Cesar Milan

OK, I'm going to open a can of worms here. Some of you know what I think of Cesar Milan - I think his trainign methods are outdated & sometimes downright cruel. I posted on here a while back about a GSD that he used a shock collar on & terrified the poor thing into not only screaming, biting its owner in pain. Well, the American Humane Society has been looking into it, and this is what they have said...........

This is what the American Humane Society says about the episode:

“As a forerunner in the movement towards humane dog training, we find the excessively rough handling of animals on the show and inhumane training methods to be potentially harmful for the animals and the people on the show,” said the letter’s author, Bill Torgerson, DVM, MBA, who is vice president of Animal Protection Services for American Humane. “It also does a disservice to all the show’s viewers by espousing an inaccurate message about what constitutes effective training and appropriate treatment of animals.”

Torgerson noted that the safety of a woman and her German shepherd were jeopardized in one episode by the use of an electric shock collar, which forced the tormented dog to redirect its aggression at its owner, biting her arm. “Furthermore, the television audience was never told that Mr. Millan was attempting to modify the dog’s behavior by causing pain with the shock collar,” he said."

So that wasnt in the show? Thats soooo misleading! I am watching the dog whisperer right now, a protective rotti is the subject today. I think I'll just not bother watching from now on. I cant believe that the audience werent made aware what he was doing with the GSD, that's shocking.

I've heard SO many things about 'behind the scenes' goings-on with Cesar Milan. I really don't want to put people off him or the show (it can be an interesting tv programme), I just want peopel to be aware that not everything you see on tv is the gospel truth.

Read between the lines & form your own judgements.

I've never really been keen on his shows, it's too 'Americanised' for my liking, there's only one show that I currently watch, as and when I catch it on TV, and that's "It's me of the dog" I used to watch Dog Borstal as well.
But as for Cesar Milan, I think he's a bit of a phoney really, if he has to use shock collars, a real dog trainer should be able to, in my opinion, use calm words and general 'dominance', along with praise and rewards to control a dog, not pain or discomfort.

Totally.

I used to watch Dog Borstal, too! It was quite funny sometimes, & at least you saw everything, warts & all!

It was! And they dogs seemed to love it as well, the trainers were down to earth as well, I think some of them let fame go to their heads, and tend to look down on the owners. A kind of "Oh, you can't look after your own dog, and you need me to help, therefore I'm better than you" kind of thing

Yes, but some of the language was colourful & quite funny!

One or two of them I could have quite cheerfully thumped, the way they talked to people, though.

I watch its me or the dog. I've got it on series link so I can record each episode. I really rate vikki stillwell. You can tell she genuinely cares about dogs and she never uses pain as a training method.

I first saw Vikki Stillwell when we were in San Francisco on the hotel tv! She's really popular out there! I think it's the english accent they like

She's a good people person too! She understands the difficulties the families are having, and she works with the family, not just the dog.