Yep I love the show too. He makes the owners realise that they own a dog and that it has doggy needs.
So anyway, I haven’t watched Cesar Milan, but I can’t resist talking about doggehs!
Maybe it’s because my experience comes from rescue cases, and I want to stress that I’m in no way an expert, but I’ve learned that each animal is an individual case. They may roughly fall into groups, but each are going to have their own quirks. We have one doggie who is only fearful aggressive towards men, for instance. All the dogs can be a little fearful aggressive during their first week in the shelter, and then they settle in.
I handled two truly alpha female dogs that I’ve had to straddle and gently press towards the ground for a few seconds, only once for each of them. I prefer that as a last ditch method of showing alpha dominance rather than the “alpha roll”… that seems a very dangerous technique, especially for women with less upper body strength. Afterwards, I had no problem with either of them, even when other volunteers continued to struggle with them, and people remark that I seem to be a favorite of theirs.
I have no problem using choke chains and/or pinch collars. My ultimate responsibility is my own safety and security and that of the animal. Some of those dogs are strong and could easily knock me off my feet if they spy a cat while being walked or such. Granted, I am working with shelter dogs who aren’t being trained as household pets would be, but I don’t consider those items barbaric in the slightest. Heck, I put a pinch collar on myself and demonstrated it for one of our more timorous volunteers. It doesn’t hurt.
As my husband has noted drily, no one has to teach me to be a pack leader. He was at the shelter once and watched me play wrestling with our pit bull Rosie in her kennel, and about peed his pants when I scruffed her like a puppy and got up in her face and said in my Mommy voice, “NO TEETH!” She’s an old softie, really. 
I do not know how many people I know who basically want a dog that will just hang out around the house, but end up getting something like a Border Collie or a Dalmatian or a Weimaraner. People tend to pick breeds by what they think looks cool without regard for the needs of the breed.
I know you were probably using hyperbole to make this point, but a pug (or any dog) needs more than four minutes of exercise; however, a pug will be happy with a short daily walk and a little playtime.
I know! Drives. Me. Nuts!
Eh, if you have a decent sized yard, it’s not terribly hyperbolic. I had (when I had a yard) many a happy pug who I almost never took on walks - I leash trained them and then took them out a few times a year if it seemed like fun, but never for exercise - and they were all little angels. I guess I meant a few minutes of actively human directed exercise; they pretty much took care of their own needs.
My raspberry bushes were trampled to death, but my dogs were happy!
I obviously don’t know what Cesar does off camera, but the Exercise, Discipline, Affection routine has made a wonderful difference in my Jasmine.
I love Cesar. My one criticism is that he is reluctant to tell obvioulsy meek owners of aggressive dogs that they should get rid of the dog because they don’t have the personality necessary to control it. Pit bulls (one of his favorite breeds), for instance, can really be dangerous in the hands of people who are not masters of their dog.
BTW, I’ve watched his show for years and I’ve never seen him roll a dog. In fact, I have no idea what you’re talking about. He makes a shh! sound and occasionally yanks on the leash hard, but I’ve never seen anything that would resemble abuse.
He is excellent with dogs. And I suspect he’s also an excellent father because a lot of his techniques are equally applicable to kids. (e.g. if they got more mental and physical stimulation, they’d act out less; kids need to recognize their parents as the leader, etc.)
I watch the show a lot.
Cesar advises the owners that dogs enjoy exercise and that how much depends on the breed and size.
Sometimes he suggests as much as an hour a day (using the whole family).
This adds up to 7 hours a week.
Where on earth do you get ‘40 hours a week’ from? 
I like Cesar and have watched a lot of his shows. I have also had my dog in obedience training (with a trainer who was not familiar with Cesar before his show became popular). There’s not really anything he has done on his show that she didn’t teach us in our class.
I’ve never seen him teach an owner to do an alpha roll. Does he do that? I can see him doing that when he is with the dog or has the dog at his facility. Usually he gets the dog to the point where they wouldn’t need an alpha roll then returns them to the owners and has them keep up the good work.
I also have never seen him tell anyone that any dog needs any excessive amount of activity. More like “walk your damn dog once or twice a day and throw it a ball every so often.”
