[AMERICANI]

Originally Posted by Fede86

I agree. I am quite open minded and I always try to take the best from everyone's theory and methods, I watch Millan on TV and I even read his book. There are some things he says (says, not does) I agree with, for example that you have to be calm and assertive when dealing with a dog, or that many problems can be avoided or partially solved simply by sufficiently stimulating a dog with physical and mental activities.

But all in all there are two ways to deal with a dog's problems: the first is to work on the dog's "feelings" toward a certain situation, which are the cause of its behavior/reactions. The second is to forget about what the dog's mental state is and only work on the reaction itself, shaping or repressing it. It seems to me that Millan basically does the latter. Which also mean that once the control on the dog's reactions weavers, the dog goes back to act as its psychological and emotional state of mind suggests it. So you don't solve the dog's problem, only its owner's problems in dealing with them.

Now, I realize there are some (very few I'd dare to say) cases when you can no longer change a dog's state of mind, when the dog is so far gone that to work on his feelings is too hard ore you don't manage to do it. At that point the only solution to retain a minimum of control on the dog is to at least change its behavior, which is better than nothing.

But that doesn't mean Millan's way is the correct way to educate/train a dog on principle, I would only see that as the very last solution (better than euthanasia or than having the dog live the rest of his life in an enclosure), and you still have to be conscious of the fact that you have not solved the problem, only shoved it under a rug...

What I don't find wise is to publicize his methods on TV to people who mostly cannot have a critical outlook on what he does, and I also don't understand why he uses those methods as his first solution without trying to work on the dog's state of mind first, when possible. Probably because its quicker, easier and cheaper...

Thats it - I left out the part where the the owner had done the most harm in letting the dog get to that point, and you absolutely touched on what I was shooting for! If this problem (which the unwanted behavior has now been suppressed) returns, all of this fighting and choking - would be done again - the problem wasn't fixed.. This is cruel. These techniques are identical to my previously mentioned equipment, where people shouldn't have them or use them if they aren't qualified.