Explozen´s Andromeda Daughter of a King "Grace"

From one of the executive producers of Dog Whisperer and also Cesar’s co-author on all his books:
Thank you for this fair and balanced (really!) view of Cesar and his work.
There are a million things I could write about the blog and the comments, but here are a few off the top of my head:

1) ”Cesar’s Patented Methods” – News flash. There aren’t any. Any regular watchers of the show know that Cesar comes in and evaluates a case and then decides on the methods from there. There have been nearly 350 different cases shot for Dog Whisperer. There are a range of different methods. A recent episode, ”Fearful Sissy,” used what one of animal training/operant conditioning’s most venerated professionals has described as a brilliant combination of operant and respondent conditioning, in a rehab that took nearly a year all in all. (Cesar wouldn’t have used those terms; he’s not a scientist.) His motto is, ”The least force possible.” It is true that over the years his repetoire has expanded. There are a number of reasons for this – experience, trial and error, exposure to other professionals and their methods, and simply Cesar’s openness and willingness to grow. Anyone who says ”Cesar’s methods are all wrong” hasn’t been watching the show, since that would effectively nix ALL methods of training and behavioral rehab.

2) Regular viewers will also know that Cesar uses positive reinforcement. A LOT. He doesn’t use a clicker (though we have included clicker trainers in two separate episodes and there will be more.) He sometimes uses treats. But clickers and treats don’t equal positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement can mean a toy, a game, a walk, a ”Good Boy,” affection, or simply sending a dog really good vibes. They get it.

3) Whoever posted that Cesar’s so-called ”methods” are quick TV fixes and ”don’t withstand the test of time” hasn’t been watching the follow-ups, and hasn’t seen our in-house statistics. We follow up with nearly everybody from the show, since season one. We estimate an 80%+ success rate in all. If we were to measure the success rate amongst people who really DID follow up with exercise, discipline affection and consistent leadership, I’m sure the percentage would be even higher. It’s beautiful to re-connect with the people from the stories and see the amazing changes they have made in their lives, simply by taking responsibility for the way they communicate with their dogs.

4) I’ve seen Cesar work with a lot of dogs and never seen him ”intimidate” one. Sorry, but ”intimidate” is a human term, complete with human pejorative semantic baggage. I’ve seen him ”dominate” in order to get a message across, but it stands to reason that a dog would try to avoid someone that intimidated him. Dogs across the board are crazy about Cesar. We all are insanely jealous of how attracted dogs are to him. Tina Madden, owner of NuNu from the first episode of Dog Whisperer (NuNu was a long-term fix!), used to work at the Dog Psychology Center and describes feeding the pack fresh meat and watching them all actually leave the meat when Cesar arrived, to greet him and play with him. They chose Cesar over meat. HE was their positive reinforcement.

And finally, many thanks for all the condolences about and warm memories of Daddy. We all miss him. He had a great life, however, and his legacy lives on…even in shows that haven’t aired yet. He was helping troubled dogs with his very presence, right up until the end.

Melissa Jo Peltier

Posted by: Melissa Jo Peltier | March 05, 2010 at 11:41 AM