Err....becasue he actually mentions (it was either in his book or on one of the shows) that he doesn;t believe the owners will listen.....Sorry that is a cop out.



Its a very hard question...in some cases - yes I would prefer an unpredicable dog to be pts than for many owners to have to live with the possibility it will bite again.

Again - I have advised a couple of people to have dogs pts - I didn;t like doing it, but when an owner is fearing for her children and the dog has lunged at her husbands throat and she won;t allow people in the house becasue she is afraid of what the dopg will do I see little option....you SHOULD NOT rehome a dog like that and the owner was unwilling to risk her children....

IMHO if a dog is red zone it has already bitten....and trust me - I deal with a lot of those....not so many of the bull breeds but a hell of a lot of ESS's!

I`ve had aggressive dogs and have retrained them without resorting to prong or e-collars. Yes they work up to a point, but they`re a short-cut which looks good on TV because you don`t see the resulting problems - the displacement activity, the fear, the agitation caused by punitive methods.
If you can`t manage a dog without using pain to train, you need to educate yourself about modern training methods.

I did rehome a dog who had been walked on a prong collar. It took months to teach her that she didn`t have to jump up and down on the spot when we stopped - she was terrified of being hurt.

Excellent post - it can be done with out fear and pain and, like you say, may take longer but the outcomes are so much better for people and the dogs!

I cannot understand why people cannot see past what they see in the program and why they continue to support him when there are hundreds (if not more) people doing exactly what you have done, helping very very difficult dogs over come issues that have been made often because of humans aggressive insensitive techniques.

You can't fight fire with fire!

I have owned , trained and advised about training dogs for over 25 years and I'd say yes. Reason being is that all dogs don't always obey a set command

I'd be interested to see his imput on canine behaviour

I own the first two seasons, and both of his books...I don't remember that being said. Do you think you could find a reference? It seems kinda weird that his motto is "I rehabilitate dogs, I train people" if he doesn't think they will listen.

IMO, I think its better to educate people on the use of those training devices because when he leaves, they will probably use it again, even if he (or anyone else) said it is unneccessary.

I once saw a college kid put a prong collar on a dog by slipping it over the head...I about dropped dead, I couldn't believe that he would do that...one that meant that the collar wasn't properly fitted, and two he could have poked out the dogs eyes....If he is going to use it, why wouldn't you learn about it first? The sad truth is that many people do it.

Its nice to see a trainer training people to use their prefered method, rather than trying to change the people. It builds trust, and then the trainer can say "you know, this method doesn't seem very appropriate for your dog." Because if someone just out and says "OMG, you are so cruel, how could you do that to your dog?!?!" there is no way that the person is actually going to listen to what you say. First, fix the use of the training method, then fix the owner.

Yes, i most definitely would. I understand people's reasoning leads them to believe he is cruel, and I am open to the idea that they could be proved right ( if I actually met and observed him in person- I have heard all the arguments surrounding him), however I do not believe he is.

Personally I think he is a bit of a utilitarian (if that makes sense), treating each situation individually and weighing up the pros and cons of various actions, rather than treating certain things as ethically wrong, and other things such as ethically right.

I think he has a very good insight into the way people and animals actually think, feel and behave, without panicking over moral purity and the ethics that society is very emotionally involved in- If you create a heaven and a hell, fear of hell will lead most good people to attract demons. People want to do good, but they do good naturally, and that is what he is keying into without teaching ethics.

With something like this you just have to agree to disagree I think because none of us have actually met him- and different people will interpret his actions on the telly in different ways.

I think that's the problem some people have with CM - they see his methods as 'cruel', but from a human understanding of that term. I think sometimes he is a bit 'rough' ith some dogs, but I don't think he is cruel to them. IMO the owners are the cruel ones to have let their dogs get into such a state in the first place.

Great post 06dcc.brigdenh

Sorry - I have no idea - it was a show I saw on Sky 3 (I have only watched about 3). It seemed quite sad that in the shows I saw...one used a prong collar, one used a canvas muzzle on a basset with no mention about the fact these should NOT be used long term due to the fact the dog cannot breath and there was such a gross misunderstanding of the dogs body language.


I'm sorry I still think this is a cop out - if you explain things to people politely and talk about better methods they will at least listen...especially if they are paying you!!
All it demostrates to me is a lack of people skills. I agree if you say 'OMG thats SO cruel, how could you' people will shutb down to you - just like the dogs do with those methods!


I have had people turn up to classes with all sorts - I can get them to see a better method often within the first 10 miins....and they have all come back...

I find it offensive that you would say trainers don;t specify thier training to the individual....I spend a lot of time doing this - I have very small classes and we always talk about different methods - not just what suits that handler but also what suits the dog.

I am sorry if your experience pf other trainers has been that they apply exactly the same method to every person - but not everyone is like that.

Absolutely!!!!

I don`t understand why people get so passionate about a TV programme. What you get is a heavily edited presentation designed to show the dogs / owners in the worst light and the `Star` in the best. It`s a Reality show - like Wife Swap.
No trainer knows it all, although some may well be arrogant enough to say so. And there is no single solution when dealing with living creatures whose `language`we can`t comprehend.
The best person to train the dog is the person who lives with and cares for the dog - not someone parachuting in with a camera crew.
So no - I wouldn`t let any trainer who thought he was always right near my dogs.