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Originally Posted by Big Vine  Wow, is that what you think Cesar Millan is doing when he works with animals---esp. ones with aggression/dominance issues? 
BV |
No, that is what the other Dog Whisperer says. But there are things that I disagree on with Cesar from the point of the average dog. Cesar's techniques are more for Rehabilitating Aggressive/Problem dogs, but people take his techniques and use them on their average, non-problem dogs, and thus create new problems. An example, in the dog forum, a person was wanting to know why when he puts his dog down into a submissive state, why does the problem not go away? Well, when he further explained, he was trying to give his dog a command from a distance, and the dog would not do it, so he would go and put the dog down. By the time that person gets to the dog and puts the dog down, do you think the dog really knows why he's being put down? Not at all, and thus, the dog gets very confused and has no idea why why he's being put down to the ground. The dog will also try to figure out why, and will often use the last thing it remembers, which could be a good thing, and then relates being put to the ground to that thing that was actually good. Also, just because the dog does not follow a command doesn't deserve to be put to the ground anyways. So yes, I think Cesars show is creating more problems than good. And that's because the average public doesn't get trained properly as to when and why Cesars techniques should be used, or not be used. Overall, I would not use Cesars stuff anymore myself, unless I was working with a PROBLEM dog. Betty might be a problem, but she's not what I would consider a Cesars problem type dog and using his techniques should NOT be used with her.
I hope I got my point across, lol. It's like Cesar says in most of his shows, he is NOT a trainer, but rather a rehabilitator. So what does that mean? Well, it means that he takes huge problems, and tries to get those problem dogs to what you might call a clean slate to where then you can go to a trainer and begin proper training and forming GOOD BEHAVIOR. Cesar does not train or form GOOD BEHAVIOR, but rather gets you to that CLEAN SLATE where you can start new with a dog that you thought would never be a good dog in society.
Now, for a dog like Betty, this is what my view is. The DVD Cujo Meets Pavlov! is exactly what she needs. This Seminar is 6 hours long, and is devoted to aggressive dogs, and the gal that does this seminar is one of the top animal behaviorists in the country, and she's right here on the West Coast. Betty's problems are not huge problems, but rather problems that require behavior adjustments. It is based more on confusion than aggression. What I've been told is that she is getting her aggression and herding instincts crossed, and we just need to uncross those behaviors. Kind of sounds odd, but if you look at how she acts when she's in fear, she gets low to the ground, which is a herding behavior. But then she's got herding linked with fear. So we just need to break that link, which isn't going to be easy, but is doable. And after watching that Seminar, I have to go back to square 1 and start from scratch, as some of the things that we've been working on was actually strengthening that fear/herding bond. I think we are now on the correct path, and in the spring when I take my next vacation, hopefully Betty will be on the road to becoming more successful and I may take her to the coast and actually get her evaluated by that animal behaviorist. It's expensive, but if it gets us on the right path, then the money will be well spent.