(PET WELFARE) We’ve seen Cesar Millan tame some pretty unruly pups, but are his methods just a form of punishment? Positive reinforcement dog trainer Anna Jane Grossman thinks so. She believes that, “encouraging the behaviors we want and ignoring behaviors we don’t,” is a positive way to train your pup without using physical force. Watch the video and let us know in our poll, has Cesar Millan’s training tactic gone too far? — Global Animal
Anna Jane Grossman, The Huffington Post
In his National Geographic show The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan talks about controlling dogs using “energy.” But his real tool for controlling animals? Kicking them in the guts.
To any dog trainer rooted in the world of the science of behavior, the notion of “calm submissive” energy (or whatever he calls it) is fishy. Energy isn’t observable; it’s about as scientific as wishing on a star. More observable than energy is fear; often, Cesar Millan terrorizes dogs until they’ve been given emotional lobotomies and, zombielike, will do whatever he wants. The result is compliance (some of the time), and also the kind of fear and confusion that will send a dog looking to find a People Whisperer show. But dogs don’t have cable.
However, sometimes, Cesar Millan does make use of behavioral science by implementing what is called, in behavioral terms, Positive Punishment. The “Positive” doesn’t mean good — it just means that something is added to the situation in order to discourage a behavior from happening again. Like adding a foot into a dog’s abdomen.
The so-called “Dog Whisperer” makes training look like magic. But it’s not. It is science: The science of punishment.
My biggest gripe with Cesar Millan is the fact that he is so often telling people to change everything about themselves and their own demeanor in order to bring about change in their dog. He suggests a person change everything about themselves in order to get the dog to stop lunging at the garden hose. He says things such as “Be assertive” or “Do not bring the past into the future.” It’s like commanding someone, “Stop being depressed!”
I’m a Positive Reinforcement dog trainer. Positive Reinforcement practitioners are good at encouraging the behaviors we want and ignoring behaviors we don’t. This is a simpler approach that is more direct than getting someone to rearrange their psyche so that their dog will stop peeing on their pillow.
I think that most scientists would argue that, to date, we understand a lot more about manipulating animal behavior than we do about the workings of the human brain. What we do understand about training ourselves involves a lot of time and effort: therapy, self-help books, yoga, medication. By the time you figure those things out, you’ll have 50 busted garden hoses and your dog is dead anyway. It takes far less time to wisely use good timing and proper reinforcement to train a dog.
But at any gathering of like-minded professionals, I don’t hear these kinds of conversations. Whenever he is mentioned, Positive Reinforcement trainers — a group that’s good at not giving time and attention to things we don’t like — will usually try to “reinforce” something good.
I’ve heard my friends say, “I compliment him on wanting to help owners see that dogs do pick up on human emotions” or “He advocates the need for exercise, which is indeed good for most dogs.” In an excellent Dogster post on Cesar Millan, one of my training mentors, Casey Lomanaco, writes: “Cesar and I both train dogs and their people. We both care deeply about helping dogs and people co-exist more peacefully.” In an open letter to him regarding the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior stance against dominance-based training methods, my training partner Kate Senisi gives him kudos for making her want to learn more about training to begin with: “I was a fan — he played a large part in inspiring me to change my professional career path,” she writes.
Well, after digging deep into my soul, I have finally found a positive thing I have to say about Cesar Millan: He has good timing.
Dog trainers are all about affecting change in behavior in an animal, and everything is behavior, be it barking at another dog, sitting at a curb, playing dead or tracking a scent. All actions in our lives are either reinforced or punished. Positive Reinforcement animal trainers work to figure out how to bring about desired behavioral changes by pinpointing the things we want to happen again, and then rewarding them. We go this route long before ever resorting to any kind of negative reinforcement or punishment. But this does not mean throwing bacon in the air all the time or doing the horah the whole time Rufus is going potty: It means knowing exactly when to deliver a reinforcement — be it food or something else rewarding to the animal — and when to withhold it. Good dog trainers have great timing.
