omg, i'm laughing my head off right now over this email I got.
quote:
As noted earlier, this morning, there has been a very slanted article in this weeks People Magazine. If you get any value from his shows, books, or resources and would be willing to give about 15 minutes of time to help us re-educate the uninformed.
Our list is always on the lookout for ways to thank Cesar, for all the good he has done, relationships improved, (and most importantly) dog lives that have been saved because of Cesar's approach with problems dogs.
One of the ways we do this is to be watchful of the very active and agreesive Anti-Cesar campaigns that are periodically conducted by professionals too threatened by loss of revenue and clients to understand and work with Cesar's Way in spite of HIS effort to work with them for everyone's benefit. When we see the agressive activity begin to escalate, we come to YOU for help and support for Cesar and his Team.
We need polite non-emotional letters to be written in support and contradiction of the key points listed from the People's Magazine article below. Will you help us help these people understand where this article is off base? Also note, how Advocates of Cesar's Way are portrayed as "rabid" and "Cesar's diehard fans are still whistling his tune".
Samples of 11 other comments that were written in response which can be used as a guideline, done for a troubling op-ed piece in the New York Times can be found in our archives by typing in: "New York Times Letters" ************ ********* ********* ********* *** KEY POINTS of People Magazine's Anti-Cesar Article Written by Maria Eftimiades pg 105-106 in the 1/22/07 issue
>The question is asked of the readers "TV Dog Whisperer is king of canine psychology. So why are Cesar Millar/s fellow handlers hot under the collar?
>They have a huge picture of Cesar with dogs and this quote from him, "People can disagree with me, They disagreed with Ghandi too." They have a picture of one Andrea Arden with her dog Nora who says "people think he's a god".
>They have an additional box quote by her saying, "If my clients want to talk about Millan, the have to whisper. I don't want to hear it.
>What is spoken of in this article is the following: It is started, by mentioning the episode of Kane the two yr old great Dane, that had trouble walking on slippery floors as (apparently according to the article) the trigger that started a "dog-fight" over his methods.
>They quote "a veterinarian" from Tufts University's Animal Behavior Clinic of "setting dog training back by 20 years".
>States that he is Mexican –born with no formal training
>Calls his advocates (us) "a rabid following".
>Mentions the American Humane ASSOCIATION (not society – but most people wont know that) concentrated effort to pull the National Geographic Dog Whisperer Show off the air, and quoted the President as saying "some of his methods are outdated and cruel. Unfortunately alot of uninformed viewers assume that he's right".
>They quote Ina Dunbar, San Francisco Trainer, "It has become a huge emotional debate. Do you show the dog what's right, (by rewarding good behavior) or do you punish the dog for breaking rules he didn't know existed?"
>They state that he does work with agressive animals and the statement to "dont try this at home warning" (notice they leave out the consult with a professional) . And (this may be a key item) add: "Whisperer-inspired techniques are catching on with owners of ordinary dogs in need of nothing more then standard obedience training, say the critics."
>They relay Andrea Arden memory of seeing a man grab a stranger's Boston Terrier and pin him to the ground after it growled at his own dog, "and then he grabbed his dog and shoved it's nose into the other dog's rear...He said he was teaching the other dog to be calm submissive and said he was a follower of Cesar Millan."
>There is a mention of Cesar's mantra of exercise, discipline, affection, and that he says "this is NOT a Sit down, stay, and come here, good boy show. I am the last hope for the people I work with. In the hands of other professionals, these dogs would be put down or on medication."
>There is mention of his relocating to Santa Clarita with the quote, "I know I am helping dogs, if I have to go against unstable humans to do it then so be it!"
>One Key point is that the National Geographic network director of programming John Ford, is in talks with the Human ASSOCIATION about offering another "dog-training: " show in addition to Dog Whisperer, (and they finsihs with) ~ >"but Cesar's diehard fans are still whistling his tune."
