Cesar's Rules by Cesar Millan

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Cesar's Rules by Cesar Millan

In this book Cesar Millan (the TV "Dog Whisperer") interviews a variety of accomplished dog trainers and behaviourists, many of whom don't agree with some of his methods, to provide an overview of the various options.

Notes:

• Millan distinguishes between behaviour modification (his area) and training. Of the six pit bulls he took onstage at the 2006 Emmys, only one was trained in the sense of knowing commands like sit and stay.
  
  
• His formula for what dogs need is 1. Exercise, 2. Discipline (rules, boundaries and limitations) and 3. Affection, in that order. Always be a calm and assertive leader.
  
  
• He defines "exercise" as a minimum of one and preferably two structured walks a day of 45 minutes or longer, with the dog by your side, plus additional running / rollerblading / biking exercise if the dog needs it to settle for the structured walks.
  
  
• He recommends "No touch, no talk, no eye contact" for first meeting a dog and says not to invade a dog's space too soon - let it come to you. (I've found this super advice to give all visitors!)
  
  
• The book includes an interesting timeline of landmarks in dog training. Dog Breaking: The Most Expeditious, Certain and Easy Method, Whether Great Excellence or Only Mediocrity Be Required (1865) advocates an early form of positive training and is available in full online.
  
  
• Many problems can be traced to an owner picking a dog that doesn't match their energy level.
  
  
• Animals do not respond positively to angry, frustrated or fearful energy.
  
  
• Ian Dunbar: it is surprisingly easy and effective to eliminate undesirable behaviour with softly spoken instructive reprimands.
  
  
• Bob Bailey: instead of punishment, try to modify the environment so the dog can't do the bad thing. If you do use punishment and you have to do it more than three times to stop the behaviour, you're not doing it right.
  
  
• Joel Silverman on forming a relationship with a new dog: Week 1: work out what the dog likes and doesn't like, Weeks 2-3: focus on the things the dog likes, Week 4 onwards: start working at decreasing distances and increasing durations on the things the dog doesn't like.
  
  
• Mark Harden (movie animal trainer): Be yourself, but be your best self. ("I know trainers that are really loud and dramatic and expressive. I'm a little, quiet guy. If I tried that, my dogs would laugh at me.")
  
  
• Mark Harden: Be very specific and don't reward when part of the behaviour was something you don't want.
  
  
• Ian Dunbar: basic training should be off-leash, because most people can't be trusted not to jerk on the leash. He uses food lures to encourage the dog into the right position, before phasing out the food.
  
  
• Ian Dunbar: as soon as possible replace food rewards with "life rewards": games, sniffing, playing with other dogs.
  
  
• Both Millan and Dunbar grew up never using a leash.
  
  
• Dunbar considers a reliable off-leash distance Sit the most useful command to teach a dog. ("Once you've got that one emergency command, you can stop anything that's going on. You just say "Sit" - end of problem.") He considers a reliable recall more difficult to train.
  
  
• If a trained dog doesn't sit immediately following a single command, it has to repeat the exercise until it does.
  
  
• Many dogs don't really understand verbal commands, but appear to because they're reading their owner's body language. Check that your dog obeys when he can't see you (e.g. you're in the next room or have your back turned).
  
  
• A dog must be trained in many different situations, because they don't generalise well. If a dog learns to sit in the kitchen, it won't necessarily understand that "sit" means the same thing anywhere else. Dunbar recommends asking your dog to do something every 25 yards on your walks, so the dog learns that commands mean the same thing everywhere.
  
  
• Scent work is a useful as a game, a physical / mental challenge and as a training exercise. The Dunbars use birch bark in a small aerated container and hide it somewhere in a room.
  
  
• Train your dog to respond to you at home when you sound upset or frightened, so it will respond in an emergency when you sound different to normal.
  
  
• Beware of overconfidence, even if you've done a great deal of training. Dunbar says no one has ever passed his "hundred dollar test" in which the dog simply has to sit eight times in a row, but in strange situations.
  
  
• Ian Dunbar: by eight weeks of age, a puppy should have been handled by at least 100 people.
  
  
• Ian Dunbar: unless you are convinced that your dog is perfect, don't feed it from a bowl. Use your dog's daily ration as training rewards. Put anything that's left at the end of the day in a hollow chewtoy and freeze it to give to the dog for breakfast. Feeding from chewtoys reduces barking, hyperactivity and anxiety.
  
  
• Millan's rules for walking: 1. Leave and enter the house in front of the dog, 2. Make sure the dog is calm before you open the door, 3. Walk with the dog next to or behind you, 4. Walk with your head up and shoulders back, with your arms relaxed and the leash loose, 5. Alternate between the structured walk and short breaks for the dog to pee and sniff.
  
  
• Puppies come with an "invisible leash" because they are programmed to follow. A mistake that contributes to poor recall is allowing a young pup too much freedom early.
  
  
• Bob Bailey: the simplest way to teach a behaviour is to "capture" it when the dog does it naturally, then reward (e.g. say "Sit" and reward as the dog sits on its own).