Varumärke eller hundrehabilitering?

"TO THOSE THAT DEFEND CM

Those who are defending Cesar are using the same tired and debunked arguments that have been thrown at critics for years.

1. “You’ve obviously never watched the show.” Many of the professionals who have spoken out against the methods on the show have watched and can site multiple episodes.

2. “You’re just jealous of his success.” If that were the case, wouldn’t we just call ourselves ‘dog whisperers’ like so many so-called trainers who are attempting to profit from the success of the show?

3. “You would just have those dogs rehomed or euthanized.” Considering the vast library of continuing education seminars, books and DVD’s by professional trainers outlining specific techniques to modify aggressive behavior without the use of pain, fear or force, this claim is also untrue.

4. “It worked great on my dog.” In research, this is called n=1, meaning the research is based on the reaction of one subject. If a medication didn’t cause a serious problem for 1/100 people, would you trust it?

5. “He works with dogs other trainers won’t/you don’t have experience working with ‘red zone’ dogs”. False and false. Aggression is not a mystery – because of the research done both in labs and in the field, we understand the most common causes of aggression. Aggressive behavior is normal, not ‘red zone’ and it is rarely the result of dominance (some old veterinary texts say otherwise, but those were published before the resarch of the last decade).

Yes, we watch the show. Yes, we work with serious aggression cases. No, we don’t immediately recommend euthanasia because a dog is aggressive. No, we’re not jealous or promoting our own agenda (also known as scientifically proven methods).

What many of the posters on this thread fail to realize is that the vast majority of trainers speaking out against Cesar’s methods have extensive experience using those methods 10, 20 or even 30 years ago and have seen first-hand the problems they can create.

There is a whole world of canine behavior available to those who want to learn more than the over-simplified explanations of dominance and submission. If you are willing to put aside your beliefs as I was 10 years ago and be open to learning more, think of the good you can do for your dog and others."

Saxat från Beyond Cesar Millan.

Annat läsvärt material kan man hitta här: What′s Wrong with Using ‘Dominance’ to Explain the Behaviour of Dogs?


Och några exempelkommentarer från Veterinary Behaviorists Take a Stand Against Cesar Millan:

"When Cesar advocates talk about him they always go on about how many dogs lives he saves, like he’s a dog god, and he is the only guy out there taking on last chance cases.

This is just incorrect, there are thousands of dog professionals out there taking on and saving last chance cases. The difference, these other professionals haven’t chosen to televise their work. Cesar is Mr. Dog Hollywood!

Simply because Cesar’s *work* is very much in the media, and is constantly be driven by his pr/marketing machine, doesn’t mean that other professionals are not achieving success, and doing so without using outdated punitive *methods*

Other professional dog trainers and canine behaviourists do not blindly stick to a program as CJ Anderson wrote. We evaluate and assess each dog, and then write up and apply a tailored behaviour modification program, one that is most suitable to the dogs presenting problem, and personality.

We understand that in general behaviour problems, for example fear aggression, are driven by emotion, and not dominance. Therefore in order to change the emotion, you need to change the behaviour. (Change the behaviour and the emotion will follow). In order to change the behaviour you need to change the association a dog has to a trigger. We don’t do this through applying punishment. We do it by taking the dog through a systematic program of desensitisation and counter conditioning, even in extreme cases.

Cesar on the other hand labels most problems as being driven by dominance, he sticks to a program, he is not adaptable, a quote comes to mind:

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

I think it’s fair to say the major problem other canine professionals have with Cesar, is that he completely disregards learning theory, and he treats the symptom not the cause. He believes dogs behave like wolves, and that dogs live in packs with a dominance hierarchy. (I am aware that he is not the only one out there who believes this, but he is the only one out there promoting his beliefs to such a large audience).

The idea of dogs in a dominance hierarchy with an absolute Alpha leader at the top has its origins in ideology rather than in the real behaviour of dogs.

If he were to study dogs natural social evolution, he would know that dogs descend from families of wolves, not packs, and are looking for a parent, not an alpha."

"For me it boils down to:

Cesar himself says he’s not a trainer.
The program starts with a disclaimer “Don’t try this at home”.
There is no evidence, other than what we keep being told, that these are “last chance” dogs he is working with.
He calls himself a “dog psychiatrist” which means absolutely nothing in any professional sense.
There is no basis in science for his dominance theory/wolf pack model.
He gets bitten every show (well, probably not every show, but a significant number of shows).
Trainers, Behaviorists and Veterinary Behavorists that I respect and who *do* actually have credentials in the field (and have rehabilitated countless dogs with behavior problems) do not endorse his methods."