Dog Health Questions: Aggressive dog training? Caesar Milan?

A friend of mine and I were talking about dogs, she was telling me that her 2 year old Shiba Inu that she just adopted a couple weeks ago is showing signs of aggression to certain family members, strangers, and other dogs. She always brings up "Ceaser Milan" and his show the Dog Whisperer, she bases her dog training on his show. I personally don't believe his methods of training are correct, in a lot of the shows he condones using "dominant" methods over the dog, which sometimes can be a bit harsh. I don't believe these methods are right, i think they just provoke fear in the dogs. Dogs know we are not dogs, they look at us (the owners) with love and loyalty, by us trying to prove our dominance to them i believe it just provokes fear, and while that may work in certain situations, that is just making the dog afraid of you. Anyways I told her this and every once in a while, she will tell me that i do a bad job at training my dog. Just because i choose to use different methods other than dominance doesn't mean my methods are "wrong". I even let her walk my dog once and she explained that if you hold the dog on a very short leash and keep pulling her back harshly every time she tries to go ahead of you, she will eventually learn to walk right next to you. I felt so bad for my dog, she was practically getting whiplash, and her method didn't work at all :( What do you guys think of ceaser milan and his "dominance" technique in training? I personally believe that show is outdated and he is not a real educated trainer, she should not base her training on a show on TV. She should get some real one on one dog training with a licensed dog trainer. Am i right?

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I agree. From what I've seen of his training, I don't like his methods at all. I think positive reinforcement is definitely the best way to go. Also, continuously pulling on a leash is NOT the way to go. It can cause serious damage to a dog's neck (if they are wearing a collar). I trained my puppy to walk on a leash loosely by using my Clicker. As soon as a dog resorts to pulling you either stop on the spot or immediately turn the other way. Sorry I got a bit off track. :)

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• i dont agree, i love his training methods, they work very well. and if a dog thinks he is higher then you in the pack, he will not listen to you or respect you.


• I don't particularly like Cesar Milan, but I think you have a mistaken idea about dominating a dog.
  
  Dogs are pack animals, and need to exist within a structured pack environment. Many aggressive dogs are this way because they feel that they are the top of the pack, and therefore have to defend the home and the humans, usually because the humans are too apathetic to give the dog any sort of recognisable subordinate pack role. By placing the dog to the bottom of the household pack you are not making the dog afraid of you, just showing the dog it's place in the scheme of things. Most dogs will be greatly relieved not to have to be the top dog! Whilst in the initial stages of training of a problem dog it may appear that the dog is being threatened, the dog will need this to understand where it's place is, and that the pack structure has changed - and it often does this surprisingly quickly.
  
  Remember that Cesar Milan only shows the problem dogs on his show and the dogs have become a problem because of the owners. It is the owners that need training more than the dog!
  
  With regard to training a dog to walk at heal, the ideal is to have the dog walking beside you on a loose lead. If the dog goes ahead of you, check it back, BUT say 'heel' and praise it when it is in the right place - this way the dog learns that 'heel' is the place beside you, and will go to that place when given the command, once it has sunk in. This works for every other command.
  
  I think both your friend and yourself would benefit from going to regular group training classes - not one to one - with your dogs.


• I don't use Cesar MIlan's methods with my dogs-but my dogs are not aggressive towards people or other animals. For the average, mentally stable dog, his methods are a bad idea. But then again-his show is not based on how to train an emotionally healthy dog. He is talking about dangerously aggressive dogs. If these dogs can be rehabilitated with positive reinforcement, that's most certainly the way to go. However, we are living in a society in which laws regarding dog bites are becoming frighteningly stringent. I know a woman who lives in San Francisco. They have a 2 strike law for dogs. Your dog bites twice--he's put to sleep. Her dog bit twice---both people were intruders into her home--he was put to sleep. Of course, San Francisco is an unusually bad case, but I think we have to consider whether his methods might have merit for a dog that is facing possible death if his or her behavior is not curbed immediately. As to your friend......1-she needs to work with a professional. Breaking up a bad situation with an aggressive dog can be dangerous and there is a danger that she is not fully capable of training the Cesar way and she'll end up attacked by her own dog. 2-She is not a professional trainer, nor are you asking for her advice. Simply tell her, "It's my responsibility to do what I believe is best for my dog and I don't like Cesar's methods. Raising a dog is as personal as raising a child for many people.


• You are wrong wrong wrong about Cesar Milan.
  
  You seem to have indoctrinated by the animal rights whackos, who have no practical sense when it comes to dogs.
  
  Sure, use the touchy feely stuff with the dog, and in the end the dog will be taking that one way trip to the vet. But at least we didn't hurt its wittle feelings.


• I have trained my dog and a few neighbors dogs based on ceasers training, and it was very successfull(eventhough i put my own twist to it) I think Ceaser is a great dog trainer, but everyones got there own methods. Before I new about Ceasers dog training I was having alot of trouble training my dog, when he was acting out I would try to calm him down by holding him or petting him, In a few of his episodes he explained that petting and giving your dog affection is a reward. which ment i was rewarding my dog for bad behavior. And Ceaser is not provoking fear into the dog, he is just letting the dog know that he is the boss and the dog needs to listen to him. Your friend may not have the right understanding of how to walk your dog because thats not what Ceaser does, he simply tugs on the leash to correct the dogs bad behavior.


• CM's methods can be very dangerous to the handler and the dog. She should NOT be doing them without a professinal present.
  
  You're right.
  
  I don't personally buy into the domaince theory, in fact you might want to read a study on wolves by David Mech, it's really interesting.
  
  But she needs a real trainer, not an edited TV showadd:
  
  You know what? I have real issue with some of the idiots here. I adopted a human aggressive dog. Domaince theory and pack leadership techniques were used on him.
  
  The end result? A dog that was attacking HARDER and more frequently.
  
  I switched to positive reinforcement and NILF after that.
  
  End result? I was able to control the dog and has attacks became softer and less frequent. He probably would have stopped all together but he had to PTS due to seizures a couple weeks after I started this.
  
  My dog now? You raise your voice to her and she PANICS. You can't get her to listen to you by being "Dominate" and I'd have to hurt anyone that attempts it with her. I worked too hard with her since I adopted her in April to have some I'M A PACK LEADER idiot come in and ruin her.


• I agree with both of you. Cesar Milan does have some good points, I do believe you need to be the Pack leader, and if you are not that is when you have issues. I think there are many ways of "training" a dog. Who's to say CM is wrong, who's to say all the other ways of training are wrong.
  Your friend was not doing the technique right, you are not suppose to pull back since that drives the dog forward, you are suppose to snap the leash to the side (not enough to cause whiplash) Just enough to snap the dog out of its thinking and get it focused back on you.