What Cesar Millan really teaches

[Ste11aeres]

I have a feeling that his most foundational ideas, the ones he repeats over and over and over again, are ones that no dog-person would disagree with.

He teaches us that dogs are affected by our "energy", i.e. our emotions and stuff. He teaches us that we must be calm and at peace, and that this is the best thing for our dogs.

He teaches us that dogs need exercise, discipline (this doesn't mean punishment, it means orderliness, and understanding rules boundaries and limitations) and affection. And that of the three, the largest chunk of time has to be devoted to exercise, primarily in the form of walking. He teaches us that humans should be in charge.

He shows us to be authoritative, not authoritarian and not permissive. (He doesn't use those words. Those are the words of a Child Development professor whom I had-and a whole book could be devoted to explaining the differences.)

He shows us that behavioral problems are not breed specific. At the same time, he is realistic about the fact that some breeds are more challenging than others. He never refers to a breed as aggressive, but he says that some are more "powerful" than others.

He shows us that sometimes behavioral problems are because of easily corrected mistakes the owner is making, while other times there might be deeper (sometimes unknown) causes, and in a few cases the dog might be best served by extensive time boarding with a behaviorist. Each of his shows advises viewers to consult a professional in person-rather than assuming that they can solve all problems themselves simply because they've watched a TV show.

In his show Leader of The Pack, he matches dogs with the potential adopters that are the best fit. He shows us and teaches us that one of the most important aspects of dog care is simply the right match-the right dog for the right owner. Owner's and their dogs must have a compatible "energy." And just as relationship problems are sometimes the result of mismatched personalities between humans, sometimes dog problems are the result of mismatched personalities between dog and human.

Over and over again, he emphasizes peace and calmness. Those qualities flow back and forth between human and dog.

 

[Warmheart]

Yes! What he discusses is what is natural for a dog. It is all about energy-- what energy we are being, what energy the dog is being, and how to improve the relationship with leadership. Leadership calms, provides a sense of security and safety in a the world for a dog. Peace and calm follow leadership and structure.

If you look at the expression on the sweet but challenging dog in my avatar, and also consider from my posts my soft nature, you can imagine how much of a mental sea-change it took for me to put Cesar's wisdom into practice. The results were a calm, happy, peaceful dog with a waggy demeanor and a bounce in his step.

His best work in my view is his book "Be The Packleader." LOVE his emphasis on reading energy, and on projecting and being the right energy!

 

[tree]

I have a feeling that his most foundational ideas, the ones he repeats over and over and over again, are ones that no dog-person would disagree with.

He teaches us that dogs are affected by our "energy", i.e. our emotions and stuff. He teaches us that we must be calm and at peace, and that this is the best thing for our dogs.

He teaches us that dogs need exercise, discipline (this doesn't mean punishment, it means orderliness, and understanding rules boundaries and limitations) and affection. And that of the three, the largest chunk of time has to be devoted to exercise, primarily in the form of walking. He teaches us that humans should be in charge.

He shows us to be authoritative, not authoritarian and not permissive. (He doesn't use those words. Those are the words of a Child Development professor whom I had-and a whole book could be devoted to explaining the differences.)

He shows us that behavioral problems are not breed specific. At the same time, he is realistic about the fact that some breeds are more challenging than others. He never refers to a breed as aggressive, but he says that some are more "powerful" than others.

He shows us that sometimes behavioral problems are because of easily corrected mistakes the owner is making, while other times there might be deeper (sometimes unknown) causes, and in a few cases the dog might be best served by extensive time boarding with a behaviorist. Each of his shows advises viewers to consult a professional in person-rather than assuming that they can solve all problems themselves simply because they've watched a TV show.

In his show Leader of The Pack, he matches dogs with the potential adopters that are the best fit. He shows us and teaches us that one of the most important aspects of dog care is simply the right match-the right dog for the right owner. Owner's and their dogs must have a compatible "energy." And just as relationship problems are sometimes the result of mismatched personalities between humans, sometimes dog problems are the result of mismatched personalities between dog and human.

Over and over again, he emphasizes peace and calmness. Those qualities flow back and forth between human and dog.

Yes! What he discusses is what is natural for a dog. It is all about energy-- what energy we are being, what energy the dog is being, and how to improve the relationship with leadership. Leadership calms, provides a sense of security and safety in a the world for a dog. Peace and calm follow leadership and structure.

