I respect good dog training ideas, from whatever source. Please open your mind to the idea that I can train without force because it works and I feel it’s the right thing to do. If you had a broken wrist and your doctor cut off your arm at the elbow, you’d definitely not have a broken wrist problem any more, but you might think that what the doctor did was too much, and unnecessary. That’s what LIMA (Least Invasive, Minimally Aversive) trainers feel about traditional, correction-based dog training.

The mere fact that Cesar Millan is popular does not mean he’s right or that his techniques should be considered humane. Any well-promoted person can get a lot of hits. I’m sure that, if Adolf Hitler had a website, he’d get a lot of hits, too. The opponent to your favorite presidential candidate also gets a lot of hits during his campaign. Does that mean he’s right?

I’ve seen a shock collar used on the Dog Whisperer show, and the fact that you haven’t seen it doesn’t make my observation “nonsense”. A dog trainer friend of mind recorded it to show to those trainers in the small group who didn’t know who Cesar Millan was. You see the German Shepherd suddenly yelp, out of nowhere, when Cesar Millan puts his hand in his pocket, and once during the show, the remote did come out, and you can see it in his hand, just before he corrects the dog verbally and the dog responds with too much fear for a simple verbal correction. He doesn’t use shock collars every time, but I believe he did use it on at least one show. On most of the other shows, he doesn’t use shock, but Cesar Millan continually seems to use fear or pain to put the dog into a “submissive” state. Try “fearful”.

The whole idea that you have to be Alpha over your dog is such a self-fulfilling prophecy and isn’t based in fact. But I digress.

I’ve since seen many episodes of the Dog Whisperer, and the modern dog training world would consider most of the techniques old-school and unnecessary. I feel that putting a choke chain on a dog, setting the dog up to fail, and popping on the leash when the dog does something wrong is barbaric and leads to all kinds of trouble. I also saw him “hang” a dog - lift up on the leash and wait for the dog to stop struggling, when the blocked-off airway finally caused the dog to almost pass out. That’s the kind of inhumane “dog training” incident that the American Humane Association was especially worried about.

Pinning the dog to the ground also seemed to be something used a lot on the Dog Whisperer show - and I can think of few other ways to put a human into so much risk as to tell them to pin a reactive dog to the ground. It’s risky and not necessary. In the best case scenario, pinning dogs makes the dog better toward the most scary person, but then the bad behavior shows up toward others - usually children & wives, in my experience.

I know he wants these dogs to succeed. I just wish that he’d see that there is another, better way to train dogs and yes, even rehabilitate aggression.

Finally, I’d like to look at your argument versus mine. I have never said that Cesar Millan was a bad person. I’m discussing *techniques*. Your argument is based on the idea that I am racist, jealous, and self-serving. Can you see the difference? Could we stick to the facts?

Click here for a video about the CAT technique: http://www.tawzerdogvideos.com/JesusRosalesRuiz-KellieSnider.htm

There are many, many books on using Counter-Conditioning and Desensitization for treating fear and aggression. One such book is on my site: https://ahimsadogtraining.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=MCH-0012 (Help for Your Fearful Dog). One good video is from Kathy Sdao - see the Cujo Meets Pavlov workshop video.

You say and others say “outdated techniques”. Show us the better way. Otherwise your just criticizing, for whatever reason.