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Originally Posted by QuickSilver  Yeah, that's where opinions come in.  I do not connect with Cesar's "energy" thing at all. But that's just my personality, if it works for other people, great.
I agree with you that positive reinforcement doesn't always work, or requires an expert to make it work, which I am not. Have you read "Don't Shoot The Dog"? That is a great, short book about how to use positive reinforcement to stop problem behaviors.
Anyway, I could write way more than I have written here about my feelings on Cesar Milan, because there are many things about him I like, and many things I don't. Thor came to me with a lot of behavioral problems, and it's very interesting for me to see what works and what doesn't. I'm really excited to see if I'll be able to train him out of his skateboard mania, as it is so intense, and I expect it to take several more months to get him calm. If I can get him to mind me around a skateboard, I'll know I can get him to do anything. |
There are some people who are just naturally assertive; they have a certain confidence about them, and they don't need any specialize training to work with dogs. Where I got in a problem with Joey was my tendency to baby him, I felt really protective of him since he was so small, I guess. Cesar explained that this doesn't do your dogs any favors, and he showed adult small dogs that had been babied by their owners, and I was determined to not let them happen to Joey. Yorkies are a high-energy dog, and if you have a nervous energy or baby them too much, you can produce a really neurotic adult dog. I guess seeing how owners would change just a few things in their body language, without really changing their words, but more how they spoke the words, and you could see how the dog reacted differently. It's one thing to read it in a book, but his program can really show you what's happening, if you're observant. I had never heard of Cesar before Yorkietalk, and my education is in behavioral theory, but after watching his program, I was amazed. By the way, Cesar did do a program with the skateboard mania. He had his son ride a skate board by this really big aggressive dog, I don't think I would have let my son do that. I can't remember all the tips and techniques he used, but he was evenually able to get the dog to walk with him while he used the skate board.