James Lech, the dog whispering shaman, and so-called “dog behavioural specialist,” appears to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. His pilot television series never made it to air, and a number of incidents of animal abuse have begun to emerge – all painting a dismal picture of the man.

2oceansVibe readers have come forward in their numbers to express their disgust with James Lech, and they feel that it’s time that he is exposed.

On top of this, formal complaints have been laid with the SPCA against Lech who is the owner of the Rottweiler that bit a two-year-old girl on a Clifton beach in Cape Town last week, including one from a veterinarian.

He is also being formally investigated by the City of Cape Town.

Lech has been blacklisted by animal welfare organisations, is not a member working with any registered Kennel Union of South Africa, nor a member involved with any Rottweiler club in South Africa. In fact, he was allegedly asked to leave when he attempted to attend one such club.

Case van Hattam, a long-standing member of KUSA, convener of the KUSA National IPO Sub Committee, and who has been involved with dog training since the 1980’s had this to say:

I have checked around Johannesburg and Cape Town where the said Mr Lech has been recorded as active and no KUSA club or trainer so far has welcomed him. We know he was asked to leave one club up here [in Johannesburg] some time ago.

It also appears his idol, Cesar Millan, the highly acclaimed international dog whisperer, wants nothing to do with him and has placed Lech’s company, Gooddog, on a list containing “suspicious or fraudulent usage of Cesar’s name”.

An episode of The Dog Shaman that never made it to air:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npnBAe2pnfM

Lech charges what some might call exorbitant fees for his services, and according to him:

…there are only a few people in the world that can do what I do with dogs and their owners. It’s a special type of calling, like a sangoma. It’s not something you can learn in school, only from Mother Nature and the dogs. As you can see with my green business, I aim to help bring people back to nature.

Case continued:

To be qualified as an animal behaviourist professional, one needs a successful degree from a veterinary university like Onderstepoort. One with hands on practical interaction with animals. This cannot be done by correspondence.

A spokesman from Onderstepoort confirmed this to 2oceansVibe yesterday.

[Sources: 2oceansVibe, Gooddog, iAfrica]