Interview With Cesar Millan by Steve Dale

The guy comes off as a bit of a douche.  He has a problem with Cesar's "California talk".  Once again, Cesar fails to use the proper lingo, further alienating himself from trainers who are "in the know".  CM did hold his own though, even though this guy had a clear agenda from the start.  When the guy challenged CM to come back and talk to a certified behaviorist, it was funny how CM said he might do it as long as they've watched more than the one episode with the flooding.  Watching only one or two episodes and coming to a conclusion seems to be common among his detractors.

Be sure to listen to the response to this interview:
[linkhttp://www.petworldradio.net/audioarchives/vop-11.18.06-landsberg.mp3]http://www.petworldradio.net/audioarchives/vop-11.18.06-landsberg.mp3[/link]
It's only a few minutes long.  He talks to the former president of the AVSAB about all of CM's evil techniques.  He's all chummy with this guy because he's one of the  "real experts".  Nice.  As opposed to CM, one of the "fake experts", right? 

CM has done more good for dogs in the past couple years he's been in the spotlight, than this guy could ever hope to achieve in his entire lifetime.

aw man... sorry, but I can't get off this.  Just listen to the ass kissing session as he interviews Jean Donaldson.  Yeah, this guy really stays objectionable with his interviews doesn't he?  Well, she is one of the "real experts" isn't she?[:'(]

I thought Cesar held his own quite well with Steve Dale and I will have to second everything you have said Trevell. They all have to carry on about the word dominant...by my dictionary if someone has control over how their dog behaves then that person is being dominant. (Being in control of)
 
In MHO I think they're all jealous personally. When they stand up to the plate and do as much as Cesar and his wife do then maybe I'll pay them some attention!

ORIGINAL: Trevell

aw man... sorry, but I can't get off this.  Just listen to the ass kissing session as he interviews Jean Donaldson.  Yeah, this guy really stays objectionable with his interviews doesn't he?  Well, she is one of the "real experts" isn't she?[:'(]

 
Sounds like the whole thing was a set-up. Just the mention of Jean Donaldson should give you a clue. [8D]
 
Kinda shocking, disheartening , and sad when you start seeing quite specifically who's behind the Cesar bashing and the extremes they are willing to go to in order to smear and mess with him, and anyone who wants to even discuss him!
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'd love to see one of the positive only people come on over here and work with my dog.  What to do when she could care less that you are ignoring her, doesn't want a treat and yawns at the clicker.  Or, what would they do when she growls--completely unprovoked-- at them after she's been in the same room with them for 10 minutes already?
 
Anyone of the "haters" care to field these questions for me?? 
 
Lori

ORIGINAL: Trevell
The guy comes off as a bit of a douche.

Excuse me????  I don't even know this interviewer, but it seems you could have chosen a less offensive, mysogenistic term. 

While it is clear that Steve Dale adopted a position as a proponent of positive training, and understands operant conditioning theory, I didn't think he was doing anything other than asking the questions that many +R people would want to ask CM if they had the chance.  To be honest, I thought that Cesar held his own in the interview, and I appreciated his willingness to admit wanting to learn from others (all of us who love dogs want to keep learning, right?).  Some of his points, especially about owners' energy, and BSL history, were well taken, and I'm glad he made them to the audience.  I liked his attitude about prevention, and his admission that counterconditioning a fearful dog can also work, although he uses flooding.  Many of you know that I still have a problem with some of his methods, but I think he interviewed pretty well in this case.  I also think that if someone is going to be highly visible on TV, they should expect to be as critically interviewed as a politician, or a celebrity of any other kind, which Cesar says he does expect.  What I did like was the fact that he laid the responsibility on owners to figure out how to provide what the dogs need, whether they do it with him or with another professional.  Cesar says he knows others disagree with some of his techniques, and he is "OK with that". He even said he thought Steve Dale was fair to him in the interview.  So, what's the big deal?  To assume no mention of Jean Donaldson, a prominent +R trainer, would be like interviewing George Bush during the campaign and making no mention of Al Gore.

ORIGINAL: willowchow

I'd love to see one of the positive only people come on over here and work with my dog.  What to do when she could care less that you are ignoring her, doesn't want a treat and yawns at the clicker.  Or, what would they do when she growls--completely unprovoked-- at them after she's been in the same room with them for 10 minutes already?

Anyone of the "haters" care to field these questions for me?? 

