caesar milan

I was wondering what you think of Caesar Milan? I have heard good and bad reports on his training methods. Opinions please

Oh, dear. Hot topic.

Personally I can't stand him! I know he's done some good work with dogs that might otherwise have been pts, but his methods are out of date & seriously flawed.

I have watched his show and enjoyed it at times but I can't help but feel there is a lot that isn't shown in the show...

The wee silly TTSSSSTTT noise works with Logan, but I don't need to bite him with my hand.

He has some beautiful dogs himself though which I like looking at.

Hot topic. I hate him personally.

MatLogan wrote:I have watched his show and enjoyed it at times but I can't help but feel there is a lot that isn't shown in the show...

The wee silly TTSSSSTTT noise works with Logan, but I don't need to bite him with my hand.

He has some beautiful dogs himself though which I like looking at.

The "bite" makes lexi think its a game, she then bites back lol

His dogs live as a wild pack - not good at all!

I dislike the fact that he isn't always honest about his methods - the shock & prong collars, the kicks etc.

he acts like a dog, and trys to tell people to train their dog as if they are a dog too. But we are not dogs, we are humans. We need to learn to adapt to each other and let each other know what is acceptable. You can never live a happy life based on fear.

He kicks dogs too much.. He's all show

Definitely!

I don't doubt that he loves dogs, but he just goes about it the wong way!

Hes very about "over-powering" dogs, like many people are. Thats what annoys me. I hate people thinking they are superior to animals.

Is his show still on somewhere? I don't watch much (well hardly any) TV, but have seen some of his shows a few months ago. And I did not like the way he kicked the dogs.

Well according to the shows I saw he got results that pleased the owners of the troubled dogs, whether they were terrified into submission or not was beside the point - but hey, CM got megabucks $-)

I think his methods are too harsh and confrontational. I think some dogs can handle it and respond to it, but I don't think it's necessary or the best way to do things, especially considering he's an 'expert' and has gotten bitten. They tell people not to copy it, but let's face it, people do copy his methods, then what? They get bitten and their dog gets put to sleep? Not right. At least if positive reinforcement doesn't work, no-one's going to get bitten as a direct result of the methods used. That said, he obviously does love dogs and genuinely want to help them, just in a misguided or old-fashioned way. I saw an episode where he helped a dog get over her fear of being on a fishing boat after they had a crash, and not one mention of dominance, so that was nice to see the 'good' part of it. But as a whole, I don't rate the methods.

Personally I don't like his methods and I think he has wasted a great gift that he has been given.. He has a great "presence" around dogs and if only he didn't use out dated training techniques and physical "touch" methods he would really be a dog whisperer and would help many dogs... Unfortunately the parts you see on TV are only the mild parts.. You don't see often the shock collars he loves to use, or when the "touch" turns into a kick That dosen't make good tv..

personally i like the guy, he obv loves dogs but im sure we do not see everything on tv hence the disclaimers. the methods portrayed on tv are just plain wrong im my opinion. his heart is in the right place and you cant deny his love of dogs no mater what the media feeds us to dicredit him.
I may not agree with everything he does but Ive witnessed worse at the hands of so called professional dog trainers that goes unchecked.

yeah i agree nathan. i dont hate the guy at all, i just dont agree with the kicking. he does it discretely on camera so it must be worse off camera.

Jason wrote: i just dont agree with the kicking. he does it discretely on camera so it must be worse off camera.

same, if i kicked my dogs i can imagine the expression id get. in perspective if anyone kicked my dogs they would be flat on there backs tv personality or not

Nathan wrote:

Jason wrote: i just dont agree with the kicking. he does it discretely on camera so it must be worse off camera.

same, if i kicked my dogs i can imagine the expression id get. in perspective if anyone kicked my dogs they would be flat on there backs tv personality or not

yeah same here

Ditto.

my opinion is that is great trainer he really helped lot of family with agressive dogs i like him a lot and i watch his show

no offence hes an idiot, and most of it is common sense, he can turn a dog into a pet but never a friend

Agree. he treats a dog like a "thing" to be controlled.

