Send your questions to The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan

[RachelMumsnet]

Great news for all those in The Dog House. We've been given the opportunity to send our canine questions to none other than the Dog Whisperer himself, Cesar Millan. Cesar is over in the UK to promote his forthcoming new series of the UK version of 'The Dog Whisperer' which will be aired in UK on Nat Geo Wild in early February 2011. We'll be filming some members of Mumsnet HQ (plus dogs) putting your questions to Cesar in January and we will be airing the film across the site at the end of January, to coincide with the launch of his new series. To stand a chance of getting your question to Cesar, post them to this thread before end of Tuesday 21st December 2010.

he isn't a succesful dog trainer or behaviourist though ruby. he is a succesful showman. there is a difference.

What I don't understand is why when, even if people aren't convinced CM is cruel, they are trusting his tv show over various other evidence and the word of people such as Valhalla and others. His show is obviously going to do its best to make him look good; to him, it's a business. His agenda is money making and self-promotion. Compare that with the agenda of many people on here, an anonymous internet forum, which is the well-being and protection of dogs and their owners, and I know who I'd trust to give me advice.

I don't believe people should have a dog if they aren't going to care about it and love it. Even if you don't believe the evidence proves CM is cruel, this thread has made it pretty clear that he's controversial at the very least. Why anyone would subject an animal they are supposed to love to methods which are so controversial (and widely believed to be cruel), is beyond me. There are plenty of people - celebrity dog trainers and 'normal people' - who could advise people about dog training who haven't been accused of being cruel, surely any half decent dog owner would rather ask one of those. I know I wouldn't be comfortable using methods on my dog if so many people were saying they were abusive.

I obviously didnt go to CM's UK tour, so have no idea how it was received... not very well I would have thought.

Anyone got anything from the tour to show on here?

The thing is, if he is a showman and making a living off it surely then it will be a case of any publicity is good publicity?

The more we debate and spar over this the higher his profile will become.

Midori, I don't know. I've read about it before and figured that they didn't like some american mexican coming in and stealing their dog training thunder. who knows. i will have a think, do some research and maybe come back to that point.

valhalla... its great that you rescue dogs. are their any you have been unable to rehabilitate, and if so, would milan be successful where you have failed? does that bother you? perhaps that is what bothers the organisations.

i think it is quite funny that we train dogs with chocolate or cheese which is like giving teenagers chewits for behaving well. it is extrinsic motivation and doesn't really work. as someone said earlier they would rather tell their dog a million times to get off the sofa?! milan can walk into a room, treat a dog like a dog, do all that calm assertive get off my sofa stuff and it won't go on the sofa because it knows its place. much more useful than old stillwell bribing it with fucking cheese! IMVHO.

there

i say 'oi off' to get my boys off the sofa. works for dh as well

i can't wait for val's response to that question.

Ruby - this argument always gets trotted out in favour of CM. 'His critics are just envious of his success'.

Watch the clip I posted of the dog being pinned down for 9 minutes till its tongue turns blue and it pees itself. That's what his critics object to. That and the fact that he is encouraging viewers to abuse their dogs too.

RubyBuckleberry I can not believe your ignorance. "i think it is quite funny that we train dogs with chocolate or cheese which is like giving teenagers chewits for behaving well".

By the way chocolate can kill a dog so non of us are saying treat with chocolate.

Ok lets put a choke chain on the teenager and a random intervals which they do not understand yank hard on it ...... oh that will do the trick!!!!!

We know punishment does not work - just think for a moment we get speeding tickets for speeding - most of the population still speed.

How about trying random stops by police on people who are not speeding and giving them £60.00 for not speeding. Which would be more successful in preventing the speeding?

I doubt though that academic research will mean anything so will not bother linking to it! I will just have to try to get it shown on TV and then suddenly everyone will understand.

i dont train mine with cheese, cheese is all mine.

no seriously i havent seen enough of CM to form a valid opinion either way on his methods etc. but i do agree with being calm around dogs.

i think i need to look into this more before i come back to the discussion fully.

however, can any of the doggy people on here tell me why one of my labradoodles (Ralph) loves to eat anything plastic? the other one doesnt, but Ralph steals any plastic and eats it. he has a thing for biro's i ry and keep them out of his way, but with 4 kids using pens am not always quick enough. I usually catch him on the first 'crunch' of the pen.

"valhalla... its great that you rescue dogs. are their any you have been unable to rehabilitate, and if so, would milan be successful where you have failed? does that bother you? perhaps that is what bothers the organisations."

You are taking the piss, aren't you?

You're not really trying to be insulting are you?

Number one... I do not work for and nor am I a part of any organisation. I am completely independent. Which is fun because I work alongside rescue, I volunteer, hands on, for a rescue, but if I think they are out of order or talking shit I will tell them so.

Thank you for giving me some practice.

Secondly, no I have never met a dog which I have not been able to rehabilitate. One of my close contacts rescues ex-fighting dogs, problem dogs, aggressive dogs and abuse cases. The state some of those dogs arrive in is beyond human imagination. He has failed once, out of hundreds of dogs. That dog lives with him and will continue to do so for the rest of his natural life. Another close contact has a 100% record with abuse cases, sick dogs and aggressive cases. Of the one case, I do not believe that Millan (there are two L's in Millan, by the way the other is an Italian city), would succeed where R has "failed" and we are both of the firm opinion that Millan's practices would, if used on this dog, result in someone getting severely hurt and cause irrepairable harm to the dog.

