Worth it or Not?

Since the Millan thread is going way too long, I thought I would start a new one not based on Millan but about what happened to one dog and a newsreporter too stupid to know better.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unle...mments/page/1/

According to the article the problem was pulling and maybe some barking at the door

Oscar's affliction was constantly pulling on the leash

He has stopped his wee-hour charges down the hall barking, howling and shocking me out of sleep.

So after applying Millan's techniques the dog no longer pulls but something else happened as well. She killed her dog's "spirit"

When I go to bed, he goes to bed. He's a whole new dog.

Sort of a robot dog.

My Oscar used to dance when I returned from work. Doesn't anymore. My Oscar used to scamper into the kitchen, take a bite of food, run back out to the living room to make sure everything was cool and jog back for another couple of chunks. Not doing that. My Oscar used to run down the hall ahead of me looking over his shoulder with a big old grin. Doesn't do that anymore either.

Forgetting about Millan and only focusing on the result and the dog. Would you follow this path knowing the result? Would you trade no pulling for a dog that isn't happy to see you? Doesn't celebrate your arrival? A dog that has lost its playfulness? Would that trade off be worth it to you?

No never... I love the way my dogs greet me and wouldn't trade that at all!!

Why does it have to be a all or nothing thing with some people???

No, I wouldn't want that.

I haven't followed the link yet but will do so now. I don't think teaching a dog not to pull, and not to jump up etc, should mean altering a dog's personality to that extent. My Lab used to pull like mad and jump up at everyone. He does neither now but is still a big bouncy bundle of mischief.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh notanotherone
There are a tiny minority of people here who train with coercion.
Please couldn`t we hear a bit more about the 99% who don`t.
Please!

Not a chance. There are ways of teaching a dog not to pull that don't involve turning it into a robot dog.

Sure the dog wasn't lobotomized?

At the risk of starting a riot, we are only hearing one side of the story! Whst exacatly did the owner do to stop pulling, my guess is they went totally overboard with ALL the CM techniques not just one. Once again it is THE OWNER who is at fault

So theyve ended up with a well behaved dog ...... Isnt that what THE OWNER wanted. i would hazzard a guess & say the dog has matured which as we all know: maturity brings (usually) better behaviour

Well one way to think about it, without CM would forums die out for lack of contentious threads to discuss

Im getting a bit ticked off with all the cesar threads their are lots of trainers out their with better techniques.

They all end up being anti cesar threads so posting more is a bit pointless their all ready plenty.

as for the answer it sounds to me like a dog thats been well trained has the dogs spirrit been destroyed? Or does the owner just miss the old behaviours??? We will never know but you should never train a dog with techniques like Cesars untill you have got advice from a trainer for alternate methods.

Some people are never happy, it's perfectly possible to have well behaved well trained dogs that retain all their character and their cheeky side.

If there's no character there's very little to bond with - who'd cheer you up when you were upset?