Cesaer Schmesaer - Page 1

Ok, what's the deal? Stop whisperin' 'bout it and give us a proper piece to gnaw on. Why don't you like him? Personally, I really thought the show with the rescued dogs and women inmates was phenomenal. On both human and dog levels. What's not to like? He's got it right on that most cases of unruly dog behavior began with the human. Not the the genetics of a particular dog, though granted, it can explain lots, now that I can begin thinking in terms of heritable drives! OUCH! I just know I'm gonna get bit on the butt now! ;-) ~Deb

Deb, thank you for a great post!

Ok allow me to get on my anti-whisper ding-a-ling soapbox...... I don't watch him much (I get to frustrated) so I am not aware of his canine humanitary effort. Beetree I will give him credit in that I do like the way he deals with the owners. I really like the way he identifies how humans project their emotions onto there pets. Pet dog training is really more human training, he got that part down. BUT. BUT WITH A CAPITAL B, BUT WITH 10 EXCLAMATION PONTS, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, (IS THAT ENOUGH BUTS?)......

OOPS, BUT in my opinion he is completly one dementional in his approach to dog training, very limited in his knowledge of canine behavior, archaic in his techniques and quite frankly an idiot when it comes to the dogs. His training is based on his machismo idealistic ego. He is quite a good salesman which is a necesity if you are going to make a living as a dog trainer. The days of the Bill Koehler approach of complution based training have long passed us by. Today it is operant conditioning. We should all know by now positive motivation based training is far superior. I have never seen him use food, a ball, a tug, or toy of any type (correct me if I am wrong cuz I don't watch much anymore) Today we have tools such as pinch collars, e-collars, and halti's to name a few. I have not seen him use any of these tools (again correct me if I am wrong. Good dog trainers asses a dogs temperment, use the correct tools for the task, and adjust methods as needed. He corrects dogs, dominates dogs, and uses that PSSSST thing. PSSSST what is that bullshit? He kills me with that. Two episodes forever ruined him with me. The first one has to be the stupidest thing I have ever seen. A women had a Doberman mix with a terrible temperment that was dog aggressive. What does the Whisperer do? Takes the lady and her dog to a dog park off leash. I am watching this saying "You have got to be F-ing kidding me." He tells the lady by asserting his "pack rank authority, or something to that effect, he will be able to control the dog and the dog will know not to show agression. Well everything goes hunky dory while the little foo foo dogs are running around. Con't

So along comes, if I remember correctly, another Doberman, Dobie Mix, or Lab mix. He allows the dogs to go nose to nose and guess what, that's right a dog fight in the dog park with a dozen or so loose dogs. So the Whisperer gets in the middle of all these dogs and uses his legs and knees (you can't very well kick a dog on national TV can you?) OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!! Episode number two is a boyfriend and girlfriend with Pitt Bull mixes. One of the dogs is somewhat dominant. The other is not a strong nerved dog who freaks out and goes into fear aggression with the other dog. His approach is to put the dogs into a postion to evoke the aggression. Mind you he does not have solid obedience on either dog. He is holding the dominant dog. Mulitple corrections (which only increases aggression) NO, PSST, PSST, PSST. He lifts the dog off its front legs. The dog transfers the aggression to the leash, I don't think he knows what transferred aggression is, and the dog is on the verge of transferring to him. Does he whisper in the dogs ear? No he chokes the dog out. Dog is hanging and biting the leash. Cut camera. The next thing the veiwing audience sees is the dog on her side with her tounge lolling out of her head. He says he allowed her to "exhaust herself" and then she was able to accept her subordient rank. He choked the dog out. I know he did it but I bet 90% of his adudience had no idea what happened when the camera cut off. Why did he choke the dog out? Because he didn't know what else to do. So now that the dog understands her rank position to him, he places the fearful dog in a dominant position to the dog he just choked out. He explains how he must teach the dominant dog to be submissive to the other dog because the "alpha" sets the rank order. Wrongo Dongo. He put placed those dogs in a complete conflict of there natural instinct. He doesn't even know how to correctly perform his own training philosophy. The correct thing to do would have been to set a rock solid obedience foundation on both dogs (can't do that in a half-hour show) have both dogs do numerous obedience sessions first at a distnce and gradually move them closer together. The weaker dog would have gained confidence through the obedience and the dominant dog would have a clear understanding of approppriate behavior. This type of situation takes a long, long time to overcome. Con't

I think Mr Whisper is very irresponsible in many of the techniques he teaches. He has his disclaimer to seek the advise of a professional trainer but so does "Jackass" and of course people will attempt to do these things. I had a roomate with a dominant dog. This dog transferred aggression toward my other roomates old Lab. She did not do what I advised her to do because it took too much time and effort. One night we are sitting around drinking beer when her dog goes after the old Lab. Her friend shows her what she should do because he watched "The Dog Whisperer" He explaines to her that she has to show her dog who is the "Alpha" and show her that behavior is unacceptable. He grabbes her dog by the scruff of the neck and holds her down in a "submissive" position. My roomates dog bit him. It was not a big deal because she was not a large dog. I laughed so hard I spilled my beer and almost fell out of my lawn chair. My problem is what happens when someone tries to do this with a dominant 90lb German Shepherd? If Mr. Whisper did his nagging corrections, stuck his hand in front of, and did his PSSST shit to a sharp, hard as nails KNPV Malinios.........PSSSSSSSSSSSST As I step down off my soapbox; if anyone takes anything from my rambling..... There is far more to dog training than rank pack order, far more. It is not the end all be all to dog training. Use your brain, use modern progressive theory and tools, and "think outside the box". You will become a better trainer if you do.

"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." -- John Steinbeck That's the exact look that Rikka gave me when I tried the Psssst. Seriously though, dominance and submission do play a key role in training but as Get a real dog said there is a lot more to it. My biggest complaint against Ceasar is that people watching his show seem to think that these turnarounds happen in 1/2 hour. You can't undo years of conditioning in the space of one show.

I like the Dog Whisperer, in some instances he's on the money as far as "rules, boundries and limitations", too many people let their dogs run the house and wonder why they have "bad" dogs, when really they should be looking in the mirror. I admit he's even opened my eyes to things I was doing wrong with my own dogs. BUT I DO agree with GetARealDog's well explained critisizms of him. One thing I would add is that I have seen him use prong and E-collars on camera, although the only time I've seen him use an E-collar was for a border collie or blue heeler trying to herd farm equimpent (tractors). The E collar worked like a charm. Not sure if this is true but someone (a pet dog trainer) told me that he uses the E-collar alot more than it is shown on TV.

Which brings us to my favorite Southpark episode: http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=63704

IMO the Dog Whisperer provides an avenue for the general dog owning public to learn that dogs are not born trained and that many behavioral issues can be modified with the proper handling. He has doubtlessly saved a number of dogs from being dumped at the pound or worse. If he gives any hope to people with dogs they love but cannot live with, then what's the harm? Due to this TV show, some of these people will get the picture and seek out professonal advice. Their dogs will become satifactory companions and not end up in rescue. What can be wrong with that?