Lori

Well, first, I'm not a hater.  I simply disagree that this guy is God's gift to dogs in every facet of his methodology.  And, I find it interesting that you can both post your thanks to me for the input on Willow's problems, but then come back and say that you'd like to see one of us come over here and work with your dog, as if we wouldn't have a thing to offer.
Firstly, you are correct that working a dog that is disinterested in the handler is difficult.  It's one reason that shelters frequently euthanize dogs that display no interest in a human after two minutes at the end of a leash with one. 
Often, with Chows, it is clearly a situation where the pro is training the owner to handle the dog, and not doing the handling, since a relationship with the dog needs to be established - and these are mostly one-person dogs.  Owners are often instructed to hand feed such dogs, for several weeks, or even permanently. 
No growl is "unprovoked".  Dogs growl for a reason, even if it isn't immediately apparent to the human what that reason is.  Aggression never completely goes away.  To assume that it does can be quite dangerous.  A trainer may remove the threshold at which the dog would aggress before, but raise the trigger to a high enough stimulus level and the aggressive dog will eventually react.  Lifetime success is all about not triggering the response, and creating good default behaviors for the dog to use in those situations that used to result in aggression.

It's also important to note that Steve Dale originally wanted a more "panel discussion" typed show with different trainers of different methodologies (including Cesar) to have a round-table discussion, but Cesar's 'people' wouldn't allow him to be on such a show. So for Steve to still have the type of show he wanted, which was less of a "ooooh celebrity ooooh!!!!" show and more of a hard-hitting discussion, he had to take the part of the other trainers that he would have liked to have had on.

I personally can't stand it when an interviewer interviewing anyone (politicians especially--it makes my blood boil when I see this) just lobs softballs and doesn't ask the really difficult questions. I would want an interviewer to take the place of me, and I'd be asking hard questions and challenging perspectives, not just fawning.

ORIGINAL: Trevell

Be sure to listen to the response to this interview:
[linkhttp://www.petworldradio.net/audioarchives/vop-11.18.06-landsberg.mp3]http://www.petworldradio.net/audioarchives/vop-11.18.06-landsberg.mp3[/link]
It's only a few minutes long.  He talks to the former president of the AVSAB about all of CM's evil techniques.  He's all chummy with this guy because he's one of the  "real experts".  Nice.  As opposed to CM, one of the "fake experts", right? 

CM has done more good for dogs in the past couple years he's been in the spotlight, than this guy could ever hope to achieve in his entire lifetime.

**Content Removed** The only person here who I think (and you guys who have known her longer would know) states honestly her issues with his techniques is *spiritdogs* because as far as I can tell she stays true to her training methods. Unlike the fakers. I know what spiritdogs thinks of me, and that's cool, because it doesn't change the facts, and...I really couldn't careless. It's the pot and kettle thing.

People (the haters and fakers) who don't like Cesar or his methods, should stop trying to understand him or his methods because it's not going to happen. Why? because you don't really want too. Only those with a open mind and no hidden agendas can understand. I suggest you stick to your books, your terminologies, and what others tell you to think.

To anyone who did not like the interview:  What did Steve Dale miss to ask that you would have liked him to ask? 
 
I'm with houndlove in that when I watch or listen to an interview I want the questions asked to be probing and challenging no matter what I think of the person being interviewed.  The last thing I want is a 20 plug of a person or their show/product.  *yawn!!!*
 
From what I remember of it, I came away with a general feeling that some of the questions/answers were frustratingly lacking - I think language and terminology is a huge barrier in this field, as we've seen time and again on this forum.  I don't think CM is sneered at or looked down at because he "doesn't know the lingo" I think there is genuine effort there by a great many people to understand and find common ground, and this is hard when people are not reading off the same page terms-wise.  (Obviously you get bad apples in every barrel, but that's the same everywhere!)
 
One of the things I like about CM is his open-mindedness.  He appears to be genuinely open to the ideas and methodologies of others in the same field as him - he doesn't seem to be anywhere near as hostile towards anyone critical of him as some of his fans are but just tries to answer the questions simply and honestly.  I think the interview reflected that side of him very well.  I would love to see him get round a table with other trainers and discuss the meat and bones of their profession.... I think that would be fascinating and enlightening and I can't imagine why his "people" wouldn't want him to do that.

ORIGINAL: Chuffy

I'm with houndlove in that when I watch or listen to an interview I want the questions asked to be probing and challenging no matter what I think of the person being interviewed.  The last thing I want is a 20 plug of a person or their show/product.  *yawn!!!*

But that's exactly what you get when you listen to the other interviews I mentioned.  I don't want to hear softball questions in an interview either, but this guy has a completley different tone with the so called "experts".

I'd love to see one of the positive only people come on over here and work with my dog. What to do when she could care less that you are ignoring her, doesn't want a treat and yawns at the clicker. Or, what would they do when she growls--completely unprovoked-- at them after she's been in the same room with them for 10 minutes already?

My Husky/chow mix is very stubborn, not food motivated what so ever, and too lazy to get a treat if he has to work for it. I mentioned, I might try clicker training, unless he develops a love for something that will not work.

CM has helped me quiet a bit in dealing with him.[]

IMO, he is an expert.