I’m currently going through becoming disillusioned with Cesar Millan. I’ve been oscillating on this topic for a while now. But after working really hard with Kody on his only two occaisional issues, barking at other dogs and leash pulling, I’m running into some dead ends. The thing that tipped it over the edge for me was what I saw at Petco yesterday. The new Cesar Millan leash. And on the package it says, “[Some type of] rope, to ensure positive energy.” Ah, so now they’ve invented rope that transmits different energies. But before I continue, here’s an exerpt from an article on SFGate featuring quotes from prominent dog trainer Ian Dunbar:
“He has nice dog skills, but from a scientific point of view, what he says is, well … different,” says Dunbar. “Heaven forbid if anyone else tries his methods, because a lot of what he does is not without danger.” “Don’t try this at home” messages are flashed throughout the show, and in September, the American Humane Association requested that the National Geographic Channel stop the show immediately, citing Millan’s training tactics as “inhumane, outdated and improper.”
I’m not saying he’s bad, but I’m saying he’s not necessarily helpful to many people. Because lists are a fast way to transfer information, here is a list of things I find suspicious about Cesar Millan:
- He overuses the concept of the owner’s “energy”. While obviously true, a screaming owner is not going to have a calm dog, his requirement for extreme calm gives him an out for whenever his methods don’t work for other people.
- He often tells people that they need to work on their psychological health to be able to work with their dog. Then he leaves, and the story is over.
- Some of the Dog Whisperer episodes feature Cesar going and snapping his fingers to calm a dog and that’s about it. The people are amazed, he says, “yeah, just do that”, and then he leaves.
- If you look at each episode, the focus is definitely on how amazing Cesar is, not on helping the client or the viewer.
- His basic points are more like a religion, practical, friendly, and impossible to prove false. And he is like the messiah, he does good things, but nobody else can do them.
- Most of the dogs you see on the show are good dogs with bad owners. Once the owners are corrected, the dog is good. Miracle? No, just low hanging fruit.
- Most of the dogs aren’t getting walked. He’s right about this, but any dog is going to show vast improvement when walked. It’s important, but showing 23 episodes of “walk your dog”, doesn’t help the people where walking isn’t the problem.
- The most extreme cases are solved by the dogs going to Cesar’s business, “The Dog Psychology Center”, which is obviously not an option for the viewer. So desperate owners with these dogs are not given any ideas for what to do.
9 Comments
Tashi
And let’s not leave out the episode he is working with a “Red Zone” black GSD, who wants to eat the family’s cat. The one where if you look really, really close, you can see the blinky red light of the electric collar under the dog’s bandana, & Cesar has his hand (undoubtedly on the remote) in his pocket. The dog exhibits typical “back-biting” behavior when it is shocked at a high level, after which it runs in holy terror from the cat (in a carrier) & tries to stuff itself under the ottoman on which its owner is sitting.
Cesar explains the dog’s predatory behavior away as the dog was lashing out because it was “actually afraid of the cat.” I shudder to think what happened to the poor family’s cat, once the show was over IF they believed that!
Wendy Prior
I’ve come to much the same conclusions you have. I think the episode I watched that did it for me was one where he was trying to teach a Rottweiller to behave by taking it to a ranch where dogs were encouraged to “round up” the sheep there. Apparently tapping in to the bred in instincts of Rottweillers as herding dogs a zillion generations ago.
Trouble is, even in the short segment of the dog doing this, it bit the sheep, pretty badly. Admittedly, for the average dog living in suburbia I doubt they’re likely to run into a sheep and kill it, but here in New Zealand, dogs get shot for that without question. A dangerous activity and whats more, as all of us who live in rural New Zealand know, once a dog has a taste for chasing, it doesn’t matter if it’s sheep, cattle, rabbits or someone elses pet cat. It won’t limit it’s prey drive to just sheep, even if it never see’s another one.
I think it’s incredibly irresponsible to promote this as any sort of a solution to a dogs behaviour. It started off as a fairly out of control Rottweiller and finished as an almost as out of control Rottweiller that’s now an incredible danger to any living thing that runs from it, sure hope it’s not a small child!