The only thing i like about him, is that he is an advocate for pit bulls.

would you electrecute your child if they mis-behaved

dan12345 wrote:would you electrecute your child if they mis-behaved

Yeah >

hahaha! i'd put myne in the cupboard

Slap mine with a flip flop x

I do agree with his general idea of treating a dog like a dog, catering to the needs of the dog, etc.. I just think he isn't correct in all of the needs of the dog, and also how he goes about it tends to do more harm than good to the dog, and definitely to the owner and dog for people that apply his methods to their dog on their own. My vets posted a link on Facebook about a guy whose dog died because he used a choke collar the wrong way and caused so much damage. So even if his methods were right (which I don't believe), they're far too dangerous.

There will always be negative things though. Someone tried to get at Victoria Stillwell cause she told someone that their aggressive dog that she had tried to work with was too far gone and that after it had attacked AGAIN that it should be pts.

I still like her though, her methods have worked for me (with tweaking)

I even used them for my horse and he knows things like "step back" and "stop" and "click click" means go faster lol

Hayley wrote:

There will always be negative things though. Someone tried to get at Victoria Stillwell cause she told someone that their aggressive dog that she had tried to work with was too far gone and that after it had attacked AGAIN that it should be pts.

I still like her though, her methods have worked for me (with tweaking)

I know, but that's not the same thing, really. With methods like Cesar Milan uses, people can get attacked. I mean, he's meant to be an expert and he's been bitten quite a few times, hasn't he? Imagine if the general public decided to use his methods on their troubled dogs. It can do a lot more damage than any positive reinforcement can do. At least, I think so.

Some of his ways are are a bit harsh but some of the owners he goes to, have no idea how to raise a dog some just don't even understand the basics. He is correct most the time with the fact that it is the human who needs training not the dog. Some of them are thick as.

Nathan wrote: his heart is in the right place and you cant deny his love of dogs no mater what the media feeds us to dicredit him.

I know he loves dogs, but personally I'm glad the media show us what he does! Do they do it to discredit him? Yes, but he deserves it with the methods he uses.

danielirl wrote:my opinion is that is great trainer he really helped lot of family with agressive dogs i like him a lot and i watch his show

Those same dogs could have been helped (and their owners) by far less harsh methods. If you 'subdue' a dog through sheer physical force, then sooner or later that dog will overcome its fear of you and will attack - very dangerous!

Billybunter wrote:Some of his ways are are a bit harsh but some of the owners he goes to, have no idea how to raise a dog some just don't even understand the basics. He is correct most the time with the fact that it is the human who needs training not the dog. Some of them are thick as.

No matter how thick the owners are, or how ignorant, he should still not use the harsh & sometimes cruel, methods he uses.

dan12345 wrote:would you electrecute your child if they mis-behaved

i don't mind the fella, he's helped a lot of people with difficult dogs. the only thing i find annoying is the amount of money he charges for doing it and gets away with it?!!

on one episode there was a pitbull which was hugely aggressive, i think the owners moved in a house and the previous owner had left it there as a pup so they took it on board. i thought the way he calmed and tamed it was brilliant. hopefully people know what episode i mean. the dog was scary, for me to say that is unusual. it had a muzzle on and for some reason it just used to flip and try and attack people, even with the muzzle on it put into light how vicious pitbulls can be. i dare anyone to get in with a dog like that and all you do is tell it "no" and just to ignore it if it didn't listen.

sorry but comments like the above are slightly ridiculous. i love my dog more than anything but he is a dog, not a human being. you really can't compare how you would treat your dog to how you would treat a human.

Steviec wrote:

dan12345 wrote:would you electrecute your child if they mis-behaved

i don't mind the fella, he's helped a lot of people with difficult dogs. the only thing i find annoying is the amount of money he charges for doing it and gets away with it?!!

on one episode there was a pitbull which was hugely aggressive, i think the owners moved in a house and the previous owner had left it there as a pup so they took it on board. i thought the way he calmed and tamed it was brilliant. hopefully people know what episode i mean. the dog was scary, for me to say that is unusual. it had a muzzle on and for some reason it just used to flip and try and attack people, even with the muzzle on it put into light how vicious pitbulls can be. i dare anyone to get in with a dog like that and all you do is tell it "no" and just to ignore it if it didn't listen.

sorry but comments like the above are slightly ridiculous. i love my dog more than anything but is he is a dog, not a human being. you really can't compare how you would treat your dog to how you would treat a human.

