WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CESAR MILLAN, THE DOG WHISPERER?

Dear Jubilee:
What do you think of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer? I have heard conflicting opinions from trainers: Some think he is wonderful; others criticize him for not being a positive trainer. I have watched his shows, and I enjoy them.
Confused

Dear Confused,

I am a fan of Cesar Millan, but he is NOT a trainer.

He is helping rehabilitate a lot of dogs who otherwise would not survive, and he is helping people establish a rewarding relationship with their dogs. Without interfering in the positive aspects of our relationships with dogs, he helps people who have lost control of their dogs to regain that control. And when he needed a trainer to help him, he chose a clicker trainer.

There is nothing new in his message, and it has nothing to do with your choice of a training method. It has everything to do with your attitude and the mental connection you make with your dog. (See my article, Picture the Behavior and Make It Happen, elsewhere on this site).

What Cesar does works with whatever training method you choose.
In March 2005, I had the opportunity to go to a weekend conference of the International Association of Canine Professionals because Cesar Millan and Wendy Volhard were the primary speakers, and I wanted the opportunity to hear them, ask each of them questions, etc.

In person, Cesar is an entertainer: he is happy; he is having fun; and he is rehabilitating a lot of dogs so that they and their families can stay together. At the conference, he expanded on the things that he says in his DVD and on his program, and he stayed on message: dogs communicate through constant energy, and they sense the energy of humans and other dogs the moment they enter their space. Humans need to focus on projecting their human energy to their dog in the moment; there is only one pack leader in the dog’s world, and the human needs to be that pack leader. The pack leader has to project calm assertive energy – or as my friend and trainer Tom Lams would say: “put your hear up, hold your shoulders straight, show off your new bra, and move! The dog will follow you.”

There is nothing new in Cesar’s message. When working with a person or living in our homes, the dog’s energy should be calm energy, or what Cesar calls calm submissive energy. Keep in mind, calm submissive energy does not mean that the dog is groveling and fearful. I got a much better understanding of what he means by calm submissive when he said that people should watch dog shows like Westminster because the show dogs are in a calm submissive state: they are energetic; they are proud of who they are; they are showing off; they are on their toes; and they are working happily with a human leader.

I am a fan of Cesar's because:
• He expects people to be the leader when it comes to their relationship to their dogs
• He says that dogs cannot be fulfilled as dogs if the human abdicates this role by not taking charge of their dogs (be it a pack of 1, 2 ,3 or more dogs)
• He puts all the responsibility for the success of the human-dog relationship squarely on the shoulders of the humans, not on the dog, and
• He has taken a stand against breed specific legislation: he shows through his own dogs and the work he does rehabilitating dogs that breed has nothing to do with dogs going bad. His own pack of about 26 dogs comprises pit bulls, Rotties and many other breeds. Many of them came from shelters where they were scheduled to be euthanized because they were vicious. When you watch them on his DVD, especially how he feeds them, you realize that they are not vicious. He has rehabilitated them by providing them with fulfilling lives of exercise, self-discipline, and love/affection/respect, and he can trust them with his own children scampering among them and working with them.

Cesar shows in the most powerful way that we do not need breed specific legislation: we need to help make people better, more responsible dog owners.

Jubilee