There’s some good in what he says, sure, but there’s a lot that’s plain dangerous in my opinion. Good on you for your stand.
Ellen Theisen
Thanks for this. I, too, began as a fan of Cesar and then — as every show was demonstrating his ability to control animals almost magically through intimidation — I became disillusioned. I have a puppy that I tried some of his “pssst” stuff with and found it to be useless.
Now I watch “It’s me or the dog.” Victoria Stillwell is creative, constructive, and actually teaches positive techniques that are helpful to the owners and to me. I’ve found many of her techniques to work quickly and well, with my puppy experiencing pleasure instead of the intimidation Cesar teaches.
Twacey
Thank goodness people are finally seeing Cesar for what he is…..from the “Dark Ages”. The episode that did it for me was a dog who was afraid of the bath and lovely Cesar forced this poor dog into the tub. She looked like she was ready to take his face off! Sure glad he isn’t helping me with my fears….spiders….come with me I’ll help you and dumps a box of spiders on me, yikes! NOT going near you again!
dogdiva
I wish I had a nickel for every one of the students who comes to my training center spouting about how they tried this thing or that thing that Cesar does (OK, so now we know how well his disclaimer works). Every sentence begins with “but” when I try to make suggestions – I often feel like saying “if his stuff works that well, why are you here seeking my help?”
Most of the dogs on that show are NOT “red zone” dogs, they are fearful dogs, and he is, in my opinion, responsible for a lot of fearful dogs being made even more anxious by their “tssst’ing” owners. I’m glad you found “It’s Me or the Dog”, even though there’s something a bit whacky about a trainer dressing like a dominatrix while using positive methods! The show I hated was the one with the scared Viszla that bit CM when he tried to pull it out from the chair it was hiding under. IMO, he gets bitten too much for me to think he has a real grasp of dog behavior…
Joe Lender
As a long time professional trainer I can tell you Cesar Milan is an evil monster of macho homophobia.
He intimidates dogs by punching and kicking them. The animals are so terrified and psychologically ruined, they often never recover.
Ever noticed how Cesar singles out spineless gays to make fools of?
His show is disgusting and racist, only fools believe any of it is real.
Matt
As much as I don’t like Cesar’s mehods, I don’t really have a problem with him personally. His personality is the best thing about him.
I don’t he has ever punched or kicked a dog. But if you have proof that he has, please share it with us.
Also, I’m pretty sure using the term “spineless gays” would be considered homophobic by most people.
Tom
I have been learning and using Cesar’s techniques and psychology on my dog, Sadie, a pound dog who had some issues. As I have slowly learned and applied them to myself, my pooch and a couple of barking pit bulls of my neighbors I have had similar “remarkable” results. My experience verifies what I have seen on various episodes. In addition, my wife had difficulty understanding, learning and applying Cesar’s ideas and the difference in our dog’s behavior in her presence (aggressive, protective) and with me (calm submissive) is fascinating to watch. Lastly, I have watched a horse whisperer and worked with horse “energy” as well. Whether it is energy or a form of non-verbal communication the link between people and dogs/horses seems very real, very subtle, and outside our typical human experience. From my experience calm assertive communication with dogs and a horse are not intimidation, although interestingly, my wife tends to see it that way even with the evidence of the improved overall disposition of our pooch. Therefore, I feel many of the criticisms and supposed stagings or inducing behaviors in dogs unfounded.
Cain
“As a long time professional trainer I can tell you Cesar Milan is an evil monster of macho homophobia.
He intimidates dogs by punching and kicking them. The animals are so terrified and psychologically ruined, they often never recover.
Ever noticed how Cesar singles out spineless gays to make fools of?
His show is disgusting and racist, only fools believe any of it is real.”
Absolutely untrue. Like the man or not, disapprove of his style or love it to death, he is not an “evil monster of macho homophobia” – that’s just ridiculous. Argue points of training based on merit – not absurd statements like this. “Spineless gays”? Who’s the homophobe?