If you look at the expression on the sweet but challenging dog in my avatar, and also consider from my posts my soft nature, you can imagine how much of a mental sea-change it took for me to put Cesar's wisdom into practice. The results were a calm, happy, peaceful dog with a waggy demeanor and a bounce in his step.

His best work in my view is his book "Be The Packleader." LOVE his emphasis on reading energy, and on projecting and being the right energy!

He is a brilliant psychologist.
He understands the behaviors of humans & dogs.
He teaches them to work/live together so that both
can be happy.

 

[AsperDragon]

I love Cesar. I love animals ... because of him i was aware that the reason that i was bitten in the face by a rottweilern was not because the dog was mean, but because the dog was processing the energy of the NT woman standing next to me repeating 'oh. I think he's going to bite you. Yeah, he's going to bite you.'
After the dog bit me i saw a micro expression of delight and excitement cross her face.
Since that time, i have had no fear of dogs, but some NT people set my hackles on end.
After that experience, i actually had someone set two pit bulls on me. (I was making a collections house call). They were very surprised when i knocked again and told them how sweet their pretty puppy dogs were....when they had released the hounds (hehe. ..couldn't resist) on me i gathered my energy into the energy that i used to use when my friend's dogs would want to play more and it was time to stop playing. The two pit bulls came over and sniffed me and then sat down, one on either side of my knees. I felt like such a badass knocking on their door again.

 

[AspiePie]

So being good with Dogs makes you the Buddha.. Really it seems that is what this saying that once you master dogs you will master yourself?

 

[Tom]

I love watching Cesar at work. Definately a Maistro of understanding dogs (and their masters). I still get chuckles thinking about his 'Chihuahuas from Hell' compilation. My favorite was when he went to a Pit Home to deal with an Aggressive dog and found it was Diablo the Chihuahua.

 

[Kari Suttle]

Yes i like cesar milan's teachings as well. We don't own dogs cause my mom's a cat person and as a child i was afraid of large dogs. I'd love to own a dog someday once i graduate and move out. I noticed a while back that in every interaction i've had with someone else's dog, the 'energy' so to say of the person makes a huge difference in how the dog behaves. Just like with little kids, they pick up on your energy and react to it.

 

[ancusmitis]

our "energy", i.e. our emotions and stuff

I normally scoff when people start talking about "energy," since it sounds so oogly-boogly and new agey, but is that really all it means?

 

[Tom]

I am not sure if its exactly the same thing as is meant by 'energy', but early on I learned that dogs (and many animals) can read what your feeling (ie, fear, happiness, caution, etc.). So despite what my natural inclination might be I learned to emote what I thought the correct feeling/thoughts/behavior would be in the particular situation.

With dogs, which are mostly with their owners or in the owners houses my default emote is 'Oh a dog! I love dogs! Your a good doggie!' But thats not difficult for that is my natural feeling. Though I do not approach or pet the dog until I read some positive dog body language response. If I don't get that, I just project good feelings from a distance. But really it rarely fails to get a good reaction. Most dogs react positively to a friendly greeting.

I have frequently picked up or corraled stray/lost dogs. One was a genuine monster! It was really hard to not project nervousness as I gave him water and read his collar. It was as big as a lion. But all seemed to know my intent and waited patiently with me for the owners, allowed me to leash them, etc. (or jumped happily in my car ). I have also run into aggressive dogs, and once a feral pack, and had to emote menace/threats in return. That was not enough to see them off, but did serve as a sort of rear guard delaying action keeping them at a small distance until I made it to a safe place.

 

[Ste11aeres]

I normally scoff when people start talking about "energy," since it sounds so oogly-boogly and new agey, but is that really all it means?

Odds are that different people mean different things by that word. But that's basically what Milan means. I don't know why he chose this word-he kind of uses his own terminology.

 

[Tom]

Yes, I thought we were probably talking about the same thing with different names. I guessed the term 'energy' was perhaps regional. California (cough).

 

[Judge]

I always thought Cesar Milan meant "energy" in the most literal sense. A dog's ability to gauge the energy- physical and emotional state of their master. That they can be incredibly intuitive about how you may feel at a certain point in time.

Probably a critical concern for herding breeds in general. That if you don't lead them, they'll instinctively try to lead you. It's what they do.

 

[Beverly]

Caesar is good, he uses human versions of natural canine body and action language to train dogs. he gears his own energy level and mood (that's what he means by energy, how hyped up you are and, what mood you are emoting.) to what the individual animal need to help it balance itself.