In Cesar Millan’s case, he uses good timing when he punishes. At least, that’s what I’m assuming is going on off-camera. Much of the time, it actually seems like his kicks and hissing noises and the like are delivered rather willy-nilly, not with great precision. But I imagine that, in the moments we don’t see what’s going on, he is doing a swell job of timing his punishers. Otherwise he wouldn’t get results.
Then again, maybe he doesn’t get results. The show isn’t very long, and a lot is cut. Maybe the show’s editor is the one with the great timing.
Another person with good timing? The punishment-based dog trainer who preceded Cesar Millan. Barbara Woodhouse was big in the U.K. in the mid-1900s. Her ability to deliver well-timed punishment was superb.
Here, in her 1970 book, Dog Training My Way, describing how to use well-timed punishment to get a dog to stop chasing cars:
“Enlist the aid of a friend with a car. Ask him to drive you slowly past the dog that chases cars, and as the dog comes in to the attack, throw out as hard as you possibly can any fat hard-covered book, and make certain that the book hits the dog. The shock it gives the dog so frightens it that I have never had to repeat the treatment more than twice, even though the dog may have chased cars for years.”
Just like Positive Reinforcement trainers are careful about choosing their rewards, the late Barbara Woodhouse was particular with her choice of punisher. She ends this passage by saying: “My favourite book is an old A.A. Handbook, it is just the right size.”
Read More Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/the-dog-whisperer-technique_b_1406337.html
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I wish i had him here to help me i have never seen him be nasty to any dog he loves them and helps them and i wish so wish i had someone like him to help me with my 4 year old GSD
Kicking in the gut is not a good idea (must be hurting the dog) but what I have read about Cesar, I think it is a small punishment compared to what the animal would face (certain death) if abandoned by the owner due to behavioural problems and shelters also would have difficulty in keeping such animals.
You people are completely nuts. He is not kicking the animal. It amounts to nothing more than a poke. It is used to break the animals concentration, their fixed attention. It is not different than jerking a leash, or poking the dog with your finger, or riding a horse. It is not a punishment of any kind.
You honestly believe he would hurt an animal?
Your assertions are ridiculous, and you are obviously an animal rights extremist with your own agenda
Enough said! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qh9YOyM2TAk
The author and supporters of this article sound like the idiots who swear that their dog is a good dog after mauling down the neiborhood kids. Raise your hand if you’ve saved ad many dogs ad Cesar has from being put to sleep……yeah.
I am a trainer and behavioral consultant, and the foundation of my training is based on positive reinforcement. While I’m dead-set against the aversive training/rehabilitation methods that Cesar often employs, I feel the need to comment on the article the author wrote.
I believe that if someone is going to be publicly criticized for their short-comings it’s only fair play that they should also be commended for what they do right. Again, I am against the aversive tactics that Cesar employs but I will give him credit for the appropriate direction he regularly gives his clients and audience as well as being a huge ambassador for the bully breeds. Ironically, Cesar Millan has also given countless people a glimmer of hope that the problems with their dogs can be solved – and the phones of dog trainers all over the world have been ringing more because of that exposure.
I have to respectfully disagree with the author where she mocks the idea of ‘energy’ because through my own relaxed and confident manner (commonly referred to as ‘energy’), I am able to put dogs at ease and build trust with them quickly. Just because someone doesn’t understand or agree with something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
The author writes, “Positive Reinforcement practitioners are good at encouraging the behaviors we want and ignoring behaviors we don’t.” I will give the author the benefit of the doubt that she just worded this poorly because certainly she wouldn’t be suggesting that behaviors such as aggression should be ignored? Yes, we encourage and reinforce the behaviors that we want, but only SOME inappropriate behaviours can/should be “ignored” while other inappropriate behaviours must be modified or replaced with appropriate behaviours through counter-conditioning, desensitization, and operant conditioning.
