Cesar Millan is the last chance for dogs - he saves them

I dont intend this as a 'bashing' post more a place to compile some information together to counter when someone comes to me with the line that Cesar Millan saves dogs.

It is actually quite difficult to get follow up news on any of the dogs featured in his show as all the owners are known to have to sign a non disclosure form so they cant speak about the show after it.

But there are some follow ups out there

Shadow

This is one of the first episodes I ever saw. It shows many examples of why I dont like Cesar Millan. Firstly he threads the lead through the handle so he effectively has a noose round Shadow. He ignores all Shadows good behaviour when he isnt shouting at the other dog and keeps taking him closer to get a reaction (this is called 'setting him up to fail' you can train without doing this) and even then the reaction is not impressive enough so he kicks him in the guts while tightening the lead at the same time, he then fights with shaddow until Shaddow 'gives up' (possibly due to lack of air) He is also causing the border collie lots of stress being barked at like this. Later he 'floods' Shaddow with dogs very close to him forcing him to put up with them - but when you look at the poor dog you can see he isnt in any way happy to be in that situation, he does not fear dogs any less he just fears Cesar Millan more.
Here is a follow up on Shadow, this is from the woman who originally fostered him and made the mistake of giving him to this family to adopt. First point is with her Shadow had no issues, they only arose from aggressive training methods. Shadow was NOT fixed with this show and the owner was talking of getting him put to sleep when the fosterer got her to hand him in, then after rehab he was again a loving dog

Cesar Millan did not save this dog, the dog didnt have any problems before, CM type training methods caused the issues and CM's attention did not fix the dog - the owner gave him up

Other links about this dog

JonBee

JonBee was a rescue who had had horrible wounds on his neck, he had NO ISSUES except that he did not like to be rolled on his back inside the house on the slippy wooden floor . JpnBee very much does not look calm or relaxed after being pinned to the floor - and there is no reason to have to pin a dog on the floor, if you need them to show their tummy for medical attention then teach them to roll over - its a fairly basic trick. There are conflicting reports about what happened to JonBee after this - possibly he was rehomed, possibly the owner was planning to rehome him anyway as he was rescuing and rehoming dogs, and I saw one report where he kept the dog

But CM's methods did not 'FIX' this dog, those methods created the problem in the first place

Jake

Again follow up on Jake is difficult to find, I have been told that it was mentioned in his book that Jake was put to sleep - if anyone knows if this is true or not can you let me know? 

Again this is very distressing to watch, the dog has had such little socalisation that he is basically a wild animal. Many many wild animals have been tamed with time and love and lots of food - never by pinning it to the floor till it gets tired of struggling. This method is only good for getting people bitten

Holly

Holly is NOT a bad dog at all, she has food guarding issues which is something trainers and behaviourists deal with every day of the week without anyone getting bitten 

 

In the above video you can see Holly has been taken away from her loving home and is living at Cesar Millans centre. I dont know what happened with her afterwards - but there was no reason for this, food guarding is a common issue and can be dealt with without anyone getting bitten

Duelling PitBulls

In this episode a couple who had no issues with their dogs fighting sent them away to residential training to help with their obedience. The dogs came back fighting. This in itself is a big worry and I would like to know what happened to the dogs with that other person. They then tried several punishment methods and resorted to Cesar Millan. He meets with them and agrees they have a problem - and then waits 1/2 a year before he takes one dog away to his centre to help them.

Sadly again his methods fail and the two are still fighting at the end - and so CM actually just offers them a different dog from his centre 

That is not fixing or saving dogs - just swapping a loved family pet for a strange dog???

Cotton 

The show leaves Cotton looking like he is 'fixed' but the sad truth is CM's methods dont work for everyone, they look 'easy' on the TV but even CM gets bitten sometimes. Cotton is an example that once the dog has a bite history they are difficult to rehome and once the cameras go away its not always possible to keep up what CM started 

Here we see in the end his owners have to resort to having his teeth filed down. This is very sad because it means the poor dog is still as scared and stressed as ever, he is not 'fixed' he just cant hurt people.

And Here we see even filing his teeth down did not of course 'fix' the problem 

Cesar Millan isnt the last chance for dogs, thousands of qualified behaviourist, dog trainers, rescuers and owners are helping dogs just as bad as the ones seen here, they are doing it quietly without getting bitten and without having a battle with dogs 

He is not the last chance, his methods are dangerous, stressful and should not be an option at all for any dog

Here is another good article by someone who had experience with him