Criticism
In 2006, Jean Donaldson, the San Francisco SPCA director of The Academy for Dog Trainers, criticized Millan for physically confronting aggressive dogs and using choke chains for fearful dogs. This criticism was published by the American Humane Association, which asked National Geographic to stop airing Dog Whisperer.
In November 2009, Millan invited the American Humane Association to the set of Dog Whisperer, at which time, according to Millan, "they changed their state of mind about what is cruel". The association announced in February 2010 that despite "sharp differences of view in the past" and some lingering areas of disagreement, they shared many areas of interest with Millan. They also invited him that month to participate in a symposium on humane dog training "to discuss issues of concern".
Ian Dunbar and Jean Donaldson collaborated on a 2007 DVD titled "Fighting Dominance in a Dog Whispering World" airing their concerns with Cesar Millan and similar dominance-based theories of training and behavior modification.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has also expressed their concerns over the resurgence of "dominance theory"-based training methods that fixate inappropriately on pack leadership. They cite Sophia Yin and Knowles/Saxberg, saying "In our relationship with our pets, priority access to resources is not the major concern. The majority of behaviors owners want to modify, such as excessive vocalization, unruly greetings, and failure to come when called, are not related to valued resources and may not even involve aggression. Rather, these behaviors occur because they have been inadvertently rewarded and because alternate appropriate behaviors have not been trained instead. Consequently, what owners really want is not to gain dominance, but to obtain the ability to influence their pets to perform behaviors willingly. ... The AVSAB recommends that veterinarians not refer clients to trainers or behavior consultants who coach and advocate dominance hierarchy theory and the subsequent confrontational training that follows from it."
Punishment and attempts at dominating dogs to correct behavioral issues can potentially worsen the problem, AVSAB further notes: "Even in the relatively few cases where aggression is related to rank, applying animal social theory and mimicking how animals would respond can pose a problem. First, it can cause one to use punishment, which may suppress aggression without addressing the underlying cause. Because fear and anxiety are common causes of aggression and other behavior problems, including those that mimic resource guarding, the use of punishment can directly exacerbate the problem by increasing the animal’s fear or anxiety."
Read more about this topic: Cesar Millan
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—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)