Hi all,
I read a post here and there in this forum suggesting Cesar Millan's methods are pretty good. So I decided to google him up.
Apparently, not all experts agree with his methods. So I'm just presenting the other side of the story, and whether or not you agree is entirely up to you, and I'm not trying to suggest/persuade/dissuade anyone. After all, the more information the better right?
I thought it was at least worth mentioning, if you haven't seen it before.
Warning: the articles are quite long
http://www.dogboston.com/askjo/cesarmillan.htm http://www.petrescue.com.au/article/282
And for those of you who don't like to read long articles, some main quotes:
"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that the National Geographic Channel stop the show immediately, citing Millan's training tactics as "inhumane, outdated and improper."
Millan's methods rely on a theory built around short-term studies of captive wolf packs in the 1940's – the Alpha/Dominance theory. There were a lot of serious flaws in that theory. First of all, it drew all of its information about behavior from a very small portion of wolf life – then basically took this tiny portion as gospel. A lot of the behaviors and rituals were wildly misinterpreted, and for some reason, the researchers decided that that these rituals and behaviors were totally valid across species (i.e. dog-dog and dog-human). But, as Dr. Ian Dunbar, veterinarian and author, states, “Saying 'I want to learn how to interact with my dog so I'll learn from the wolves' makes about as much sense as saying, 'I want to improve my parenting -- let's see how the chimps do it!'
Fast-forward – researchers at Yale and UC Berkeley spent 30 years observing dog packs and their hierarchy. This research showed something very different: mainly, 'alpha' does NOT have anything to do with physical dominance – it has to do with control of resources, and does not include physical displays of strength. Let's take the so-called 'alpha roll' – which, by the way, is not a forced thing among either dogs or wolves. A lower ranking dog may roll over an show his belly as a sign of submission; but, in a wolf pack, a forced roll is only done to another animal if the intent is to kill it. Guess how that makes our dogs feel when we try an alpha roll? Now, guess how many people have ended up in the emergency room with multiple bites to their faces after attempting one too many alpha rolls...