Hi,

I don'ty watch CM anymore. I stopped a wehile ago but yesterday did as some have suggested previously and turned off the sound. It was heartbreaking to see the dogs just give up, oth mentally and physically. There can never be any advantage to the dog if you over power him physically and mentally he'll become worn down, untila point where you can destroy his character totally.

I, for one, will never watch him again.

At the same time,k I used to think that some (about 5%) of what he says does make sense. He usually starts off explaining thigns ina way everyone understands, which is a good start whne it comes to educating people.But then showing them the wrong way to treat a dog (for example, in the episode yesterday a dog was afraid of him when he walked onto the patio areas so he chased her around the pool until she became completely exhausted!) is counter productive.

On this issue of choke chains - I don't agree with them either. My parents used them about 30 years ago when everyone did, but didn't realise the disadvantages of their use (as most didn't back then).

Laura xx

Stumpywop - totaly agree
So many people get caught up with the fact he is on TV, it might be the first trainer/behaviourinst/ whatever he calls himself they have seen
and yes some of what he says makes sense - it is stuff that any other trainer would tell you too - keep calm, train rules and boundries, give enough exersice
That is not CM's method

and it is funny so many people say they follow his method - but not the more exream parts of it - but as far as I can see the extream parts of it are really the only way he differs from lots of trainers out there
The Alpha rolls, kicks, hand jabs, PPPSSTTS, choking and of course the missreading dogs and blaming EVERYTHING on the fact the dog is trying to domonate you - to me all that is CM

Yes, agree

I hadn't seen him for a while but watched an episode a few weeks ago where he blamed everything on domimance. It's just unbelievable. I mean even dogs who are so, so NOT dominant (even if you believed in "dominance").

I was so annoyed when he was forcing a gorgeous mini bull terrier to "submit" - the dog was so sweet anyway, yet he put it into panic and then "submission" which many people seem to think is fine. It just makes me so angry that he can make people believe this is OK.

I was thinking that anyone with charisma could actually treat an animal or human quite badly if they also spoke in a calming authoritative voice, tinged with apparent knowledge. You can certainly see this with CM and the difference when the sound is turned off... and how anyone can actually think it's OK to choke a dog is beyond me. Just beyond me.

Wys
x

I loved the episode where one dog after travelling in a crate, Millan opens the door and the dog puts one foot outside the crate. He looked to the camera and said pointing at the foot stepping out of the crate: "this right here is dominance"

This poor guy has never met a dog that hasn't tried to "dominate" him which says a lot more about Millan that the dog.

Yup, that sums him up perfectly !

I don't think that's a fair comment but the sort of attitude that is usual on this site about CM

Sorry if you feel that way but I have to say that every single episode I have seen he has pointed out something he thinks is the dog behaiving in a dom way
and because so many people watch his show now when I am out and about everyone talks about a training problem with their dog as its trying to dom them - when to me it looks like nothing of the sort

Surely you must admit that saying a dog is dominant simply because it's placed one foot outside the cage is stretching even the dominance theory to extremes! The Dog Whisperer was another one who said that everything was about dominance and had a one size fits all training policy as well!
Becky

There has been far too much of the TV doggy trainer/behaviourist, most simply get it wrong, trouble is their misinformation can and does damage dogs both physiologically and psychologically.

What most seem to forget is a dog is an animal, one that has adapted to a sedentary human life, it doesnt hunt, it whelps very differently from its wild ancestrors, its diet is different, it no longer roams, the list is endless, so why do these trainers still harp on about the wild side, it simply has been bred out and is no longer evolutionary valid.

Training should begin with a breeder, too many of them simply havent gotta clue, most are childless and considering most pet homes will have kids wouldnt you think they would attempt to socialise correctly. A part of a pups brain simply closes off just after 4-6 weeks, so if the effective socialisation isnt commenced by then there are some tasks that the dog will never do. I always advise if a breeder says with a huge smiley "WE dont have kids " then frankly the dog you get will have some issues, now I fully understand that some of you reading this will hit the roof and have steam coming from your ears , but lets get real, most of you dont know how to socialise a litter, and many of you spend far too little time doing the job well, this can be due to work committments, I know of one breeder who works all day in Tesco then grooms for profit other dogs when she gets home, she sees little of any pups she has or indeed her own dogs...
A pup should never display absolute fear to a human , yet I see it daily when I get in rescue pups and dogs, yet these breeders are placing themselves up as experts in the showing world of dogs, they are giving out incorrect and dangerous health advice and people buying their pups are so daft and gullible they fall for it. I know of one woman who simply believes that everything from her breeders mouth is true , even when he gave advice that she should feed her toy pup 10g of dry feed per day.

Will some people ever learn... I doubt it !

I don't recall the episode being discussed. My comment about fairness (or should I say lack of it) was regarding the comment:

I have watched many an episode and dominance hasn't been the diagnosed problem on all of them. However, I will state that there is definitely a pattern where owners have not taught their dogs right from wrong, manners and basically all of the basic training that dogs tend to need to be a good rounded pet. From what I get from the CM shows, CM is training the owners more than the dogs. Some owners seem to put their dogs on an equal to them, like they are kids or something. That, to me, is a recipe for disaster. My dogs are all babied in one way or another but they know their place. That place isn't where they are allowed to show aggression or where they feel they can ignore instructions. To hear some people talk on here about how they have respect for their dogs and not expecting their dog to respect them, I have a picture of the dog sitting at the dinner table with a knife and fork and the owner on all fours on the floor eating their dinner from a bowl