Owners are out of control? |
| Date Added: May 16, 2008 05:41:22 AM |
| Author: Apex Pitbulls |
| Category: Education |
| Q & A With Cesar Millan Owners are out of control Too many Americans treat their dogs like children and lavish them with affection; that should take a back seat to exercise and discipline, says Cesar Millan. He is the star of Dog Whisperer on National Geographic Channel and author of Cesar’s Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding & Correcting Common Dog Problems. Nunu the "evil" Chihuahua never had a chance. He attacked every human other than his owner. But that was before meeting the Dog Whisperer. Cesar Millan, aka the Dog Whisperer, has built a reputation by training extremely wayward pooches like Nunu. In his second season on the National Geographic Channel, Millan also shows viewers of Dog Whisperer that much of the blame gets placed at the wrong end of the leash. Rather than allowing dogs to be dogs, Americans have created children in dog costumes, says Millan, a native of Mexico. That's what happened to Nunu. Now Millan is spreading his message in a new book, Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding & Correcting Common Dog Problems (Harmony, $24.95), that went on sale last week. The book elaborates on Millan's philosophy for creating a well-balanced dog. "Exercise, discipline, affection -- in that order." Millan recently answered questions about his form of dog psychology. Question: Are you saying that Americans project human qualities onto their dogs? Answer: Well, this is a country that's controlled by children and dogs. In Third World countries, nobody questions that the older person is the authority figure. If the parents are not playing the authority figure role, then you get to see them on Supernanny or Nanny 911. They are no different from dog whisperers. The people who come to me, they are experts at affection, affection and affection. Q: So, don't believe that you can save the dog cowering in the back of the cage? A: When you go and rescue a dog because you feel bad, you're just going to nurture a whole bunch of issues. Q: What advice can you give someone who's picking a dog from a shelter? A: The greatest thing we can do for them is to stay quiet. This way you aren't going to provide more energy than they already have. Also, don't show sympathy, because you become weak. That places them into a different state. Q: What happens once you find a dog that you think matches your energy? A: Go to the crate, but you don't let the dog ambush you. From that point on you've lost control. The dog has to wait in the kennel, then you put the leash on. It's very important because it all happens in 10 seconds. Those 10 seconds are going to dictate who is going to run the show. If the dog comes out of the kennel first, he controls. ... And you're not going to the kennel to find your soul mate. You're not going to the kennel to find your baby. You're not going to the kennel to fill the empty space from losing a loved one. That's not what they're for. Q: Is it a tough sell, telling people to walk their dogs? A: It is, but you say, "If you really love your dog, would you do what is best for the dog?" ... What a dog calls love is not what we give. If a dog is OK with just love, I would not be in business. Americans know how to love dogs better than anybody else. This is the country that will throw a birthday party for a dog and spend $15,000 to $20,000 on a dog to get cured. Third World countries don't do that stuff, but the dogs do listen (to people). Q: Is that why you told Denise Richards (an actress featured on his show this season) that the dog didn't care who paid for the dog walker? A: That's right. Sophie, (Oprah Winfrey's dog) doesn't know she's Oprah. Everybody around Oprah was surrendering. Whatever (Oprah) said, bam, bam, bam. But Sophie didn't make a move until I told her, "Sophie, this is what we're going to do." It was not verbal communication that I had with Sophie, it was energy. So what Oprah represented for Sophie was fear and tension. In the animal world, who you are is energy. The first thing (dogs) do is they smell you and they pick up your energy. They don't ask you, "How much money do you make?" They don't care about that. Q: In the 20 years that you've been working with dogs, have U.S. dog owners-clients been getting better or worse? A: Better. The people who come to me are rock bottom. Those people work harder than people who are in the middle. I'm trying to prevent rock bottom from happening by showing the mild symptoms of a dog (with issues). You can prevent people from getting killed. In Third World countries, people don't get killed by dogs. Q: Why do you think that is? A: It's because (dogs in the United States) keep energy from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday -- and then one time a week it gets walked. Then (owners) let him do whatever he wants. So what he learns to do is to be excited/dominant when he goes for a walk with a human. It's not the breed. If it were the breed, homeless people would not be as successful as they are with pit bulls. Homeless people can walk pit bulls because (the dog) is in the back and always moving forward. Q: What happens after you've rehabilitated the dogs, trained the people and turned off the cameras? A: They can't blame the dog anymore. www.eDog-Domain.com |
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