Angelique, I am so against censorship. I am a staunch conservative and believe in freedom of speech. I believe if someone wants to expound
verbally their version of the benefits of murdering, abusing, assaulting, robbing, pornography, prostitution or anything the majority of our society deems abhorant, socially unacceptable or unlawful, that still falls under freedom of speech or expression, whatever. But when those
acts are
committed and demonstrated on TV or otherwise, with promotion and backing by a normally respected producer (N.G.) to boot, then the line of freedom of expression has been fatally crossed. Choking, hanging, forcing a dog into a state of learned helplessness and fear is abuse. You can have your open mind about these methods, like or hug Cesar. But what he is doing to many dogs is crossing the line. It is not merely a "different method."
It is abuse. That is not up for grabs. It is not a matter of opinion. Physically choking, injuring a dog's trachea, assaulting, intimidating a dog so that it is quivering, drooling, shrinking...is for normal people in what
our society and culture considers inacceptable, pathetic and wrong. When this happens to human children, authorities step in. (except where they fall through the holes, of course) It is against the law. This is not acceptable treatment of human children. It is
not acceptable for another living, breathing, feeling, emotional species either.
If you choose to love this person who does not recognize what he is doing or seeing, then there is nothing more to say. (but as usual, I'll say it anyways
) Koehler is an intensified version of CM, to say the least. Of course, Koehler's "methods" (it's abuse, not a training method) is violent and severe compared to Milan. But that doesn't make what Milan is doing safe or appropriate treatment toward dogs.
Applying the philosophy about dominance/subordinance/pack theory... or having that be the basis for teaching or interacting with dogs is irrelevant to domestic dogs, unfortunate and incorrect. But as long as dogs aren't being yanked, choked, forced into fearful states, threatened, never rewarded except for the cesation of these things, then I don't have much of a problem with it. CM crosses the line and should be stopped.
You're right. I'm not a wimp. (at least where this type of thing is concerned) I utilize pos r more and more....takes time to lose those old bossy habits. But that's all I ever was, bossy, never cruel. It's a process to go from compulsion to learning to
look for other ways and learning those ways.
I am by nature, decisive in my communication with dogs. I try to be conistent in
most things. I don't let a lot of stuff slide. If I see an unwanted behavior creeping in, sneaking up on me or a regression in a formerly learned behavior, I do something about it before it gets too big. What I do however, does not rely on a lot of punishment. I begin to change the set-up, prevent the behavior, give alternatives to replace the behavior the dog is about to engage in or already has, reinforce those heavily. I'll
interrupt behaviors that I didn't catch ahead of time with, "eh-eh" and then immediately redirect and reinforce. I will do
no act, verbal or otherwise that will cause my dogs to fear, cower or distrust me in
any way. What CM does, you see those shut down, avoidance and defense/"agression" responses all too frequently.
When I saw his show the very first time, I thought...now there's a guy who is showing people how to be decisive and not wishy washy. That's good. Dogs, like kids need clear boundaries and directions. They do need exercise, although not the inordinant amount he recommends. They need all that. He is not letting the dog out the door until he sits. Good.
But then I watched more closely. I watched his demeanor, his threatening leaning forward over the dog, stomping one foot forward toward the dog, poking his fingers in the dog's neck. And I watched the dogs more closely too. They'd hunker down low, heads and tails down, they'd back away and too much of the whites of the eyes showed. They'd look up without moving their head, just their eye balls. Their ears would lie back, the aperture of their mouth was all wrong. They'd give off all kinds of calming signals which Milan would interpret as refusal to move or to pay attention, when all the time the dogs were trying their best to appease him and communicate that they meant no harm. He does all this and more on a regular basis. This is not a method. It's cruelty. And granted, I have seen a few episodes where what he did was just fine imo. But the vast majority of his "methods" are too harsh.
And finally, to embrace, not merely explore... "
all sides" or
all points of view,
all "methods," (that's the most ridiculous word, methods) regardless... when the pre-requisit to
that is accepting what goes on with C.M. and the production by National Geographic of this demonstration of assault on dogs is
not a virtue, I'm afraid. Exploring, looking at and comparing is all well and good. It's
very good. Cesar Milan does not fall into the category of a very good or safe dog handler.
