Dog Whisperer-anyone else addicted?

POPPET

has lots of questions
I just love watching Caesar Milan work his "magic" -anyone else?
Think I've watched all the episodes as many times as I've watched all the Fat Doctor progs!

juliex
 
I do love The Dog Whisperer. I just wish that people with no idea of how to have dogs would stop bloody buying them!
 
I Love it, he is doing live shows at the O2 in London, hoping to persuade OH but they are probably all sold out now x
 
I used to watch his programme loads but after a huge discussion at uni (I did a degree in animal behaviour and training), I don't really like his methods. They're more punishment based and a dogs more likely to respond better to a reward based method like clicker training. I'm hoping to set up my own dog behaviour business in the future and will look at Cesar's books to see if there's anything I can adapt from it, as he does have some good points about dog behaviour.

One other thing that put me off the show was one episode I watched where he got a kid to pull a dog off a sofa using a choke chain :eek: And it wasn't a gentle pull either!

Not sure about the live shows, I think it would be stressful for the dogs. Not sure what would happen either. Is he going to try to solve problem behaviours that night or something? Like Monty Roberts does with horses?

One thing I do like about him though is he's trying to change the reputation of pit bulls :) Any dog can be aggressive if not trained well when young. I think little dogs are the worst, nearly got bitten by four mini poodles when I was going to take them for a walk at the kennels I worked at! :eek:
 
Are you watching the same Dog Whisperer as the rest of us? Just curious, because I've never seen Cesar Millan "punish" a dog. Distract from undesirable behaviour with a "shh", or a tap to the shoulder, yes. Punish? No.
 
Aah, I was talking more in dog training terms, sorry! The distraction, and tap on the shoulders are more punishment because he's adding something thats not rewarding for the dog.

Theres a big campaign about the welfare of dogs and certain training methods.
Taken from the website:
"Aversive training techniques, which have been seen to be used by Cesar Millan, are based on the principle of applying an unpleasant stimulus to inhibit behaviour. This kind of training technique can include the use of prong collars, electric shock collars, restricting dogs′ air supply using nooses/leads or pinning them to the ground, which can cause pain and distress. The use of such techniques may compromise the welfare of dogs and may worsen the behavioural problems they aim to address, potentially placing owners at considerable risk. A number of scientific studies have found an association between the use of aversive training techniques and the occurrence of undesired behaviours in dogs."

Sorry, I do like a good rant sometimes :eek:

I'm more of a positive reinforcement trainer. mainly using clicker training and treats. Also I'm soon going to develop puppy parties so hopefully I can get people to train and socialise their dogs when they're young and avoid undesirable behaviour! :mad:

Btw, does anyone watch 'It's me or the dog'?
 
D'oh! I see what you mean :D

Don't forget, though, that he usually only uses the punishment techniques for dogs who have already ingrained poor behaviours and need discouraging from them.

Naturally I defer to someone who's actually got a degree in the subject, but I think positive reinforcement training is only ideal if the dog hasn't already learned negative behaviours.

I also feel the need to point out that your quoted source cites Cesar Millan, then goes on to list a whole bunch of punishments he has NEVER advocated.
 
He may not use them alot but other trainers using that type of training might. Though I've seen him use a prong collar and a choke chain, as I have mentioned before. Tried to find a video of it but couldn't. One thing my lecturer told us to do was to watch the show with the sound off and watch the dogs body language. To be honest, I used to like his methods! But we were told to do our behaviour modification assignments only using positive reinforcement methods.

Positive reinforcement methods are useful for problem behaviours. If a dogs got aggression towards other dogs, usually fear, I'd start off with another dog far enough away that the dog doesn't react, and reward them for being calm, then gradually bring the other dog towards them, rewarding for being calm. There's loads of ways to involve positive reinforcement in training problem behaviours. Just with aggression, it depends on the type of aggression.
 
Fair enough.

Will you be working as a trainer with another school before setting out on your own? Or are you going to leap in and go for it? (I always reccommend the latter :D). Whichever you go for, good luck! You seem to really know your beans :)
 
More likely do my own thing. Asked one of the dog trainers around here if I could help out a while ago and she said no because I would end up being competition.

Think i'm going to concentrate on getting vet nurse training done for the next few years. One thing at a time for now lol
 
Back
Top