“The one thing all dog trainers will agree on is that the others are wrong”
I don’t know who said that first but in my experience its certainly true. No wonder most pet owners are confused. Before I knew any better I too was influenced by a local guy who a ton of dog owners referred to as our very own dog whisperer. I took a badly bred, very reactive dog to his class. I watched in horror as this man proceeded to place a prong collar on my dog and yank the crap out of him in order to get his attention. Wow. When that did not work he placed a shock collar on him, except he referred to it as a ‘stimulation training device’. I will never forgive myself for what I allowed this person to do to my dog and for me thinking this was acceptable. Times have changed.
His end goal was for the dogs to basically behave like doormats. He was a tape recorder telling us that we are the pack leader, we are in charge, we are in control….blah blah blah. Bullshit.
I bought/adopted/owned dogs all my life. I live with dogs for the interaction and pleasure of enjoying each others company. If I wanted a doormat I could buy one at Home Depot. I didn’t want to hurt my dogs. I didn’t want them to obey me because they feared me. I want them to make decisions to do things with me and enjoy these things. Granted, nail trims, baths, grooming are not always exciting activities but they also do not have to be torturous or scary!
Cesar Millan did a lot of things for dog owners. He did bring to attention the need to interact with the animals. At least people did see that they should spend time with their pets. BUT he also (having zero credentials) was offering some terrible advice on his reality show. He was cruel to the dogs. Watch a show of his with the sound off. Look at the dogs body language. Do you see fear? Do you see joy? The man is cruel. He is barbaric in so many ways. He teaches people that in order to live with a doormat . . . erm, a dog, that they must use force, intimidation and pain. Boy was he wrong.
I urge you to click the link below and read Dr Sophia Yin’s post on dominance. It’s lengthy but super valuable! After reading both articles posted here think about how you feel about what Mr. Millan tells people on his reality show and decide for yourself how you plan to engage your dogs. My hope is you choose a positive approach, offering choices to your dogs and engaging them in the learning process with you.