The author writes, “…he is so often telling people to change everything about themselves and their own demeanour in order to bring about change in their dog.” This is a rather exaggerated statement. It happens to be very common for behavioral issues to develop because of owners inadvertently rewarding inappropriate behavior. Based on that it’s just common sense that if the dog is supposed to change its behavior the owners are going to need to change their behaviour too… by no longer rewarding the bad behavior.
The author writes, “Positive Reinforcement animal trainers work to figure out how to bring about desired behavioral changes by pinpointing the things we want to happen again, and then rewarding them. We go this route long before ever resorting to any kind of negative reinforcement or punishment.” I’m not sure whether the author has worded this poorly, or whether she doesn’t understand the definitions used in behavioural science because.
For example: She seems to be using the word “punishment” as a no-no, yet she previously talks about Positive Reinforcement trainers “ignoring” bad behaviours. Well, she would be contradicting herself because “ignoring” a bad behaviour is a form of “punishment”. The psychological definition of “punishment” is to do something that will decrease the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated. So when you ignore an over-excited dog you are performing “Negative Punishment” because you are removing your attention from the dog in order to discourage the bad behavior.
In behavioural terms the words ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative’ do not mean ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’. They are used in the same way as you would use them in Mathematics.
Positive = To add or introduce
Negative = To remove or take away
Reinforcement = To encourage a behaviour
Punishment = To discourage a behavior
Using the definitions noted above, here are some examples:
Positive Punishment : Hitting a dog for jumping up.
Negative Punishment: Stopping playtime the moment rough play begins.
Positive Reinforcement: A pat on the head for coming when called.
Negative Reinforcement: Discomfort from his collar lessens when the dog stops pulling on the leash.
Sorry for being so long-winded, but I just didn’t think that this author did Positive Reinforcement trainers much justice at all.
I don’t think I like him, or his methods- but need to know more.
The video in this article no longer plays. However, I have watched a lot of The Dog Whisperer episodes and I have yet to see Cesar actually “kick a dog in the gut”. Energy is very observable in humans as well as pets, in fact as I write this my dogs energy level is extremely low, (she’s asleep on the couch and snoring up a storm) but first thing in the morning she is panting and wagging while I get ready for our daily walk. I think saying the Milans’ techniques are to “terrorize dogs until they’ve been given emotional lobotomies and, zombielike, will do whatever he wants. ‘ is a might over exaggerated. I don’t advocate any form of abuse on any living creature, and I believe strongly in positive reinforcement, but I have yet to see anything more than positive correction from Cesars’ techniques. I also don’t believe that he (Cesar) asks the dogs owners to change “everything” about themselves in order to change their dogs unwanted behavior. I find his people psychology to be as helpful and moving as his dog techniques, if not more so. I think the author here has taken embellishment to a new low.
Hi all, the article now has another version of the video. Watch, read, and let us know what you think in our poll!
Best,
Global Animal Team
Your poll is skewed to get the response that you want (referencing the tone of the article).
If behaviuorist vet are against him maybe there it must be a reason. His methods are brutal and in our country are forbidden by law, thanks to our work.More…
i am with Kay- Never liked him anyway! he is a jerk on a good day, otherwise he is cruel to dogs-
If you think his methods are rough, You must not have ever had an aggressive dog. Do you even watch the show.More…
Agree with you 100% Sheila. My daughter adopted a pit-cross and the ‘sweet and fuzzy’ trainer that first worked with him and his previous owners (at a cost of $800.00 Non refundable) accomplished nothing with his ‘dog aggression’ problems. The result was that his previous owners had to learn which streets had dogs and those they avoided.
But when my daughter took him in and began applying the same tough love methods that Cesar uses, he began improving immediately. Now a year later, she is taking him to dog parks and he is off leash when he is there. One more dog that Cesar Milan has saved!
f.off cesar millan and his electric collar… and his bloody methods
Cesar knows what he’s doing and would never hurt an animal.
“encouraging the behaviors we want and ignoring behaviors we don’t”
I agree with her!
I don’t want my kid smoking pot, but I’m not going to ignore it if he does in hopes that he will quit. I also won’t be the crap of him either.