Fennell V Milan - I'm So Confused.

[Rom]

I guess what I'm trying to say is, IMO, if you have a mildly obnoxious dog then I imagine using Jan's "Amichien" bonding rules sensibly probably won't do much harm to most dogs, any more than applying any other form of ground rules would. But I don't think I'd trust her with a severely problematic dog. From what I've read of her, she just doesn't seem to have the knowledge base to understand or deal with dangerous or really problematic dogs. Perhaps I'm doing her an injustice, but that's the impression I get.

Exactly, Am.

However, to her credit she does admit:

"My method cannot remove these basic instincts from any dog, what ever its breed. What it can do, however, is allow people to manage their pets so that the confrontations that bring out this aggressive nature never take place." (pg 170 "The Dog Listener")

Even though I wouldn't yet feel confident in my knowledge to take on a seriously dangerous or aggressive dog, I know that there are those that do get excellent result with them so the above admission really displays, I feel, her lack of knowledge.

[Rom]

I actually read Cesar's book before even hearing about Jan Fennell. Then I watched Jan's dvd which was around the time my confusion started. Cesar's method of stopping a dog before it even starts a bad behaviour (by jerking gently on it's leash) seemed so effective to me. His philosophy of the dog following the pack leader on the walk being important also made sense to me. Then along comes Jan who doesn't even seem fussed about people walking their dogs or not and who doesn't give the same sort of correction.

Having read your posts, I think I'm going to stick with my initial instinct of Cesar's way being more effective in the long term. It makes more sense to me for some reason.

Joypod, despite all that's been said, I don't think you need to discount all of Jan Fennells stuff. As has been said before, there is no harm and some benefit to be gained from her basic four step Amichien Bonding process. A lot about that is not new, it has just been repackaged for market.