I understand what you mean, and yes he has saved a few dogs from being pts. However, as I said before, he 'trains' these dogs through force, dominance, pain & fear - once the dog has gotten used to the force/dominance/pain/fear he may well decide that it doesn't bother him any more - what then?

I know you can't compare a dog with a child, but that doesn't make the use of e-collars, prong collars and kicks/punches right or acceptable.

Steviec wrote:on one episode there was a pitbull which was hugely aggressive, i think the owners moved in a house and the previous owner had left it there as a pup so they took it on board.

I think I may have saw that one, was it a red dog? If it was it was a very intimidating and unpredictable dog for sure.

I also saw an episode where a woman wanted her black GSD to stop chasing the cat.

At the end of the programme, every time the dog saw the cat he shook uncontrollably & weed himself through fear. If you looked closely you could see an e-collar on the dog & every time it looked at the cat he got a shock. Is that right? I don't think so.

Nah def not a fan of the E-Collar at all.

never watched it! and OMG what reasons does he have to kick the dogs as a training tool?!?!

I so not agree with prong collars and collars that shock the dog!

I have to say i have never seen a episode of him kicking a dog iv'e seen him tap a dog on the side to evert its attention away from what he is doing or about to do.

He kicks them with his heel as opposed to full on kick. I've seen him do it quite a few times tbh.

Hard to say you do need to remember he is not just training dogs though, he is correcting bad behavior as well as training dogs.

Some of the cases any other human enter the house/back yard and they would have been attacked and seriously injured. He does deal with some very extreme cases and this does need to be kept in mind when saying he is overly harsh ect.

Thing is its a TV program and what really goes on nobody will ever know, he does seem to have a dated theory on dog behaviors and training techniques, though at the same time these very techniques have save many many dogs lives where there would have been only one other option and that's to have the dog PTS.

yes matt, the red one!

it's not a "kick" as you may think, as billy said it's more of a tap to take its attention away.

johneva wrote:Hard to say you do need to remember he is not just training dogs though, he is correcting bad behavior as well as training dogs.

Some of the cases any other human enter the house/back yard and they would have been attacked and seriously injured. He does deal with some very extreme cases and this does need to be kept in mind when saying he is overly harsh ect.

Thing is its a TV program and what really goes on nobody will ever know, he does seem to have a dated theory on dog behaviors and training techniques, though at the same time these very techniques have save many many dogs lives where there would have been only one other option and that's to have the dog PTS.

good post john

why not his hand then or a gentle tap?! to me that would make them shy of your foot.....

Steviec wrote:yes matt, the red one!

it's not a "kick" as you may think, as billy said it's more of a tap to take its attention away.

Most of them I wouldn't consider kicks because he doesn't seem to apply any real force, but I've seen videos where he uses more force than usual, and keep in mind it's aimed at the dog's stomach, so it's not the best location to do that. Why not spray with water? Hell, I can touch Loki's head with one finger and he'll look up at me, so you wouldn't even need to use your foot if you weren't applying force.

Anyway, look at how the dogs are after he's trained them. I only saw one episode all the way through, it was a toy Australian Shepherd/Chihuahua, and it just looked terrified. Obviously submissive behaviour doesn't necessarily mean the dog's scared, but who wants a dog they love to have to avert eye contact and lick constantly and feel the need to do all these things just to show they're not a threat? To me, that's like you've broken the dog. I know in the dog world, eye contact is a challenge, but I think dogs can learn it's different with humans, because Loki can look at me all the time and shows no indicators that he's challenging me, nor that he's uncomfortable. I just think that breaks your bond immensely; you're not friends anymore, you're the boss. All dog owners have to be the boss to an extent, because we need to train dogs and apply rules, but the way you do it can either strengthen or weaken your bond with the dog.

Billybunter wrote:I have to say i have never seen a episode of him kicking a dog iv'e seen him tap a dog on the side to evert its attention away from what he is doing or about to do.

MatLogan wrote:He kicks them with his heel as opposed to full on kick. I've seen him do it quite a few times tbh.

Steviec wrote:it's not a "kick" as you may think, as billy said it's more of a tap to take its attention away.