>They close with a comment, from another of Cesar's success stories,~ Client Patti La Belle who states her theory of the detractors as being "Jealousy" People are very judgmental, they do not like success. Nasir came home a different dog. He is a miracle man.
They honestly think that I am going to send in a letter to People magazine contradicting what they wrote? Must have been a joke of some kind
Oh they'd have a fit and then die of a heart attack!
Honestly, I was happy to get that now. Although it initially got a rolled eyes response, it does show that there are more people out there like me who are speaking out against him and his methods. And those people who are speaking out against him are getting enough response and recognition for his fans to get worried.
I should to send a message to People magazine. I should praise them for publishing that article!
I am interested in knowing how many dogs he has worked with that DIDN'T respond the way he was expecting that DIDN'T get aired on the show. Knowing his methods, they had to have backfired more than once in all the work that he's done.
I also want to mention that since all this is going on, there have been alot more examples and usage of positive reinforcement on his show.
Basically Rachel, he employs the majority of the old school, militarian training methods involving rather harsh punishments and treatment.
He is a big fan of collar pops. He has made several no no's in this area. 1) He has used a choke chain on small breed dogs which is just asking for a collapsed esophagus or damaged trachea. 2) He has literally hu*ng a dog in the air by a choke chain. 3) he has done collar pops using a head halti or Gentle Leader head collar. All of those have been done on the show.
He frequently jabs the dogs in the neck area, passing it off as a "bite" that the alpha dog would do to subordinate dogs that misbehave.
With aggressive dogs, he will literally pick them up and and flip them onto their back and hold them there by the neck. He did this with a bulldog once, which was a no no because bulldogs already have enough of a problem breathing.
When dealing with fears, he uses a technique called flooding where he will forcefully bring the dog into the situation that is uncomfortable to them or force them to face whatever it is that scares them and then wait for them to calm down from freak out mode.
With small dogs, he has picked them up by the scruff of the neck and held them in the air as a punishment. Supposedly this is what a mother dog would do.
Every single undesirable behavior he comes across he somehow manages to blame it on dominance and proceeds to try and fix it with dominance and force. Pulling is dominance, not a dog that was never taught to heel and taught leash manners (in his perspective).
He calls an excited dog unbalanced. Basically the only state of mind that is acceptable is calm submission (come on, imagine how boring that would be).
With aggressive dogs that will outright run up and att*ack you, he will use a stick or racket to block them. A recent episode I watched showed him basically what I would call teasing a dog with a racket. He chased the dog with the racket until it went into it's dog house. He then put the racket in the dog house and wiggled it and twisted it so the dog would bite it and "get anger out".
Chasing a dog with a stick or tennis racket is also supposedly a way to "claim" your yard as yours, not his to fix territorial dogs.
Those are the big ones, I'm sure I could think of a few more later.
And the sad thing is that people are not looking at the big picture. They are worshipping him like a god and hanging onto his every word.
You watch, I bet a dog whisperer fan will come on here and try to justify and rationalize every single thing that I've pointed out or mentioned. Well I'm sorry, but no matter how many excuses somebody can create, nothing can justify what he's done to dogs that could have potentially harmed the dog. They may work, but do you honestly think that a dog being treated like that constantly is going to be happy? You'll have a robot with no personality!
One of the ways we do this is to be watchful of the very active and agreesive Anti-Cesar campaigns that are periodically conducted by professionals too threatened by loss of revenue and clients to understand and work with Cesar's Way in spite of HIS effort to work with them for everyone's benefit.
quote:
One of the ways we do this is to be watchful of the very active and agreesive Anti-Cesar campaigns that are periodically conducted by professionals too threatened by loss of revenue and clients to understand and work with Cesar's Way in spite of HIS effort to work with them for everyone's benefit.
Yes! That's it! That's why I don't like Ceaser. He's pulling clients away from me, even though I live in Oklahoma and his on the coast!
Loved the quote from the behaviorist at Tufts. I've heard good things about Tufts from a vet friend of mine. Go Tufts!
I wish this guy would go do something else and quit bullying dogs!
