Forum Greatcompanionkennels O O Great Companion Kennels Youtube Szh GUARANTEE Great Companion Kennels KOMO-TV interviews me about Cesar Millan

As a lifetime student of animal behavior, and of learning how to “read” the body language of other animals, I too am immensely grateful for this piece and the discussion about Millan’s methods.

One of the things that has been mentioned here that I will second is that those that defend his methods or see no harm are those that are not savvy to reading dog body language and understanding what’s really going on for the dog. When I started consulting on horse behavior, I realized quickly that things that seemed very evident to me are not necessarily evident to the average horse owner. The same is true of dog owners, who, unfortunately, do not by and large know – or even really WANT to know – how to read their dogs’ signals and body language.

I am now back training dogs for one of the big chains, and am extremely alarmed at how many people I see coming into the store trying to use scruff grabs or alpha rolls!!! on dogs in the store, and spouting Millan-isms as fact to other pet owners. I try quickly to intervene when I can, but so many, like the fans here, do not want to hear any criticisms of their cult leader. There will always be the ones that want to take shortcuts and therefore will ignore any advice aimed at improving the welfare of the animal, because their goal is not to have a healthy, happy pet, but to have a predictable pet that will ALWAYS do what the owner wants – in other words a slave. Those people have no interest in having a cross-species relationship based on mutual trust and respect. They want slaves that serve as some kind of ego-booster for them. On the other hand, there are many viewers of his show that I know would feel awful if they realized how much fear they instill in their pets when they try these methods on their own.

I am immensely grateful to all the behaviorists who posted here. Your comments help me to fine-tune my interactions with those customers who come in riding the “pack leader” bandwagon. I actually questioned the natural horsemanship movement when I first started studying horses because of my sense that the horse surely does NOT think we are other horses, so why would we think that trying to “communicate” with them using “their language” would come even close to working. The same holds true here. I am quite certain now that dogs, horses, guinea pigs, birds…no other animal thinks we are the same species as them, so appeals to using “their language” are baseless.

As for those that come in the store, I have only seconds to say something so it is usually “please don’t do that – it’s a good way to get bitten.”

his training is like crap.
“oh u wanna be the pack leader.” whats that all about? plus it’s not all about being domonint over your dog. he also uses the alpha roll. it doesnt even help. it just makes the problem worse because it makes an insecue dog feel even more insecue. in fact it makes the dog fear its owner. when he deals with aggresive dogs why does he let the dog strike then tell it off with a leash jerk or the alpa roll. shouldnt u prevent the dog from striking instead of letting the dog strike? cause thats how u fix the problem. if u want training advice follow victoria stilwell, cause she trains positively. “instead of your dog fearing you, your dog’s respecting you,” she said in the dog days of summer episode.

Each dog is different and different techniques are required. I adopted 2 older dogs from a Dachshund rescue and each had different issues. Cesar’s methods worked for both…. one using his more gentle methods and the other his more dominate methods. My oldest dog had NEVER been socialized, bit anyone who came close, and was uncontrollable. He now interacts well with other dogs and greets visitors gently (after looking at me to see how I’m reacting). All this because of the methods I learned from Mr. Milan. I have NEVER hit or punished him, but rewarded correct behavior and redirected inappropriate behavior. He is a loving and fun dog now. The other weiner was almost completely opposite. He was extremely shy, cowered, and was starved for attention (also literally starved!). He had NO confidence and was miserable. He now greets people happily, holds his own with other dogs in an acceptable manner, and is happy and confident. Both dogs look to me and my husband for leadership and direction. My heartfelt thanks go out to Cesar Milan. Like I said at the beginning; each dog is different and different methods are required. His warnings not to use the methods without professional help are self explainatory. Be educated and use common sense when dealing with your pets. No one method is the “right” one. While I’m sure your methods work for you… his methods work for me.