And choke collars? Please! He uses loose nylon rope leads and shows people how to PROPERLY “pop” a dog. Very quickly. Case closed. This isn’t spike collars or dragging dogs around by their choke chain. Dogs need choke chains. People buy choke chains. People use choke chains very, very incorrectly. Cesar Milan tells us how to use them properly (the same way my trainer taught us).
There’s nothing Cesar has done on his show, that I have seen, that I would not do to my own dog if she was acting out. Everything he’s taught has been helpful and has added to my dog’s happiness, not taken away from it.
Also, you have to remember that his more daring techniques (as Barrels says “are bites waiting to happen”) are only performed by him or his staff. He doesn’t make the dog lash out any more than they were already lashing out at the owners or other people. He doesn’t tell people to “test” their dogs - as I said, he gets them over that sort of stuff on his own. I’ve seen him take dogs to his facility for several weeks before he returns them to the owners.
And I’ve also seen him have some failures on camera, where he admits things aren’t going as planned or are taking much longer than he thought or he had to change stuff up. But it’s a television show about how good this guy is, not an unedited documentary about failed dog training.
Coincidentally, the epsiode where Cesar trains Cartman is on South Park right now- hilarious!
I’ve only seen Season 1 (got the DVDs as a present), and he does in at least one episode there. He teaches the kids of the family how to push the dog onto its side and keep it held there for a moment.
We caught that last night too- that’s my favorite episode!! I especially like the leash walking part- they mimicked what we like to call “bucking puppy walking” perfectly.
My boyfriend is a professional obedience trainer and I compete with my border collies in sheepdog trials. We both enjoy watching Cesar Milan but have no doubt that a lot is being edited out. I think Cesar is far more valuable for people who are just getting a dog rather than people who are dealing with a problem animal already.
Cesar really does a great job advocating discipline and structure. As a veterinary hospital manager- I see every day problems created by lack of discipline and a basic misunderstanding of dogs. I see person after person teaching their brand new pup to be afraid at the vet right from the first visit, or people who don’t want to put their dog on a leash despite the fact there are unknown dogs about to arrive not to mention an extremely busy city road right outside our door. I have had to advocate for the dog that it receive URGENT (i.e, the dog sounds near critical) veterinary care because the owner can’t bear to “leave the dog in a cage” for the day. Seriously! Those examples, I realize, don’t have nearly as much to do with boundaries/discipline as they have to do with the public’s general desire to treat dogs like children (really, really spoiled children) instead of like dogs, often to their dogs detriment.
As far as the exercise thing goes- I think that is as much about the dog spending time “practicing” good behavior with it’s owner as it is about physical need to exercise. I have read twice in this thread that border collies need plenty of exercise, even six hours :eek: a day? We have six border collies, they get three days a week where they are actively working for about one hour (and out of the house for three hours, but only each working for an hour or so as they wait turns). My youngest pup and one of my older dogs goes to work with me and gets 30 minutes of walking- I really take them for the company more than exercise for them. We do have a yard and they go out in shifts for about ten minutes at a time, 4-6 times a day.
They are all well behaved and not destructive but that is because they are TRAINED not EXHAUSTED. Granted, we have a lot more experience with dogs and especially border collies but I have long felt that the breed’s energy need is misunderstood. They are very active dogs, but they are also very personable and love to hang with you. Leave a border collie alone in a yard for hours and you will have a serious landscaping issue- bring them into the house and you will have a serious stalker/shadow that quickly learns to “chill” if you expect it of them and don’t constantly stimulate them with 6 hours of exercise (which for most pet border collie owners seems to mean neurotic stuff like constant frisbee or ball throwing- IMHO that in large doses makes dogs nuts).
The other thing I think people forget about Cesar is that he is often dealing with dogs that are REALLY BAD. Dogs that I would euthanize in a heartbeat. No one with that type of dog should try to emulate Cesar and I think they do a good job of emphasising that people should get professional help. I’ve only disagreed with one thing I saw- it was a family with a very small child and a red zone dog. They appeared to be able to manage the dog, so maybe I’m just hyper about that kind of thing but I thought the dog (who was older anyways) should have been PTS rather than risk the child being bitten. Maybe because it was such a cute little girl, and the dog’s bites where VERY committed to hurt- not fearful but dominant/aggressive. I also think that not enough is shown about how managing most of these dogs is a lifetime pursuit- that the dog will relapse and owners must always be vigilant for that. We have a former “red zone” dog that has attacked people- last time he came close to biting anyone was three years ago when I stupidly forgot about him for a second. This dog has been trained well by my boyfriend- so well that my vet hospital thinks we are nuts when we tell them to be cautious with him LOL. But he is a constant worry for us, his behavior must be managed at all times and that is one thing I think Cesar could show more- although some of the followup episodes seem to do that.
