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Cesar Millan

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Cesar Millan, May 12, 1969,is best known for his television series, Dog Whisperer, which is in it's third season (Sept. 2006) and airs on the National Geographic Channel. He is also the author of the best selling book, Cesar's Way [2006] [1] co-authored by by Melissa Jo Peltier[2],Peltier is also a producer of The Dog Whisperer series, as well as having numerous other credits to her name. Cesar is known for having many celebrity clients such as Oprah Winfrey and Jada Pinkett Smith.

"I am The Dog Whisperer. I rehabilitate dogs. I train people", is the opening of each Dog Whisperer program.

Millan opened The Dog Psychology Center [3] in the mid nineties, prior to his success with National Geographic and his subsequent book "Cesar's Way"

Throughout Cesar's Way Millan details his background and his interest in working with dogs. He does not call himself a dog trainer or a dog behaviourist. He is a Dog Whisperer. He communicates with dogs on a deep and undeniable level and is able to restore calm to both the fearful and the fearsome canine.

Cesar's strongest interest is in rehabilitating aggressive dogs and he holds a special fondness for the "tough" breeds, such as Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. As he became more widely known he was sought by owners who had other challenges with their dogs that they had not been able to solve.

In Cesar's opinion these problems stem from the owner not establishing the correct leadership position within their "pack". Cesar then trains the owner in how to become a good pack leader with the end result of a "calm submissive" dog.

He describes the rehabilitation of a number of dogs over the years. On the show, he is famous for repeating the mantra that to keep dogs happiest and most mentally stable, their owners need to follow three principles -- "exercise, discipline, and affection, in that order", and to routinely and consistently enforce "rules, boundaries, and limitations."

These are the fundamental basics of establishing leadership and a sound, balanced relationship between dogs and their humans.

The proper amount of exercise according to the individual dog needs, helps the dog to live in a calmer state.

Cesar declares the "The Walk" is fundamental for bonding and establishing leadership. The Walk must be executed in a certain way and for a determined length of time to be most effective. It should be performed daily, ideally early morning. It begins before you open the door, with your dog in a calm submissive state. The owner of the dog exits first. The dog always follows.


Discipline involves teaching the dog what is acceptable and what is not and includes rules, boundaries and limitations.

An example of a rule: the dog is not allowed on furniture. A boundary rule involves the dog recognizing that you are the leader and control all the resources, such as food and toys. Limitations is an aspect of this and also includes restraint. Restraint does not mean physically restraining the dog but teaching it that it cannot exhibit behaviours such as chase squirrels, eat garbage or bite. Instead it is taught an acceptable alternative, such as to sit.

The dogs in his pack are a variety of breeds, though the group is dominated by large dogs such as Rottweilers, Pit Bulls, and German Shepherds. Many members of the group are former "problem" dogs of the sort featured in the show which have been rehabilitated and reconditioned. He is frequently depicted walking very large groups of dogs through the streets of Inglewood, California.

Biography

Early childhood

Millan, a native of Culiacan, Mexico, was born in 1969 to Felipe Millan Guillen and Maria Teresa Favela d'Millan, though Millan credits his grandfather as the man who most influenced him in his desire to become a dog trainer. In his book, Millan states that in every dog he sees the spirit of his grandfather.

Culiacan is one of the oldest cities in Mexico, about 640 miles from Mexico City, but Millan spent much of his early childhood at a farm in Ixpalino, about an hour away in the Sinaloa region of Mexico, as his grandfather was one of the campesinos there, one of the many families who each rented a parcel of land to work. His grandfather's main job was to care for the dozens of cows, herding them from pasture to stream and back again each day. They lived in a small house, made of brick and clay, with only four rooms, and no running water, but Millan states that he never felt poor -- he regarded the farm as "paradise," and none of their neighbors had modern conveniences either. He was fascinated by all animals from an early age, but was most drawn to dogs, and spent a great deal of time observing the behavior of the packs of farm dogs, and how they worked on the farm, such as by helping his grandfather to herd the cows, or guarding family members from aggressive animals. Millan points out that those dogs never needed any special training or commands or to be rewarded with cookies -- they just naturally "did the jobs that needed doing," as was in their nature. He cites those working dogs as being his true teachers in the art and science of canine psychology.

Millan also noticed how the behavior of the packs would change between different farms. In some packs, the dogs would fight often for dominance, to see which one would be pack leader, while the owner family would simply look on. However, the dogs on Millan's farm didn't seem to have a pack leader, because his grandfather always maintained a calm assertive leadership role, which is now one of the principles to Millan's psychology theories.

Mazatlan

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An Irish setter

When Millan was 6 or 7, his family moved to Mazatlan, the second largest city in the state, on the pacific coast across from Baja California. His father (another major positive influence in Millan's life) had decided that he wanted to move the children within range of better schools. They moved into a small apartment in the working class part of town, and Millan's father got a job delivering newspapers. According to Millan, the worst part of the experience was not having the animals. They tried bringing the dogs (and chickens) to live in the apartment with them, but it just wasn't manageable. It was in the city, though, that Millan saw his first purebred dog, an Irish setter belonging to a local doctor. He was struck by the dog's beauty and grooming, and how different it was from the wild pack dogs he'd seen on the farm. After repeated requests, two years later the doctor gave Millan one of the dog's puppies, who Millan named Saluki and kept as a companion for the next ten years.