All things I learned to do with my wolfdogs. He also understands the difference between a group of dogs simply establishing a hierarchy and, those same doges behaving aggressively toward each other. Like my wolfdogs, if you didn't know the difference, there are times you would think my three big males are fighting when in reality it's just them reminding each other of their place in the pack. Lots of posturing, snarling, growling pawing at one another and, nipping or snapping but, they won't actually bite or otherwise hurt each other and, they are back to a happy, bouncing, running trio playing together in under five minutes. (And yes that is 3 intact, adult males.)

 

[Ste11aeres]

Caesar is good, he uses human versions of natural canine body and action language to train dogs. he gears his own energy level and mood (that's what he means by energy, how hyped up you are and, what mood you are emoting.) to what the individual animal need to help it balance itself.

All things I learned to do with my wolfdogs. He also understands the difference between a group of dogs simply establishing a hierarchy and, those same doges behaving aggressively toward each other. Like my wolfdogs, if you didn't know the difference, there are times you would think my three big males are fighting when in reality it's just them reminding each other of their place in the pack. Lots of posturing, snarling, growling pawing at one another and, nipping or snapping but, they won't actually bite or otherwise hurt each other and, they are back to a happy, bouncing, running trio playing together in under five minutes. (And yes that is 3 intact, adult males.)

Sadly, not all humans do understand the difference. When I first got my boy, he was involved in a few instances of posturing/scuffling where the dogs neither hurt nor attempted to hurt each other, etc, with other young males. Sort of a bunch of young guys trying to show who's the toughest.
Then he was in one actual real fight. The thing is...I think that the only reason it turned into a real fight was because the humans around (especially the owner of the other two dogs) started freaking out, just screaming, and screaming, and stuff. When that happened, I think that the dogs felt they had to protect their owner...well, you can imagine the rest. They bit my dog's face up. Since they were herding type dogs, their style was lots of quick bites. Finally my dog got one bite on the loose skin of the scruff of one of the other dogs. My dog held on and wouldn't let go. This is typical of terriers, bulldog types, and pitbulls, and he is a pitbull. But since it's the only time he's ever done that, I think he was motivated by his own feelings of panic, sparked by the panic of the humans around him. Then some guys tried to hurt him-kicking him, and stuff, thinking it would make him let go, that was probably causing him to hold on with more determination.
Kind of traumatic for both of us.
But I learned a lot on that day.

Now it's not dogs I fear,-it's their owners.

 

[ancusmitis]

Yes, I thought we were probably talking about the same thing with different names. I guessed the term 'energy' was perhaps regional. California (cough).

I think there is some regional importance. There is a general American subculture that talks like that, and you find it even around here, but um, yeah, Knoxville is reeeally not California lol.

Anne Lamott talks about "words you're allowed to use in California." Not what I normally read, but she did write a textbook called Bird by Bird that we used in one of my writing classes. It's actually pretty funny. Like I said, she doesn't write in the genres I'm interested in (in fact she, or at least people who read her kinda stuff, would like say she is "not a genre writer," whatever the hell that's supposed to mean) but I have to respect her as a writer even if I don't especially want to pick up any of her fiction.

 

[ancusmitis]

Yes! What he discusses is what is natural for a dog. It is all about energy-- what energy we are being, what energy the dog is being, and how to improve the relationship with leadership. Leadership calms, provides a sense of security and safety in a the world for a dog. Peace and calm follow leadership and structure.

If you look at the expression on the sweet but challenging dog in my avatar, and also consider from my posts my soft nature, you can imagine how much of a mental sea-change it took for me to put Cesar's wisdom into practice. The results were a calm, happy, peaceful dog with a waggy demeanor and a bounce in his step.

His best work in my view is his book "Be The Packleader." LOVE his emphasis on reading energy, and on projecting and being the right energy!

I know I've already said this, but you have a beautiful dog

 

[Ste11aeres]

I know I've already said this, but you have a beautiful dog

And so photogenic!

 

[Ste11aeres]

Now, I like Ian Dunbar. And I like Cesar Millan. Both of them are good with dogs. As the person writing the following article says: "He and Millan are actually using the same core techniques, even if they are using a slightly different language and have a different mix of methods."
But there's maybe a reason why Millan has helped more people with their dogs than Dunbar has.

http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2010/03/cesar-millan-secret-is-human-training.html