Aug 29, 2009

by shibashake

Cesar Millan’s Positive Reinforcement Techniques

Whether you agree your disagree with Cesar Millan’s dog training techniques, one thing is clear -

Cesar Millan is a very charismatic man who communicates very well with people. 

He communicates well with his dog owner clients and he communicates well with his Dog Whisperer viewers. The result – he has experienced much greater success in terms of number of viewers compared to the other television dog trainers.

Calm and assertive is one of the most popular lessons in Cesar Millan’s The Dog Whisperer show, and one thing you will notice is that Cesar is always very calm when interacting with people. There were several episodes where he visited people who were not the most polite to him, but he responded with calmness, and decided to just leave instead of argue, verbally attack, or try to force his views onto others.

Is Cesar Millan assertive with his human clients and viewers?

In a way he is, because he speaks with confidence, acts with confidence, and communicates in a calm and easy to understand manner. He also comes from a position of authority because he has a very impressive resume.

It is interesting to note however that he achieves this assertiveness by being positive and by encouraging people. If the people are not willing to accept his method of training, he simply leaves.

Many people think that being positive, or leaving an argument is losing, but Cesar Millan shows us that this is not the case.

I am always very impressed with the calm restraint that Cesar Millan shows when sometimes faced with difficult clients. Cesar is rich and famous. In truth, he does not need to suffer any rude behavior; yet the worst that I have seen him do is walk away.

In fact, Cesar Millan only uses reward techniques (positive reinforcement, negative punishment) on the people he interacts with. He is often positive and very encouraging. He also uses experiences from a person’s daily life to get his messages across. He does not personally attack anyone, and I have not seen him make anyone cry.

This is in contrast to Brad Pattison’s show, In the Dog House, which features someone crying in almost every episode.

There is also a fair amount of arguing and people being generally unhappy with his aversive, and abrasive style of communication. For some reason, those responsible for the show seem to think that making people cry, and getting in people’s faces, are good ways to teach and show some kind of skill or competence.

The results, however, are clear.

Cesar Millan has won numerous awards, has a large and ever growing number of viewers, and has a large and successful line of dog products. Do a search on Amazon for Cesar Millan and you will get hundreds of hits.

Try doing a search for Brad Pattison and Victoria Stilwell in comparison …

well you see the difference.

Both Pattison and Stilwell use aversive techniques including scolding, ridicule, fear tactics, and sometimes much more on their human clients.

I think this is one of Cesar Millan’s most important lessons to us.

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4 Comments

1. shibashake

   Hello Kacie,

   You bring up some really good points. Victoria Stilwell has a nice variety of dog training techniques, and she is very creative. Some interesting ideas that I have gotten from her shows include the bubble machines with bacon flavored bubbles, timed toy and food dispenser, body blocks, and much more.

   6:01 pm on September 12th, 2009
2. Kacie Cavanaugh

   I like and respect both Cesar and Victoria alot, but I think Victoria’s show does a better job of teaching ways of dealing with particular behaviors. I don’t think
   Cesar’s show does as good a job of taking you though, step by step, how to train your dog. But I still love watching him. He love those dogs and he has a magic touch with them that I envy.

   2:23 am on September 11th, 2009
3. shibashake

   Hello Reebi, Thanks for your very well thought out comment.

   Nothing brings up controversy more than Cesar Milan…

   Very true. I think though that there is common ground between both sides, and by having positive discussions we can make better decisions for our dogs.

   As for interactions with both dogs and people, I personally think that positive techniques are the more effective form of communication. Often, it is the harder path to take, but I think it has a higher rate of success and has more lasting results. Cesar’s commercial success shows that positive techniques work well on people. Based on what I have read of Skinner, he was also a proponent of positive reinforcement techniques, which I think says a lot.

   Another good example is to look at online discussions – often there is a tendency to use aversive techniques whereupon things quickly degenerate, and no information gets exchanged.

   Perhaps Stilwell could consider applying more positive techniques on people, and Cesar could consider extending his people communication techniques onto other areas

   And well I’ve never watched Brad, so I can’t comment on him.

   No loss on your part.

   10:43 am on September 5th, 2009
4. reebi

   Nothing brings up controversy more than Cesar Milan…maybe the spank, no spank child rearing people have it beat…no pun intended. Apparently it hits the same core beliefs in people. I don’t know the man personally, only his persona and edited TV show. I think you bring up some good points, Cesar does not belittle or scold his clients, he is calm and confident with them and does not flood or intentionally stress them. I can’t say the same about how he treats the dogs. I once watched an episode where he kept forcing a dog onto a treadmill to the point where it pissed itself in fear. It did ultimately work, but I think there are much kinder and equally effective methods, that may have taken much longer and would not have been nearly so dramatic for the camera.

   The other mistake I think people make is assuming that because something “works”. The reasons given for it working are therefore accepted as gospel. A lot of Cesar’s methods work according to learning theory and both operant and classical conditioning as opposed to “being the pack leader”. This pack leader business appeals to all kinds of dominating yahoos who defend Milan with all the fervor of a cult follower. They will yell about how they used his methods and they worked! I would say that most methods work when the owners are really consistent in applying them. The dog will eventually figure out what the rules are and what works in their own best interest, so a lot of different kinds of dog training “works” for most dogs. I agree with his attitude of calm assertiveness and his talk about dogs reading energy…this is all good stuff. And he can be utterly amazing to watch, he knows dog body language really well. I would guess that people try to emulate him, haven’t had 20 years working with dogs and majorly screw it up. If thinking of yourself as a pack leader helps you stay calm when working with you dog, great. If it makes you feel like a big, strong leader with your dog and you need that because your job sucks and you have a small penis and you feel the need to control something…well think about how your getting your needs met and if that’s really good for you, never mind the dog. The pack theory of hierarchy for wolves has long ago been discredited, by the very man who started it!. If he is brave enough to admit he was wrong about something then everyone should be. Are you willing to accept that it may work but maybe not for the reasons given on the show?

   That said, I admire him for not giving up and being willing to work with dogs that nobody else will. Really admire him. I have worked with a very reactive dog in an urban environment and it is challenging to keep your cool as well as he does.

   Victoria Stilwell on the other hand is not always kind to humans, but is much better with the dogs. I have never seen her cause undo stress to an animal on her show and so I prefer her training methods.

   That said..we are talking about TV land and ‘merica, a place were for a long time the Jerry Springer show was the most watched program in the country…this still makes me feel ashamed. Cesar is popular because he deals with aggressive and reactive dogs, he forces dogs into highly stressful situations…it’s action, suspense and a lot more exiting than most dog training which is time consuming and quite boring to watch.

   Stilwell creates the drama and suspense though her interaction with the owners. Unfortunately people like to see other people chastised, just look at the popularity of Dr. Phil.

   And well I’ve never watched Brad, so I can’t comment on him.

   8:07 am on September 4th, 2009

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