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.

She desensities the problem around the mouth first before she starts hence the throwing treats on the floor.

No, I have not felt an ecollar. No, I have no qualifications. Obviously I am a gullible mug who believes everything I see on TV. But I very much dislike your witch hunt.

Why does CM describe 'e-collars' as 'electric shock collars' in his book then, as another poster on here suggests?

www.cesarsway.com/askcesar/Overexcitement/Using-an-Electric-Collar

In the above link the question asker asks about electric shock collars and CM then goes on to refer to them as 'e-collars' and condones their use.

Also Ponders is e collars are acceptable why are they now illegal in Wales and Scotland with England typically behind but campaigning to be made illegal here too?

no one said he uses it on all dogs. teh fact that he uses it at all is the problem. clearly he advocates the use of them if he advertises it in his book.

regardless of whether he uses them on every dog or 10% of the dogs, he still uses them. not good.

Right, now we've established that you're unqualified, please can you explain why you do not value the views of the breeder, behaviourist, vet nurse, vet and rescue worker on this thread? Not to mention the views of the UK's leading animal welfare and behaviour organisations! Did you even read Scuttler's link?

Even if he didn't use e-collars, his, methods are still cruel, hence so many welfare organisations speaking out about him.

Watch

No e collars, just a dog being pinned to the floor till it becomes completely stressed (panting), asphyxiated (blue tongue) and urinates on the floor.

Cesar calls this 'submission' or a 'passive state'. Any qualified behaviourist will tell you this is tonic immobility - an animal is so petrified it literally cannot move. The phrase was coined after barbaric early behaviour experiments where animals were given continuous shocks - eventually they gave up, and didn't even try to move away

If you promote this man, MNHQ, you will send out the message that his methods are acceptable. If you care a fig about animal welfare, please don't. Please

Please seriously consider cancelling this arrangement.

His training methods are roundly and thoroughly condemned in all dog welfare and training organisations I am aware of. In addition, there is a clear, vociferous and eloquent argument against him on this thread.

Please, please, please cancel this arrangement. His treatment of dogs is horrific.

Thanks Stickersarecurrency, I was longing to ask that of Ponders myself!

Ponders, please go and look at the link I put up. You will see that it is not a witch hunt - it is eminent vets, scientists (who spend years studying animal behaviour), and respected welfare organisations. All of these organisations joined together earlier this year to publish a joint statement (which is what I put on my link) setting out very clearly WHY they (and so many on this thread) condemn the methods used by CM, and more importantly give information about how dogs learn and dog psychology, so that owners can be guided toward training methods that will work and be used in a sensible, humane manner. I'm a volunteer for a dog rescue charity, and like many of the regular posters here on the Dog House, see the fallout and harm that is caused when dogs are "trained" or handled in a way that is either misguided or cruel. It can take years to undo and sadly some dogs never get over it.

MNHQ - again, have you read the link I posted? Will you still give a platform to this man and his practices? This is not just a difference of opinion. This is a man who peddles ideas that are proven to be outdated, wrong and dangerous. Please do not give him any more publicity. If you do have him on, do you think that all the organisations listed are wrong? If so, how?

Have 2 dogs.7 year old Irish Terrier[bitch]no probs and a 5 year old male Jack Russell.Both spayed etc.
Jack Russell a nightmare chases shadows,barks,growls,won't stop barking if someone comes to door or walks past house and has made grown man cry with barking and dancing round his feet.He also spends ages standing staring at wall or floor for shadows or throws himself at walls.Also does this on walks.HELP!We don't think this is making him happy and he seems abit stressed!!!!!!

I don't know, minimu

ILoveIt, as far as I can tell from your evidence he was involved in the use of one on a TV programme, & one mentioned in one book (& as you haven't given any more detail about the one in the book we don't know anything about why it was used).

That's 2. Not 2% - 2 collars, in how many years & how many 100s of dogs? I don't know when your book was published, but the TV programme is an old one. You rarely see him controlling a dog with anything stronger than a loose narrow looped rope on the latest programmes.

jesus. bella that one is awful. that poor dog. he pinned it for 9 minutes!!!

He has never bitten and can be affectionate.

one thing that struck me in that clip bella posted was how angry cesar looked when teh dog snapped, just before he pinned her/him. again i have no sound so don't know what he was saying but his decision to pin her down seemed to be a punsihment for her daring to snap at him. by teh look on his face anyway.

Can we have Mick Martin instead? I'd love him to train my dog to do his agility course!

Sounds like cesare will get a bit of a roasting if he comes on here so probably not a good idea.

the one in the book was because the dog was chasing a vehicles. so not an aggressive dog.

i have also just discovered that in teh same book he used one on a dog called daddy (one of his own) to condition it to avoid rattlesnakes.

this is a quote from teh chapter

"when people ask me whether or not I support E-collars, i would have to say yes"

The use of the term "electric shock" is emotive. As I said, it's the equivalent of a mobile phone set to vibrate. It's a means of signalling to a dog at a distance that it needs to pay attention. It isn't harmful, nor painful, providing it's around the neck of a dog and correctly calibrated/operated. I think there's a degree of anthropomorphism going on.

Context is everything, and I've looked at some of the links provided, and the context often isn't there. To understand, people need to watch the whole story in terms of the before and after as shown on the TV programmes, which I guess many haven't watched.

If he was cruel, nasty, abusive, his TV show wouldn't even have got off the ground ? no TV company would have touched it with a barge pole. He has rescued dogs who would otherwise have been euthanized, and has successfully rehomed them. If people had watched his TV programmes they would have seen that.

There are many ways of getting a dog back on track, including CM's, and even his ways have merit no matter what some people think, because it's the result that counts. He has successfully rehabilitated dogs, which is the important thing.

I do hope that MNHQ cancels the chat with him, because all I can see is a witch hunt. Reasoned debate isn't available here.

Oh my god, can we get away from the red herring of electric shock collars please????

Regardles of his use of them (and he does, nay-sayers) his methods are out of date, disproven charlatanism of the highest order.

He is NOT a behaviourist and an accredited trainer. He is a showman who has made millions.

He appears to be successful because of that showmanship. He is widely discredited by professional trainers and animal welfare organisations in the UK and the USA. They do not condone his methods.

Once you learn and understand positive/holistic training methods the scales will fall from your eyes about this man.

I can't believe Mumsnet is thinking of endorsing this man. I haven't been here all that long but I am really disappointed :(

Wow

This is the third time I have asked this in three hours.

MNHQ, what's in it for you to have this odious man on Mumsnet?

I feel like Jeremy Paxman. I wonder if I'll make it to 13 asks...

Valhalla, why don't you report a post and ask them directly. Or email [email protected]

Well said, Tigerseyemum.

Can everybody please note it is not a live webchat - no, no, no. We are being invited to submit questions to CM to be chosen by him and answered in a recorded programme.

If I wasn't so about this I'd probably find it quite ridiculous.

hugglymuggly link trying to ban Milan from TV believe me people are trying to ban him from TV.

There is no need for a reason debate as academic, trainers, behaviourists, vets, breeders have already researched, studied and know that many of his methods are not humane.

huggly those shows are heavily edited. if you believe teh training happens exactly as you see it, you are quite naive.