Recently I just went to a Cesar Milan show in Westbury Long Island. I had a great time. He definitely put on a show that was entertaining with jokes and demonstrations. He talked about his story coming from Mexico and being surrounded by dogs with no leashes yet the dogs followed him.
It was this sort of primal energy that he was putting off that seemed to not be accessible to our modern technological world. I loved this talked as it fed my hunger for nature and returning back to a simplier time and way of living even if only in my mind.
I watched demonstrations of Cesar taking a dog that was pulling a volunteer around the room. Cesar took that dog and within seconds was able to walk with the dog only the leash with 2 fingers.
Many were surprised. I watched this guy for a while and its what I expected. Cesar also had words of wisdom too. He talked about dogs following you and the state of mind that they are in when they were demonstrating certain behaviors. Some dogs were too hyper and he gave them a chance to relax first.
This was something I liked about Cesar. He is big on being fair and setting the dog up for success. Even though he has a dominance theory of how dogs are like wolves in a pack he believes in fairness. You know dog psychology stuff.
I went with an open mind being that I had to because I didn't know we were going there until my girlfriend and I pulled up to the theatre with her car. And also because I always feel like I can learn something as a dog trainer.
I do think people don't realize that Cesar shows is mostly for entertainment not for you to go home and start practicing on your dog. I have clients that immediately start to shhhh their dog and tapping them the way Cesar does. Without knowing what state of mind their dog is in and just guessing, they attempt it. Every time their dog "acts up" they think he is being dominant. I believe that there are dominant dogs but most dogs are opportunist.
Also realistically for some of the behaviors that dogs have that Cesar fixes on his show he needs more than an hour to do. There is a lot of editing and showing you quick results. I am not discrediting Cesar because he is a professional and knows what he is doing. I just don't want people to get the wrong idea about trying this at home.
These are the thoughts that went through my head as I drank some red wine after the intermission. Maybe it was the wine making think more intensely, but truthfully I think like this about dog training on a regular. I wish I got more footage of Cesar. Too bad I wasn't a VIP member. Maybe next time. Can't wait for the next stop- Michael Ellis dog trainer in Cali.