Indeed, Ben ! If I had a strong criticism of CM's methods (apart from the gadget thing), it would be just what you are illustrating. Idiot humans who totally misinterpret what he is advising. I watched very carefully several if not many of his programmes before I started attempting to mimic him. I was amazed at how rapidly I achieved results with Hal, but that's another story. You raise a very good point. That people watch 1 or 2 episodes, and start pssts and oi-ing all over the place, and the dog becomes desensitized very quickly.

It all about structure. One of the first hings I tried with Hal was to walk to heel on the lead. It had always been very poor before ... he took me for a walk, not t'other way round.

Within seconds, if not 1 minute, I had Hal walking to heel without pulling. All I did was put him on the lead, set off down the lane, and as soon as he started to pull instead of fighting him all the way, I just gave one gentle tug at the same time as saying "heel", before instantly releasing the pressure. He instantly obeyed, instead of fighting against my pressure. This is, admittedly, very effective with the sled dog breeds in particular, because they of course will pull instinctively. The more pressure you put on the lead, the more they will pull, it's in their breeding. To start with I used the "ssshh" sound because I thought that was softer than tsst or oi or eh. I built on it from there, but it was the instantaneousness of this basic simple thing that impressed me so.

Calm, assertive energy is Cesar's mantra - not randomly hissing and pulling on a lead !

Becky:

Showing yourself up to be a paranoid Cesar Millan hater, which is what you are doing, does your cause no good. Present logical, structured arguments ... without the manic rants about abuse and all sorts ... and people will listen and take you seriously, as indeed I do when you are not ranting! You are clearly a very experienced and knowledge dog owner, lover and handler, don't spoil your usually excellent postings by personal hatreds and feelings.

I can't take you seriously until you stop the libellous abuse, and stick to the topic of the thread!

I don't know whether you heard it, but on Radio 4 the other morning, there was an article about libellous remarks being made on Chat Sites, and how such remarks should be treated just as seriously as libellous remarks made in, say, the gutter press. I have said this before, and I shall say it again, NO-ONE should ever make libellous remarks about a 3rd party - particularly if that 3rd party is a celebrity and can well afford a Libel Lawsuit.

Yes dogs do love exercise and it is very important for their well being so is food. Many of us were exercising dogs long before CM was born (in 1969) , some people make it sound as if he invented exercise.

Dogs do also enjoy companionship and many build a strong bond of trust with their owners. If you repeatedly string your dog up and choke it or force it into submission by pinning it to the ground so that it can't use it's flight response you risk breaking any trust that has been built between you and your dog . Using these methods, forcing a dog into submission by using pain or fear creates a submissive dog rather than a happy dog.

My present dog is 20 months old, she is well fed and exercised and has never known pain or fear at my hands , that to me is a happy dog.

"Then as far as I'm concerned you risked very real injury to your dog and seemingly didn't care. You do not just throw a dog into large amounts of exercise you should do it gradually."

I really wish someone would explain this to Tai ... he has had nearly 30 miles exercise running at high speeds this weekend along the towpath.

I have just taken him out and he chased a rabbit along the set aside and down into the ditch and then proceeded to spend the rest of the walk playing with a large stick that he found, tossing it in the air, dropping it and catching it. He then came in, demolished a couple of chicken wings, and is now huffing and puffing because he wants to go out for more fun and games.

He does seem to be terribly injured to me, I think I had better take him to the vet tomorrow and tell her how worried about him I am because I have been so wicked and cruel and over-exercised my poor boy

I wish someone would explain this to Tai then ... that he must feel pain and fear because I am so cruel to him.

I have never pinned him, because I have never needed to. Should the need arise, I would.

I have never strung him up, nor ever would. However, were he to be on his slip lead and he got into a fight with me, I certainly would not let go. If he increased the pressure by pulling against me and if you want to call this "stringing up", then that's your perogative, but to me this is the dog fighting me, and I will not allow my dog to fight me. He never would, bless him, but IF he did.

But as I have said to others, you had better report me to the RSPCA for cruelty to my dog. I will PM you my email address, so you can pass it on to them and they can then take it from there

Although I agree excercise is very important. I think running a dog at high speeds for many miles is not a great form of excercise. To me it is just not natural to the dog. Many, many years ago it was the done thing for a lot of people to just let their dogs out to roam, never would you see that dog running for miles and miles, it just would never do it. Because it would have been of no benefit to it, except to tire it out quickly. They had more sense and enjoyed a good walk around and a sniff around that is what is natural to dogs. Maybe a 5 minute burst if they saw something like a cat that they felt the need to chase. But that would be about it. So I honestly cannot see the benefit to the dog in just running and running for miles. Maybe a mile or 2 mile run is enough for a dog.

You have to be breed aware though Heather! Tai is an Alaskan Malamute crossed with Siberian Husky. I think you would agree with me that they run for many miles ... in the case of Mals, pulling extremely heavy loads!

We moderate our speed to give Tai a good work out. Most of the time he is trotting - some of the time he breaks into a canter. He absolutely loves these ritualised hunts that we take him on.

Esp. for a dog with running in his genes, it is the very best thing that you can do - run for miles.

As a PS, yesterday when we had stopped to give Tai one of his so-called "rests", he insisted on running up and down the towpath, trying to incite the mallard into running away from him.

When he is tired, he rests. When he isn't, he doesn't. He sets the pace. When it is hot, we go slower ... for his sake as well as our's, and stop every mile to give him water.

i dont think anyone was is trying to say CM 'invented' exercise, but he has shown the importance of it. many people out there think a simple short walk on a lead is adequate for a dog, which it isnt. he is showing that good exercise can improve your dogs behaviour and help resolve issues (depending on what they are)

how else were we meant to interpret...

i dont know how else that is meant to be interpreted...

Quite, Lozzi ! The dictionary definition of "only" is solely and exclusively ...