I saw a video (which was subsequently removed from youtube by his team) that showed him using this 'tap' with his foot - a 'tap' that actually lifted at least 3 dogs off their feet! I'm sorry, to me that's a kick! And the 'tap'with his hand? Any 'tap' that actually moves a dog with its force is a punch in my mind.

Dont mention that name to me, I cannot stand the guy.

Ok so the kicks are getting some mention here, why has the video of him"punching" a dog in the face not been brought up?

Not a fan of his work tbh and I'm in complete agreement with Victoria Stillwell, some dogs are just too far gone. I'm afraid for me there are too many nice friendly dogs desperate for a family that are often pts to free up space in rescues, time spent training some of the dogs he works with would be better spent putting them to sleep and re-homing a dog that deserves it. I know it's harsh and often not the dogs fault but how could you ever trust a dog that has a history of attacking people

stig wrote:Ok so the kicks are getting some mention here, why has the video of him"punching" a dog in the face not been brought up?

Not a fan of his work tbh and I'm in complete agreement with Victoria Stillwell, some dogs are just too far gone. I'm afraid for me there are too many nice friendly dogs desperate for a family that are often pts to free up space in rescues, time spent training some of the dogs he works with would be better spent putting them to sleep and re-homing a dog that deserves it. I know it's harsh and often not the dogs fault but how could you ever trust a dog that has a history of attacking people

I don't agree with that. If you'd apply that logic to people, you'd be giving up on your kids if they go down a wrong path. But dogs are different, why? Because it's not even their fault? I don't know, maybe some dogs are too far gone, but I've seen where if a dog is deemed too aggressive, they're put to sleep and that's that, without anyone even putting any effort in. Why is a problem dog's life not as important? They all need effort putting in, sometimes things pay off, sometimes they don't, but if they do, then you've given a dog a second chance and the chance to experience love and stability.

Caryll wrote:I also saw an episode where a woman wanted her black GSD to stop chasing the cat.

At the end of the programme, every time the dog saw the cat he shook uncontrollably & weed himself through fear. If you looked closely you could see an e-collar on the dog & every time it looked at the cat he got a shock. Is that right? I don't think so.

Saw that. I was absolutely disgusted. The poor dog was terrified and cowering.

Steviec wrote:yes matt, the red one!

it's not a "kick" as you may think, as billy said it's more of a tap to take its attention away.

Well, as Mr Titchmarsh (whom I also dislike, ironically) said, "If somebody tapped me like that, it'd hurt!"

I think somebody has already mentioned it, but a video surfaced a while ago, in which the 'tap' was heavy enough to severely jolt the dog.

stig wrote:Ok so the kicks are getting some mention here, why has the video of him"punching" a dog in the face not been brought up?

There are so many controversial videos involving him now. Hard to keep track of them all!

Tara wrote:

stig wrote:Ok so the kicks are getting some mention here, why has the video of him"punching" a dog in the face not been brought up?

Not a fan of his work tbh and I'm in complete agreement with Victoria Stillwell, some dogs are just too far gone. I'm afraid for me there are too many nice friendly dogs desperate for a family that are often pts to free up space in rescues, time spent training some of the dogs he works with would be better spent putting them to sleep and re-homing a dog that deserves it. I know it's harsh and often not the dogs fault but how could you ever trust a dog that has a history of attacking people

I don't agree with that. If you'd apply that logic to people, you'd be giving up on your kids if they go down a wrong path. But dogs are different, why? Because it's not even their fault? I don't know, maybe some dogs are too far gone, but I've seen where if a dog is deemed too aggressive, they're put to sleep and that's that, without anyone even putting any effort in. Why is a problem dog's life not as important? They all need effort putting in, sometimes things pay off, sometimes they don't, but if they do, then you've given a dog a second chance and the chance to experience love and stability.

This, in itself, is a controversial topic. There are dogs that can never be trusted. They may be beaten/dominated/overpowered and will appear quite amenable, but there's always the chance that they will overcome their fear of whatever harsh way has been used to correct their aggression (I'm not aiming this at those dogs that have been rehabilitated by kind and patient methods) and their aggression will resurface, only because you won't be expecting it, it will be that much worse with possibly a child's life ruined or lost.

To me, if you can't correct a dog's aggression with kindness and patience (and firmness, or course) then the dog is better off being pts.