Thirdly, and most importantly... and I'm going to put this in upper case as I want you to get this loud and clear... I WORK FOR THE DOG, NOT FOR ANY RESCUE, NOT FOR THE OWNER, PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE, AND NOT FOR MYSELF.

MY RESCUE WORK IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY AND CARRIED OUT AT MY OWN, SOMETIMES NOT INCONSIDERABLE, EXPENSE. MY RESPONSIBILITY AND LOYALTY LIES ENTIRELY WITH THE DOG. I HAVE A 100% NO KILL POLICY AND MORAL BELIEF AND AM AN UNASHAMED VEGAN ANIMAL RIGHTS SUPPORTER. I COULDN'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHO GETS THE CREDIT FOR THE TRAINING OR REHABILITATION OF A DOG. I DO GIVE A FUCK IF ANYONE USES PINNING, AGGRESSION, VIOLENCE, PRONG COLLARS, ELECTRIC COLLARS, STRANGULATOIN OR MAKES A DOG PISS HIMSELF AND/OR HIDE AND WHIMPER IN FEAR.

THIS IS NOT A FUCKING COMPETITION, THIS IS NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST, THIS IS ANIMAL LIFE I AM DEALING WITH.

I would rather not do what I do. I would rather there was no need to do what I do. Unfortunately, while there are dogs suffering and dying out there, while there are con artist, cruel "trainers" out there and while there are those espousing bollocks without a jot of knowledge and experience of dog welfare out there, I and my kind are needed... and, AS LONG AS THEY WORK USING HUMANE METHODS, I respect and bow humbly down to each and every one of them.

Val

"NO KILL, NO EXCUSES, NO LIMITS, NO FEAR"

:o

Ruby Why are rescue organisations and the British Veterinary Association worried about CM 'stealing their dog training thunder'? Dog training might be a part of their work, but they gain nothing from dog training, except to rehabilitate needy dogs. Surely, if CM was some dog training/behavioural wonder, they could only gain from him?

As for thinking it's funny we train dogs with treats, (not chocolate, which is highly poisonous to dogs as Minimu says) you really don't know very much at all about dogs, do you? Ever seen all those wonderful obedience dogs that are the top of their game? Super obedient and do whatever their owner asks at a moments notice? Reward based training gets you a dog like that. Those 'dancing dogs' on the TV, all looking bright and happy, wagging their tails, pircking their ears and looking bright eyed, wondering what their owner will ask them to do next and eager to do it? They are all trained using reward based methods. All those sniffer dogs that do their jobs so well? Yep, all reward based training.

Have you ever actually owned or trained a dog, or do you just like watching TV?

DOH! Chocolate can kill a dog, and dont even say "I meant dog chocolate"

And yes, I do use cheese sometimes, especially with my puppy, but I can assure you, NEVER in my owning dogs and that includes what is perceived as 'dangerous' breeds have I or my DH ever EVER treated a dog badly to get it to behave in a way we want it to.

A calm manner is always needed, being frustrated with a dog is counter productive.

Fuck sake!

"Have you ever actually owned or trained a dog, or do you just like watching TV?"

me me me, i know this one!!

whoops i forgot, i use cheese to get ralph to take his worming medicine. the dog will eat plastic, but wont touch his tablets

i do use treats and praise. they love a good tickle behind the ears though ralph falls over when you do it he enjoys it too much and gets blissed out

the thing is about Cesar Milan is that he trains the dog from a dog point of veiw, that is the whole point, in real 'pack life' a dog would bite another dog to snap him out of something, but we can't go around nipping our dogs and the e-collar is just a way of doing that, and in real life a dog would hold another dog down for nine minutes, and the dog wouldn't care if the other one peed. I see it at the park a lot. It's just dogs trying to show that they're 'alpha' that is why they pinn eachother on thier sides. ahhh

fatal flaw is he isnt a dog,nor can he claim to think,act like one

bullshit paterdale

no dog i know would pin another dog for 9 minutes.

and when you say real 'pack life' what pack life are you referring to?

dogs today have been domesticated for so long that there is no pack instinct there. where are you getting this info from?

patterdaleperson, I can assure you dogs do not go round biting each other. For dogs getting into a fight or biting would be an absolute last resort, as they have great survival instincts and getting into a fight risks serious injury. What CM says about Mothers biting their pups is also complete bullshit. (believe me, I am those I know have spent enough time with Mums and their litters over the years to know this is fact, but it's well documented anyway)

You do not see dogs alpha rolling each other in the park, you see dogs playing. What you see is ritualistic play where one dogs rolls over and allows itself to be pinned in play, it can all look very dramatic, but it is not alpha rolling.

Cesar Millan does not train from the dogs point of view, that is the whole point. The premis on which CM bases his theories is very outdated and disproven, we know that dogs do not behave like that and the original studies that did they did were made on captive wolf packs. However, wild wolf packs do not even behave in the same way the study showed, plus, as we know, dogs are not wolves.