Sorry, way to long winded as usual and have a lot more I could say 
I have seen the show- just a few episodes, but I don’t think he has ever done anything wrong. I am always amazed by how obedient the dogs are by the end of the show. Seems like a talented guy to me
I based the six hours a day off what an actual modern day shepherd told me his dogs work. I cede to your greater knowledge of border collies as pets.
One thing about most sheepdogs- they may very well work six hours a day or more. Dogs doing the big gathers in the west will have several days of all day work especially. But many days, sheep or cows are just grazing in one place or are otherwise static and the dogs may have to do without the work for several days or even most of a season at a time. Dogs work especially hard at shearing, worming and lambing times, which is very seasonal work.
I didn’t mean to denigrate what you said- just that it’s a common theme I hear that a border collie must have umpteen hours of exercise when what they really need is training and structure. I wouldn’t recommend most border collies to apartment/occasional walking life not because they couldn’t adjust but because most people wouldn’t know what it takes to keep the dog from losing its mind. It’s the mind that needs the most stimulation, not the body, IMHO.
I’m going to take that with a Jovian ocean of salt given how happy the owners are with the outcomes. I’m inspired to own a dog by this guy.
Did anyone else watch that “behind the scenes” Dog Whisperer special that was on a couple weeks ago? I hadn’t ever seen the show before, but I was on a long cross-country flight during a marathon, so I caught about six hours worth of whispering.
Anyway, they specifically address this claim on the show, and people who have worked with Caesar laugh it off. Which, you know, of course they would, even if he does beat the dogs, but that seems like it would be a difficult thing to keep covered up, you know?
At any rate, I don’t like to watch the show. I’ve been researching dog ownership for about a year now, but I simply don’t have the lifestyle to accomodate one. Seeing happy dog owners tends to drive that home.
I feel it necessary to say that, although I have never seen or heard of Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer until I read this thread, I can no longer imagine a universe without Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer.
Additionally, there is no possible way the real Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer could possibly match the image of Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer that my mind conjures from hearing the name Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer. For one thing, he probably does not wear a cape. And yet, it is impossible to imagine Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer without an immaculately tailored, dark velvet cape.
He sweeps it aside dramatically as he enters: “Bongornio, my friends,” he booms in his robust, vigorous Italian accent. “You need fear no more; for it is I, Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer.” He grips the recalcitrant whippet in his ruddy hands and leans closer, until the tips of his waxed mustachios are nearly touching its ears. With a low growl the beast tenses and struggles, resisting the rough familiarity of his grasp; striving to escape as he bends nearer.
And he whispers. Low and insistent, he whispers of the dark, rich earth of Tivoli and the good warm sun as it coaxes the grapes from the soil. He whispers of the ancient groves of olive trees and the weathered, nut-browned men who sit in the shade of the villas at midday. He whispers of the fresh rains, the dusty sun-baked roads of the Campagna, the lone cry of the owl at dusk.
At last the dog ceases to struggle. His firm hands coax and caress its coat like the warm winds of the Mediterranean. The dog sits silently, passively; its gaze is calm, dark and far away. Finally he stands and offers a sweeping Continental bow. His work here is done. For he is Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer.
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
Unfortunately, Cesar is a native of Mexico, not Italy.
I think he seems alright but my favorite episode, and by far the funniest, was the basset hound that would not walk on a leash. It would literally lay down on it’s side and be dragged around like a dead dog. It was so funny because the dog clearly didn’t mind but the owners were baffled by the behavior. Even when Ceaser walked it the first time it just laid down and let itself be dragged.
By the end of the episode the dog was walking normal on the leash. So he did something right.
Well done, Terrifel! I only read this thread because I saw the hilarious South Park episode last night, and I was hoping very much that that is exactly what Cesar Milan would be. But you phrased it far better than I ever could.