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Originally Posted by Britster  I totally love the Gentle Leader and Easy Walk harnesses and think they should definitely be used first, for sure.
Also, I totally agree. It's totally different working with larger dogs than working with smaller dogs. Cesar's shows are generally aimed towards larger dogs and some of his methods should definitely NOT be used on a 5lb Yorkie.
I think the main difference between Cesar and Victoria is that Cesar's cases are often ("often" not always) really tough cases where they're using Cesar as a total last resort or the dog could be PTS. Highly-aggressive, or highly problematic dogs. So a lot of the things he does should NOT be done by the typical dog owner watching at home. However, everyone can try to portray his calm energy and his exercise, discipline, affection rule. That can work for any dog. Victoria's show, on the other hand, focuses more on things every day normal people can do with their dogs, which would be the only reason I would like her show a bit more. They are techniques that can be used by a regular dog owner. With Cesar's cases... most people do not have the luxury of bringing their dog into a pack of 30+ dogs who are totally calm submissive. That's just not reality. |
I am going to watch his later shows, and I totally think Jackson is lucky to have you. If people watch Cesar's shows and get "stay calm, exercise your dog, discipline consistently, and don't spoil your dog or think it's a human", then that is great. However, I have to be honest, I was very disturbed by the shows I watched today. These dogs were not hard luck cases, they were friendly, normal dogs who had some behavior problems.
What I saw was totally clueless owners who had no idea how to communicate rules to their pets. It wasn't like the sheep dog was thinking "humans don't want me to bark, but I'm alpha, and I will do whatever I want! So woofity, woof, woof woof to you!" The dog was thinking, "I'm excited! And I'm telling the world about it! Yay! Woof, woof!"
Then Cesar came in, and basically used harsh punishments to communicate simple rules to these dogs. These dogs, being fairly gentle, just untrained, would probably have done fine on basic positive training. They responded to negative training too, it just seems very unfair to me that that was the first method used. Cesar started hurting them with the collar, and they figured out as fast as they could what they needed to do to get this guy to stop yanking them and kicking them.
Some people have said you shouldn't have to bribe your dog all the time, and I will admit, that's where I am with Thor. Treats should be used to teach a dog something, so he has a marker towards the right result, and to encourage him to perform difficult tasks. But make no mistake, Cesar is not using neutral methods, he is using
negative methods.
I believe him that he's observed how dogs interact with each other, but I am not convinced that his dogs are processing his "bites" on the neck and hips as doggie communication. I think they are just processing it as unpleasant sensations they want to prevent. Also keep in mind: in dog packs, do dogs
love their alpha? Would they die for their alpha? No, in fact, some dogs are scheming to attack the alpha and move up. Your dog does not see you the same way he would a dominant dog.