Tag: alan titchmarsh
Barbaric? British talk show host questions Cesar Millan about beating and kicking dogs
A British talk show host – while he was quite genteel about it, at least from an American perspective — threw some hard questions at Cesar Millan last week.
Alan Titchmarsh, a UK afternoon talk show host, politely accused Millan of using old-fashioned and inhumane techniques that include punching, kicking and using shock collars on dogs.
“You punish dogs, you hit them,” Titchmarsh said. “I’ve seen you punch a dog in the throat to get it to behave and to most people, like myself, I would say that is totally unacceptable as a way of training a dog.”
“Well obviously I would respectfully disagree with that,” Millan replied. “It’s not a punch, it’s a touch.”
The “Dog Whisperer” — appearing just slightly uncomfortable at some points — responded calmly, asserting that he never punches dogs, but only touches them to redirect negative behavior.
Millan, while some in America are critical of his methods, is even more controversial in the UK, where many, including the RSPCA, view his techniques as unacceptable.
“Adverse training techniques which have been seen to be used by Cesar Millan can cause pain and fear for dogs and may worsen their behavioral problems,” the RSPCA said in a statement read on the air. “The RSPCA believes that using such techniques is unacceptable, nor are they necessary to change dog behavior for the better when other dog trainers use reward-based methods to train dogs very effectively.”
“We’ve never had so many complaints about a guest,” Titchmarsh told Millan.
More than 1,000 people joined a Twitter campaign calling for the appearance be cancelled, and a Facebook page set up by protesters attracted 1,600 followers. Animal welfare activists threatened to disrupt the show, leading to extra security staff being called in.
After the appearance, critics and supporters of Millan continued to go after each other on various Internet forums, including YouTube, where comments grew so heated they were removed and shut down.
Posted by jwoestendiek October 29th, 2012 under Muttsblog, videos.
Tags: alan titchmarsh, animals, barbaric, beating, british, cesar millan, cruel, dog, dog whisperer, dogs, host, inhumane, kicking, methods, pets, rspca, shock collars, talk show, techniques, television, training, uk
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