Cesar Millan or Victoria Stilwell? Who Would You Rather Have Train Your Dog?

The reason Caesars' methods work, in spite of the "no dominance" enthusists, is because the dog IS a pack animal and ALL packs need a leader! If your dog doesn't respect you as its' leader, they feel at loose ends with no structure to their lives and so often, this is the cause for their misbehaviour. I breed & show English Mastiffs. My male weighs 260 pounds without being fat. If he didn't respect me, I could be in big trouble. The dogs who act up are dogs that have not been given a purpose in life & we all, animals & people alike, need a purpose to function. Children who are given boundaries are much happier than children who are out of control and it's obvious. I've been training animals all my life (I'm 69) and my dogs as well as my children have always had boundries. They are happy and well adjusted and I most certainly agree w/ Caesar. There is no room in this world for out-of-control dogs or children. Without establishing firm boundaries, you are dooming them to an unhappy existance, both animals & children. Just MHO

WRONG. Milan's methods work, not because it exerts dominance which by the way you can do with positive reinforcement, but fear. Your dog now fears you. You really want that? Both methods will get the dog trained but positive reinforcement has ALREADY been shown in studies to have a faster learning curve and a better behaved dog without making it scared of the owner.

I agree with you. First you have to let them know who is boss..alpha leader. Once you establish that, treat them kindly, use treats, allow them to know you love them, and they cannot wait to please you.

u know i would have both but first cesar m. u know in my heart his pit bull that pass away ' not to long ago .. which he called him daddy i thinkkk that dog is proud of his owner cesar m. my heart go to cesar m. im proud and that how hopefully anyone who have pitbull should be train proper way ,,the right way ,, i see alot ppl see pitbull they afraid even me i dont trust... would love to see daddy cesar m. s dog who pass away . he in heaven and i will never forget about this .. love watching them dog wristper '' he make sense in every way put word ,,like my dad train me when im little ha pet are like kids take control over parent or owner of the pet .. we got to be on top take control even if spoil but that the way it is. i learn alot i have thee pet cat pe pe my dog daddie and a bird ... .. all get along very welll .. bird i have well sometime cant trust my pet but well. smile this is great..

Letting the dog know who's boss is not by beating or being physical with the dog. It's in your attitude and little tricks like - never let the dog thru a door 1st. You always go thru the door first. Getting the dog trainned is easy. But you have to re-inforce that tranning on a regular schedule. Like making the dog wait out side the door untill you say come. The dog will test you every now and then. If you are nice they trust you. Break that trust-runaway dog!

Honestly, I love to watch both trainers and I think thye both show they know what they're doing in there specific area of expertise. I would personally rather have Milan train me and my dog (the human needs training to) just because what type of dog we have. Exerting dominance is not about fear so much as it's about control and leasership. It's like the difference between aggresiveness and assertiveness. You can be assertive with kids and overall they'll appreciate knowing their boundaries. If you're aggressive with them though, they'll often just start to resent you. I think what Millan does falls more in the area of assertiveness and maintaining control of his animals. It may not be necessary for some dogs, whereas, others very much need it.

I learned a lot about reading dog behavior from Cesar; but never saw or applied it in a punitive way..always assertative and calmly...watching for the state of mind that I would be reinforcing at any point...I get back what I put into the pack...day to day...

Cesar is the man. I have learned everything from his approach to being the PACK LEADER. I just simply love him.

@jessica - Yes, I want my dog to fear me AND love me. I have seen it to many times that people think their dogs are the friendliest pets in the world and then WHAM! They turn on them and bite them or worse yet, bite their kids. The Dog needs to know who to listen to and respect. I have 3 Dogs and all 3 know who the Leader is and respect me and my family. When I come home, they all greet me with all the love and devotion any animal can give. And I give it back as well. I love my dogs and they love me.

Jessica,

You are the one who is wrong as you liked to put it. Think of it like this. In todays generations it is taboo to spank your child. Instead you should give your child a doggy treat when she or he doesnt pee on the carpet. Meaning positive reinforement when he or she is not doing something wrong. Look at where society is now days. We kill our own, we watch someone die in the streets and do nothing about it, we are all selfcentered and cruel. Could it be all this time out instead of spanking ones ass when one does wrong.

When it comes back to the animals, I think you should tell your dog or child addaboy when they do good but not when they dont do bad if that makes sense. If they and when they do do bad they need disapline and anyone who says that giving disapline to your animal will make your animal afraid of you knows absolutely nothing about animals and should stick with a gold fish as a pet and maybe as a kid as well.

Bluntly put if my dog eats my shoes I am not going to tell him I am disapointed with him and give him a snack because he didnt eat the other shoe. I am going to catch him in the act and smack his behind. Same goes for any kids I ever father. Thats my two cents on the subject.

While being dominant over you dogs is beneficial, it still does not help to avoid the yippy barking of small dogs. That is where it is beneficial to use alternate training like those of victoria. My dogs know to stay with me and what no means, however in the middle of the night as "alpha dog" it is nearly impossible to avoid the barking at a drunk man walking down the street of the loud party going on down the road. that is where training comes in hand, So I think that both are good concepts and that both need to be used especially with smaller dogs.

