Review: Dog Whisperer (Complete First Season) C-

Dog Whisperer (Complete First Season) (2006)
Starring Cesar Millan
MPAA: UR
Grade: C-

Review by Sebastian Francis Kennedy

Dog ownership is on the rise in the U.S. and more dog owners are turning to professional trainers to help understand how to communicate better with their pet. This is a positive trend. However, there are many different dog training philosophies out there. Some are more effective than others and some are not appropriate for all dogs.

Cesar Millan, who stars on National Geographic Channel's television show the Dog Whisperer is an efffective dog trainer that obviously has a knack for understanding dogs and their problems. His method of breaking dogs of bad habits such as biting, growling, or being afraid of shiny floors is consistent from dog to dog: force them to be subservient to him as the "pack leader" and then force the dog to confront their fears. Millan's natural talent for understanding when to ease back makes him successful in this mode of training. However, it is often heartbreaking to see dogs forced into stressful situations that quite possibly could have been avoided through alternate training methods, such as Positive Reinforcement Dog Training.

The complete first season DVD set for Cesar Millan's Dog Whisperer series is exhaustive: four DVDs containing all 26 episodes, plus outtakes and never before seen segments. It's a fantastic package for fans of the show.

However, dog owners should be extremely careful to not attempt Cesar Millan's techniques at home. Cesar obviously has a natural talent for his job and is therefore successful most of the time. Dog owners that attempt to break their dogs of their bad habits through his force training methods may be doing their pet more harm than good.