Cesar Milan: Not Positive Dog Training
For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana
Recently I was at a party, chatting with a man who mentioned that he is a fan of Cesar Milan. I couldn’t help but make a slight face. “Don’t you like his show?” the fellow asked. I said that I don’t watch it but that I had seen several episodes and I didn’t care for his approach. “What’s not to like?” demanded my acquaintance. I said I did like how Cesar Milan emphasized the need for exercise, and let it go at that.
Another time recently, I was talking with a couple who said they watch the program regularly. They know I have a dog training website, but they didn’t ask my opinion so I kept quiet.
But I don’t want to keep quiet any longer. I am really in a different place than Milan and it’s worth saying why.
I think it’s beneficial that Milan has increased interest in dog training, but a lot of his techniques are not what this website is about. They are not positive or pain-free dog training methods, and that is what I think this world needs. Milan makes dogs afraid of him if that is what it takes to have them obey his will. I would never hang a dog by his neck. While I used choke chains in the past, I have not in some years now.
The belief that you have to be dominant over your dogs in the pack you form is part of the problem. I have read in various places that this is based on bad science. I think that is likely true, but what I do know is that clicker training is based on how animals — not just dogs — learn most effectively. So I will stick with positive, pain-free dog training.
I was very pleased to see that there is a new two-DVD set at Dogwise, with Dr. Ian Dunbar and Jean Donaldson, two of the dog trainers/writers/public speakers I respect most. It’s a bit pricey but I’ve put it on my wish list, to learn more about dominance theories and how true they are. This is pertinent not only to Milan but to the work of many other dog trainers.
The DVD set is titled Fighting Dominance in a Dog Whispering World, and it is about four hours, from a seminar given in the summer of 2007.
Here is part of the blurb at Dogwise:
Watch Jean Donaldson and Ian Dunbar take on the controversial and often misunderstood concept of dominance behavior in dogs. Do dogs really try to be “the boss”? Learn what science knows, and doesn’t know, about canine behavior. A timely subject given the popularity of television shows featuring dogs behaving badly and trainers rehabilitating them–all within an hour!
Often, viewers are told that the problem is that their dog is trying to be “dominant” and that the owner simply needs to assert him/herself as the “leader of the pack”. While this may make for compelling TV, dominance in dogs has not been subject to much scientific research… In this new DVD, leading canine authorities Jean Donaldson and Ian Dunbar take on this sometimes-controversial subject.
Click on the image or the title to go to the Dogwise page and read more. There is a very interesting short online video clip you can watch, where Jean Donaldson is talking about what really constitutes a wolf “pack.” I’d way rather watch Fighting Dominance in a Dog Whispering World than get all upset by watching Milan’s methods.
One of the enjoyable tidbits I picked up from watching the 
