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Originally Posted by xoCourtney  What do you all think of the way he trains dogs? |
First, I do not even consider Cesar a dog trainer. He himself claims to train people, not the dogs. He 'rehabilitates' dogs using a method that was debunked by the very people who came up with the theory. See
De-Bunking the "Alpha Dog" Theory - Whole Dog Journal Article
Keep in mind, I'm somewhat of a 'crossover' as I used to defend Cesar to no end (thankfully, never was stupid enough to actually use his methods on my boy, as I never had a 'need'). I'm so glad I opened my eyes. If anyone EVER touched my dog the way he does to dogs, they'd have their face kicked in by me. Jackson is one of the most well behaved dogs that I know, and yes I'm biased, lol, but it's true, he really is. His biggest issue is he will alert bark when someone new walks in the door. He stops when I tell him 'enough'. If Cesar walked in my door, and started 'cshh'ing and poking him, Jackson would completely have a breakdown and probably never trust people again. All it takes it for the new person to walk in, let them sniff his hand, maybe give him a treat, I let him know it's okay and all is well with the world. It breaks my heart to see how the dogs will cower into 'submission' and it makes me think if MY dog was in that situation.
Cesar torments dogs .... he gets them into defensive behavior, agitates them
on purpose to push them past their limit, and then
hurts them for it (gets them into trouble). The psychological damage he causes dogs is ridiculous. They live in a
constant state of worry, stress and helplessness. Chronic stress, as most know, does a lot of harm to living beings both physiologically and psychologically ... raises blood pressure, respiration rate, and heart rate, increases cortisol levels and adrenalin, among other physically damaging things when they're so high and constant. He literally knows nothing about dog behavior and goes on and on about how 'dominant' a dog is without paying any attention the signs a dog is giving us. I can't believe that at one time I was so blind to not see it while watching his show. REALLY learn about dog behavior - read and study up on canine body language and then watch Cesar's show ... even better... watch it in silence! Watch the dogs body language when interacting with Cesar.
Yes I love that he preaches exercise and being calm. But honestly? That's about it these days. After seeing the Holly video (
) , which is a fairly recent video, I was totally done with him. It's very odd to me because he does truly seem to love dogs, but it's like his pride and ego can't get in the way and say 'I was wrong' and try to listen to the current SCIENCE of dog training. He's got to have this macho domineering image. Just let it go, dude.
I've also watched dogs in person become ruined by these methods. I dogsit a Rottweiler from puppyhood (8 weeks old) and watched the owner pull these Cesar Millan dominance crap on him and by 2 years old, he was a broken down dog. He did not trust people, was not trusted around them, and turned somewhat aggressive. But god was he smart. He had so much potential. I taught him so many things without ever using so called 'dominance'.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not all 'oh everything will be happy dandy if all is positive'. I yell at the dogs sometimes when I'm irritated, I tell them 'no', sometimes I make them do things they don't want to do. I do not believe prong collars are
all evil, or invisible fences should be banned. But there is no reason to treat a dog like he does. That is
not training. And 95% of the 'training' Cesar does is not. I just feel sad for all the dogs who are suffering because of people trying imitate his methods and failing.