question how we're doing things. I think he has a real chance to help the public to understand training, but the impact has ended up being not much more than a Grand Stroke for his ego, and help for those he meets with in person. Tara |
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The Dog Whisperer
On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 17:00:30 GMT, "TaraG"
wrote: "montana wildhack" wrote in message news:2006070812425475249-montana@wildhackcominvalid... We can imagine that Cesar complicates the life of trainers, but we like seeing the happy endings where people are taught how to work with their dogs and then after they make an effort to work with their dogs, their dogs' behavior improves! Yeah, he does have the "complicating" effect. Very recently, one of our trainers (an aggression specialist of over 30 years) was working with a dog in my neighborhood. Dog was lunging at other dogs on the street, so the owners decided it was time to get help. Many years ago, this trainer used to use compulsion based techniques (similar to the ones I understand Cesar uses now), but she has elected to use a more reinforcement based approach. She was in the middle of working with the dog, and about to reward it for turning its focus *away* from the trigger when a professional dog walker on the block started yelling at her "That's WRONG!!!! Cesar Milan would NEVER do it that way! You CLEARLY don't know what you're doing!!" Isn't your anger a little misdirected there? Why blame Millan??? Why not blame the walker instead? sigh [...] I think he has a real chance to help the public to understand training, And for that you should be grateful. Not spiteful. the impact has ended up being not much more than a Grand Stroke for his ego, and help for those he meets with in person. Aah. The Green-Eyed Monster makes an appearance. sigh -- Handsome Jack Morrison |
#19
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The Dog Whisperer
"Handsome Jack Morrison" wrote in message ... On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 17:00:30 GMT, "TaraG" wrote: "montana wildhack" wrote in message news:2006070812425475249-montana@wildhackcominvalid... We can imagine that Cesar complicates the life of trainers, but we like seeing the happy endings where people are taught how to work with their dogs and then after they make an effort to work with their dogs, their dogs' behavior improves! Yeah, he does have the "complicating" effect. Very recently, one of our trainers (an aggression specialist of over 30 years) was working with a dog in my neighborhood. Dog was lunging at other dogs on the street, so the owners decided it was time to get help. Many years ago, this trainer used to use compulsion based techniques (similar to the ones I understand Cesar uses now), but she has elected to use a more reinforcement based approach. She was in the middle of working with the dog, and about to reward it for turning its focus *away* from the trigger when a professional dog walker on the block started yelling at her "That's WRONG!!!! Cesar Milan would NEVER do it that way! You CLEARLY don't know what you're doing!!" Isn't your anger a little misdirected there? Why blame Millan??? Why not blame the walker instead? Not everyone sees things as black and white as you assume they do. Please point out where I said there was anger at him? Otherwise, you're just exercising your strawman muscle again. I clearly stated that any "anger" felt was, in fact, directed towards the walker. Nice spin, though. sigh Oh whatever. [...] I think he has a real chance to help the public to understand training, And for that you should be grateful. Not spiteful. I'm not being "spiteful"....though you've already made up your mind and flexing your strawman muscles, so no point in trying to convince you otherwise. the impact has ended up being not much more than a Grand Stroke for his ego, and help for those he meets with in person. Aah. The Green-Eyed Monster makes an appearance. Not really. There have been dog training shows that I really liked. Not many, but when I like one I recommend it wholeheartedly. But keep on spinning anything that doesn't mesh with what you think. It suits your temperament, Jack. sigh Again, whatever. Tara |
#20
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The Dog Whisperer
On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 17:13:06 GMT, "TaraG" wrote: [] Isn't your anger a little misdirected there? Why blame Millan??? Why not blame the walker instead? Not everyone sees things as black and white as you assume they do. What exactly does that mean, as it relates to what I actually said? Please point out where I said there was anger at him? Otherwise, you're just exercising your strawman muscle again. Could it have been...let's see, the fact that your post reeked of indignant sarcasm directed at Millan, etc? It's not necessary for someone to say that they're angry, for them to act and sound and be angry, you know. Man has "evolved" (heh) to know how to quickly size up the intentions of other animals by observing their body language, reading between the lines they write, listening to the sounds they make, etc. Now, if we could just do that with women, we'd be all set. And if you're not actually angry at Millan (and his "complicating effect"), I stand corrected. So. Are you? I clearly stated that any "anger" felt was, in fact, directed towards the walker. Nice spin, though. sigh Oh whatever. Maybe it wasn't as clear as it could have been? [...] I think he has a real chance to help the public to understand training, And for that you should be grateful. Not spiteful. I'm not being "spiteful"....though you've already made up your mind and flexing your strawman muscles, so no point in trying to convince you otherwise. You should look up the definition of straw man again. Apparently you've forgotten it. Again. the impact has ended up being not much more than a Grand Stroke for his ego, and help for those he meets with in person. Aah. The Green-Eyed Monster makes an appearance. Not really. There have been dog training shows that I really liked. Not many, but when I like one I recommend it wholeheartedly. For example? But keep on spinning anything that doesn't mesh with what you think. It suits your temperament, Jack. sigh Again, whatever. During any given week, how many times do you use the word "whatever"? 5,000? 10,000? Okay. 50,000? -- Handsome Jack Morrison |
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