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.

Can the critics please cite some evidence about his alleged use of the alleged "electric shock collar"?

in cesar's book 'be the pack leader' page 107 he talks of how he used an e-collar on a dog called molly.

will look for online link.

Scuttler beat me to it.

Justine, popular does not equate with ethical. I assume you have familiarised yourself with the information linked to by Scuttler? I will be extremely disappointed if MNHQ allows this to go ahead.

I see others have got there before me.

I have nothing polite to add.

Please could you correct the typo in the thread title. It should be your, not you.

why are on earth are mn inviting this cruel man on.what an odd choice of guest

e-collars are not electric.

I would be interested to know how many of his programmes the antis have watched.

i have no sound though so he may be showing how bad it is

in his book he says eclectric shock collars are also referred to as e-collars.

Oh this thread is warming my cockles....i thought it was just me

He turns everything into a battle...but i suppose that's how he makes his living...

i wonder what the E stands for if not electric?

exciteable?
energising?
edible? (ouch)

I think the fact that so far this thread has garnered more protests than questions for the great man himself speaks volumes.

electronic.

the collar on the dog in the youtube clip belongs to the family who own the dog. their choice. he is showing them how to use it (caption at 3:20)

Very surprised you are advocating this man's methods MN. Partially asphyxiating dogs anyone? Even the quickest wikipedia search turns this up this sort of thing.

MNHQ, Justine, Rachel, what's in it for MN to have that man on here?

Amongst those of us who have voiced objections on here are rescuers, a breeder and a behaviouralist - and that's just those I know of. That's aside from the majority of those in these occupations in the world outside of MN. We don't always agree, but we're damn well united on this issue.

yes i noticed he was demonstrating how to use an electric shock collar, er, that was my point for posting the link. you asked for prood that he used teh collar. i gave you proof twice.

Ponders, I assume you realise that anybody who's anybody in UK animal welfare loathes this man? Those supporting him are surely just ignorant - unless he's right and the BVA, BSAVA, APBC, APDT, Dog's Trust and even the RSPCA, all of whom have publicised their concerns about his methods, are wrong?

MNHQ as you say, he is really popular, so why give him more advertising on a forum where within 45 posts only about 10% have voiced anything other than disgust at his methods?

stickers we all just need to watch the show, then we will be completely converted and convinced he is right on all things dog.

Leroy, you're better off asking your rescue for advice than Millan.

You'll need to persevere, it will take time, but most of us would recommend that you stop, bring your Dobie back to your side and turn her around, walking off in the opposite direction for a few paces each and every time she pulls. You must be consistant - try it in the garden or indoors, not just whilst out - and as I said it will take time.

But it's better than the methods Cesar Millan would recommend.

It's clearly been stated (by Rachel) earlier that a film will be made to coincide with the start of his new series. It's purely publicity for him, thinly disguised as a chance for us nonbelievers to put (presumably carefully selected and edited) questions to him. It's not even like a webchat where he would be put on the spot. It offers us nothing and him publicity. No more, no less. Poor effort, Mumsnet.

Ponders, there is no need at all to use an electric shock collar to train a dog not to chase a cat. The collar may have been the owner's, but surely a good trainer or behaviourist would have suggested a more suitable method to the dog's owners? You can see that the dog is not happy in that clip from the moment it approaches Millan. It's tail is down, it's ears are back, it's miserable and nervous. The dog later goes on to bite it's owner when the shock collar is used.

As said above, all UK animal wlefare organisations abhor his methods. Methods which are outdated, disproven and cruel.

Why, when it is perfectly possible to train a dog or modify it's behaviour using positive methods would anyone resort to things like electric shock collars, prong collars, choke chains (including using them to actually physically choke a dog) pinning a dog to the floor and 'alpha rolling' a dog? These methods may work in the short term, but are not without risk of short and long term problems for both the dog and owner, sometimes causing irreversable damage. Why would anyone do that?