Cesar Millan's dog training philosophy and methods.

Response to rebuttal 1 Regardless of what Cesar's books say, his actions ARE extremely intimidating to dogs. around 12:20/12:30 you see him jabbing the dog in the neck, and standing over the dog, trying to move the dog away from his food bowl. The dog responds aggressively, of course. He continues to stare the dog down until he starts showing appeasement behaviors (lip licking, hand licking, and laying down) What he fails to do is address the actual issue. In this situation, he's only communicated to the dog that growling and biting does not clearly communicate to Cesar what the dog wants. This often ends up with a dog that's "unpredictable" because all of his warning signs have been ignored or punished. http://drsophiayin.com... Around 21:20, you see him again pushing the dog away from the food bowl using "tsst" and a fake hand. The dogs hackles are up and her tail is tucked. She's not calm and attentive, she's very uncomfortable. A dog that's properly punished, through the correct application of positive punishment, may be calm and attentive. Cesar does not properly apply positive punishment. here, around 8:30, you see him with a French bulldog mix on a herm springer collar. A tool often used for corrections in larger dogs. It's not recommended to be used on smaller dogs because it can be extremely harmful to the trachea. (especially brachycephalic breeds like the bulldog, who already have trouble breathing) around 8:50, you see the dog growing increasingly uncomfortable and scared, while Millan continuously applies punishment. The dog is clearly intimidated. Again at 25:00, he's goes back in forth with the dogs "tsst" and shoving fingers in the dogs faces, again intimidating these dogs. They lower their heads, and ears and tuck their tails. These dogs are not attentive, they're scared. Basically, in Millan's book, he paints a pretty picture of "calm and assertive energy" but his actions are very obviously intimidating and aggressive, contrary to what his book says. here's a link that contains more instances of him harming, and intimidating dogs. Sometimes bordering abuse. http://4pawsu.com... 2. Response to rebuttal Dominance is of course seen in the wild, but only when resources are limited. http://drsophiayin.com... The domestic dog (again, an animal that we have no evidence to support it having a pack mentality as wolves would, therefore, they cannot possibly have an innate concept of an alpha, or the desire to be one) is not competing for food or breeding rights in a regular household. Us as humans control that already. Submission behavior and relaxed behavior are not the same http://4pawsu.com... 3. Here are some links that work http://www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com...(11)00087-6/abstract this study shows that dogs trained with positive reinforcement are more likely to respond to a command (vs your source that says a dog in a follower position will respond with a " nearly instinctual response to the "pack leader's" commands" http://www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com...(08)00371-7/abstract This study observed dogs trained without punishment were less likely to show any aggressive behavior Arguments 1&2 Rebuttal Cesar's success started in a time when we really did believe dogs were trying to dominate us. Saying that his success must hint at the fact that he's correct is like saying Hitler's success also meant something. The ASPCA doesn't believe in dominance in dogs http://www.aspca.org... Bergin University does support Millan, but their alumni and students do not http://buzz.petsadviser.com... Its been rumored that the support Millan receives is based off of his donations and funding My response to your conclusion: You haven't posted any sources that say his methods are effective or efficient, nor any that say cesar has actually successfully saved any of these dogs. He cannot teach in Germany due to the training test he failed (that his spokesperson blamed on the language barrier, but that proved to be untrue) https://www.thedodo.com... http://k9consultant.blogspot.com... And this talks about the lawsuit Millan's TV Producer filed against him for mistreatment of his dog. http://www.today.com... this post does a good job of outlining the flaws in Millans methods as well. http://talentedanimals.com... This article is written by someone who Millan "helped" http://www.thecrossovertrainer.com... her dog ended up more aggressive. It's hard to find testimonials from people who's dogs actually interacted with Millan, barring what he has written on his website. That in itself is suspicious. So to summarize my response -Cesar Millan does use aggressive and intimidating styles of handling, regardless of what he writes in his book -Dogs don't have a pack mentality and have no understanding of an "alpha" figure. -His success and support do not automatically mean he's correct in his way of training and understanding of canine behavior.