I watch both shows, and I would rather Cesar. I have a pack of 6 (German shepherd to chihuahua) and have used his techniques. He is not forceful nor does he create fear. He creates trust and respect. And yes he has used treats before usually the smell.
Every case he does is different from another. He evaluates each one and whatever works for that dog is what he uses. This article is BS, he wouldn't force a timid dog out of a kennel! He would get him to come out on his own, with trust, and leadership, and maybe something that smells really good. Yes there are alpha trainers out there that are forceful and intimidating, but Cesar is not one of them. He uses his energy and calmness!

I agee totally with ms schabowski(or mr)I have mentioned in the past the differences to my husband,and that I much prefer Cesar.We have a soft coated Wheaton terrier who is a sweetheart,but full of energy.She wants to be boss,and is constantly challenging us,and will rush to take my seat on the sofa,as that would make her the alpha.In her mind that's where the alpha sits.I'm a psych.nurse,and I believe in postive reinforment,but I also believe in setting limits.You don't see enough of that anymore,and kids don't feel secure if they don't have them,and I would imagine so would the dog.I can only speak for myself as a mother of 5,and Maeve our little Irish lass of a dog.Cesar,it works for us,and we love you.Saludos!

Cesar all day long. His methods are faster, work better and last longer.

I have first hand experience working with Victoria Stilwell. I was recently picked to be on her show and I have an extremely frightened dog who displays agrression and has bitten people. I also have his ill-mannered twin (non-aggressive) who is listening to commands like a champ. Chubbie, my aggressive dog is making growing by leaps and bounds with the training that Victoria taught us. She showed nothing but love and kindness toward both my dogs and they responded magnificently. I work with both of them everyday, twice a day and each day I am more and more amazed. So based on experience, I absolutely prefer Victoria's method. In addition, I am sure ANY method of training will work when the owner is consistent, but I would much rather a gentler, kinder, method that is full of love, praise, and positive reenforcement as opposed to one that is based on dominance and a harsher approach.

Cesar...hands down. Victoria is good, but as it was stated in the article, Cesar doesn't profess to be a trainer. I have never seen him mistreat a dog. However, as many have said it is about establishing leadership and maintaining it. I have three dogs, one is a 110lb shepard, and not a over weight dog either. He is so large, my 80lb choc lab can walk under him. After all, as much as we love and treat them like family, they are animals, with animals instincts. Their sense of pack leadership is very strong. My brother has a yellow lab. He has spent a lot of time in training her and she is his dog. However, the first time she came to my house, with my pack, she knew who was in charge. Him and I were talking at the top of my deck and she came to the steps and stopped. I noticed her and told her it was okay, and she came up. He said he didn't believe that, she had been up and down the steps many times already while he had been there and hadn't waited for his permission. But she knew she was in my territory and I was the boss. Anyway, it is not about fear, but respect. It is about giving them and them being part of a pack, your family. But people must take the responsibility to make their animals a stable, happy, loving member of that pack. And it doesn't take cruelty, meanness or deprivation to do that. Most dogs would not be pack leaders in the wild and are happy to let someone else take that role. But if someone gets a dominant dog, they better be ready to take the lead, or it could not only be dangerous for others but for the dog itself.

This is a perfect example of a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Cesar does not JAB dogs. Touching them with his finger deverts their attention and simulates a mother dog training her pup. The predominant method of his training, in my opinion, centers with the calm demeanor of the owner and the simple interpretation of the owner not being trained by the dog, rather the owner training the dog. I have an adorable 3 lb chihuahua and have found some of Cesar's methods of training of great benefit. I would never dominate or be physically cruel in any way to my dog. Just taking and releasing a deep breath before calmly telling my dog to "come" has made an amazing difference in her obeying me. I always follow good behavior with praise, and so does Cesar. It irritates me that someone has isolated and misinterpreted some of Cesar's training methods.

Cesar deals with HIGHLY AGGRESSIVE dogs, in a lot of cases. Typically these dogs would get euthanized if it were not for the methods Cesar uses. I've yet to see Victoria deal with that type of problem. I think she is a great trainer and I love her positive reinforcement, but this is like comparing apples to oranges. It all depends upon the problem the dog is displaying.

I too would go with Milan. We have a pack of 8 dogs, and as anyone who has ever bothered to observe a group of dogs living together could tell you, there is always a hierarchy within it. If you want to have any sort of control over them then you have to make sure that when you are working with them that you are at the top. It is the same with any social animal wild or domestic. Personally, I don't equate Milan's method of establishing dominance with fear, so much as respect. Anyone who as ever watch him with his pack can easily see that his dogs love and respect him, not fear him. All of our dogs are rescued strays, and more than one has shown obvious evidence of abuse in the past. I know what fear in a dog looks like, and what I see in his pack doesn't even remotely come close to it. As for that study of captive wolves versus wild ones with the latter one showing a different result because of the family dynamic -- well considering that most packs like mine consist of a haphazard mix of unrelated mutts, I would say the captive wolf study is the far more applicable and valid one of the two for most people with multiple dogs. The wild wolf observations just don't apply, because what we are talking about IS a MAN-MADE pack NOT a wild one. I am surprised that those people challenging the basis behind his methods haven't realized just how illogical they sound when they attack the captive wolf source study. Duh!