anybody else watch caser dog whisperer on Pick tv?

[HoraceCope]

has his work been totally slammed?

The dogs are not happy they are shut down. Google 'learned helplessness'.

it seems amazing to me the americans seem to not walk their dogs regularly,

It's a real shame he's such a fuckwit because he does advocate good basic ideas such as walking your dog (ummmm ...) and being calm (again - obvious, much?). And he's very charismatic.

But his fundamental understanding of dog behaviour is really poor.

In the example of showdown with Holly, any decent trainer or behaviourist wouldn't need to provoke an aggressive reaction, because it would be abundantly clear to them that the dog was uncomfortable from the massive show of body language the dog was throwing at him right from the start. Any fool could see that the dog would potentially become aggressive. All he achieved in that clip was to confirm to the dog that yes, you do need to guard food because yes, humans will threaten you, try to take it away and hurt you while they're at it. That makes the dog much more determined to guard aggressively in the future.

It makes me furious because food aggression really isn't that hard to deal with, and in many cases it can actually be completely "cured" (not a word that should ever be uttered with regard to dog behaviour IMO).

He's an ass.

Couldn't agree with your post more, DubelmDoris.

my mum had her dog pts when he bit her while eating/guarding his food

From what I heard, Holly isn't doing great now.

She was sent to his "rehabilitation centre" for "intensive training" and I don't think anyone knows what happened to her after that :(

*"Youtube ' honey the lab bites Caesar' and ' ceasar Milan kicking dogs'

"*Oh, I just watched this ... nasty, nasty man being even nastier than usual (in my opinion) and, watching CM's body language towards the end of the clip (when he has the poor lab cornered up against the fence) it looks to me as if this man is actually frightened of dogs.

I'd be very surprised if he wasn't scared of dogs, given the amount of time he seems to spend being mauled. Totally his own fault of course. Any trainer/behaviourist worth their salt would be ashamed of that sort of track record but he almost seems proud.

I've seen the programme a few times and agree a lot of his methods can be totally dangerous and just stupid. It's a shame because sometimes some of the things he says are correct and good for the dog, for example not letting the dog walk ahead of you so you have more control, particularly with aggressive dogs, and wanting the dog to be in a calm submissive state and respectful to other dogs. Of course all dog owners want that. Shouldn't tap or kick a dog though, you are asking for trouble. Cesar Milan is not trained or qualified at all though is he? Always got the impression he is self taught.

I don't know what you all think of Victoria Stilwell from Its Me or the Dog but I always thought her approach is a lot more humane and realistic.

"wanting the dog to be in a calm submissive state"

I am sure there are plenty of dog behavioral experts on here that will know far better than I, but I wouldn't think that a dog in a submissive state would be feeling calm.

Just realised that maybe sounded a bit sharp, ThatCuckingFat. Didn't mean it to. I was thinking of CM.

Haha it's ok, I think I actually meant just calm (and maybe 'obedient' rather than 'submissive') everyone wants a calm and obedient dog, right? He just says 'calm submissive' so often per episode I end up automatically saying it! I think a balanced temperament is great in a dog which is what I think CM means, but I'm not convinced he genuinely achieves that with his methods.

Except "calm submissive state" is meaningless bullshit.

What he calls "calm submissive" is actually a dog who has shut down. It's anything but calm.

I don't care if my dog walks in front of me as long as his lead is loose. In fact I prefer it. I can see if he is about to eat something he shouldn't and it allows me to be a responsible owner and see where he poos so I can pick it up.

i was wondering thsi yesterday, you know how you are meant to train dogs to walk to heel, is this outdated now as well?
mine doesnt.

I love VS, she's fab. Met her at crufts last year and She's so lovely.

But yeah CMs version of calm and submissive is basicly a dog too scared to show how it's feeling.

Dog displays some form of resistance ( growling,snarling etc) - dog is punished for this warning- dog says, screw that I'm not going to do anything or I'll get punished- dog learns giving a warning is bad- dog pushed to the point it can't cope anymore and ' randomly' snaps. Except it's not random you have just taught the dog not to give you a ' piss off before I bite you' warning.
This is why CM is so bloody dangerous.

Pretty grim that he tries to palm 'calm submissive' energy off as the dog being 'fixed'. Just googled learned helplessness [shocked] never heard of the term before.
I really hope people don't try to copy his techniques on their dogs. It says at the beginning not to but I bet plenty of idiots do.
lilcamper it's not a rule exactly, but if you have a dog aggressive to other dogs it can be a good idea to have them by your side on a walk with a shorter hold on the lead, so if they do launch, you have a little more control.
Victoria Stilwell's positive reinforcement style has always worked with our dogs.
And yeah the wolf study CM's pack theory is based on was totally flawed, iirc they basically put a bunch of wolves not known to each other into a pack and the dominance thing that came out of it doesn't exist in natural packs. Was on a programme last year I think.

I really like Victoria Stilwell. Even more so because she started off using rank based theories/methods but educated herself, was very open about it and changed with new information.

I get very cross with people who put her down for having been an actress in her previous career. Plenty of people started with other jobs. It doesn't mean they're not good trainers!

However (and this isn't a criticism - just an observation) when I see her in action actually working with a dog she never looks particularly natural. She's oddly stilted around dogs and her timing isn't great. All credit to her for everything she does though.