Millan's childhood in the city was fairly normal. He played sports with the neighborhood children, but missed the outdoor farm life, so to help him cope with the stress of the city, his family enrolled him at the age of 6 in a judo class. Millan excelled, and had won six championships in a row by the age of 14. His mentor there, Joaquim, told him stories about Japan, and taught him various meditation techniques. Also when he was 14, Millan's father got a better job as a government photographer, and moved the family into a much higher-class part of town, only a block away from the beach.

In adolescence, as Millan was deciding what to do with his life, he states that he knew it had to be something to do with dogs. When his family had gotten their first television set, he had watched television shows such as Lassie and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (black and white, and dubbed in Spanish), and once he figured out that the behavior of the dogs on the show was something that they must have been trained to do off-screen, he decided he wanted to get that job for himself. He dreamed of moving to Hollywood and becoming the world's greatest dog trainer. So at 15, he got a job at a local veterinarian's office, helping out by sweeping and grooming and cleaning up after the animals. He says that it became rapidly apparent that he had a natural talent, as he had no fear of dogs, and could grab dogs that "even the vet wouldn't go near." He was teased for this in school, as some of the other children began calling him el perrero (trans: "the dog boy"), an unkind term in a city where dogs were seen mostly as mangy scavengers and nuisances.

American journey

On December 23, 1990, at the age of 21, Millan decided that though he spoke no English, he was going to sneak over the border into the United States, not to Arizona where he had family, but to Hollywood, to follow his dream. His family objected, but scraped together $100 USD for his journey, and Millan found a way in via Tijuana. He didn't have enough money for an official visa, and didn't want to pay any of the professional smugglers, so he spent weeks at the home of a cousin in Tijuana, studying the border. His first three attempts to cross by himself failed, but he eventually ran into someone who only wanted to charge him the $100 that he had, so he accepted. The next night, after an arduous journey which involved spending hours in a water hole waiting for the right time to try to sneak past the border guards, he succeeded, and on the other side of the border he was put into a taxi towards San Diego, a city Millan had then never heard of. He lived on the street for a month, but then got a job, and eventually room and board, at a dog grooming parlor. According to his book, as with his earlier job at the veterinarian, Millan rapidly gained a reputation as someone who could work easily with the difficult and most aggressive dogs, who would often behave quite differently around Millan's calm assertive personality than they did around their owners.

Millan's next job was washing limousines, work that had been offered to him by one of the San Diego clients who liked Millan's work ethic. Though the duties didn't involve dogs, Millan accepted because the new employer had also offered him his own car, an '88 Chevy Astrovan, and it allowed a move to Los Angeles. Millan changed his career goal from that of being a Hollywood dog trainer, to rehabilitating the many troubled dogs he was seeing in the United States, so he started his own business, the Pacific Point Canine Academy, and came up with a logo, a jacket, and business cards. His employer started recommending him to his friends, and Millan's client list grew, as well as his own pack of dogs. Millan freely admits that he was never licensed, and was just "that Mexican guy who has a magical way with dogs." Via word of mouth though, in 1994 he came to the attention of celebrities Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith (who Millan cited as being responsible dog owners), who began recommending Millan to many other celebrities, and also mentored him in other ways, helping to improve his English and becoming good friends.

As his linguistic skills grew, Millan worked on improving his own education, reading books about dog psychology and animal behavior. He particularly cites two books as major reinforcing influences: Dr. Bruce Fogle's The Dog's Mind, and Dog Psychology by Leon F. Whitney, DVM.

By word of mouth, Millan's fame continued to grow, and he was able to found his own Dog Psychology Center, a two-acre facility in South Los Angeles with six employees, whose purpose is to rehabilitate dogs. He keeps a pack of 30 to 40 "unadoptable" and abandoned dogs there, and is president of his own company, Cesar Millan, Inc. He is also a member of the International Association of Canine Professionals, an organization open to anyone working in the dog industry.

Millan now has a green card and is in the process of applying for U.S. citizenship. In 2002, after a profile in the Los Angeles Times, he received many offers from Hollywood producers, and chose the MPH Entertainment, Inc., who developed the show The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, and pitched it to the National Geographic Channel, where it became their #1 show within its first season. Millan wrote a book that came out concurrent with the second season, and the book went to #1 on the national bestseller lists.

He presently lives in Inglewood with his American wife, Ilusion Wilson Millan, and his sons, Andre (b.1995) and Calvin (b. 2001). He credits his wife with keeping him grounded, and keeping their marriage stable by setting "rules, boundaries, and limitations."

Media fame

Millan has been featured twice on the Oprah program (May 2005 & September 2005).

Millan was portrayed in a tenth season episode of the Comedy Central animated series South Park (entitled "Tsst") that aired on May 3, 2006. In the episode, Cesar is hired to train Eric Cartman to behave (and succeeds, until Cartman's mother undoes the training), after popular "nannies" (see Nanny 911, Super Nanny) have failed.

In the foreword of Millan's book, Cesar's Way, Jada Pinkett Smith wrote "Through his patience and wisdom, Cesar has been a blessing to my family, my dogs and me."

Millan has also appeared on ABC World News Tonight (2002), CBS-TV (2001), Channel 7 News (May 2005), CNN (April 2006), Creative Arts Emmys 2006 (August 2006), Entertainment Insider (December 2004), Good Day Live (February 2005), Good Morning America With Diane Sawyer (September 2004), KTLA-TV (2002), Last Call With Carson Daly (November 2006), Martha Stewart Show (April 2006), Megan Mullally Show (November 2006), Nightline (July 2006), NBC-TV (2001), Today Show (April 2006), Tonight Show With Jay Leno (February 2005), The View (July 2006), WUSA-TV 9 News (April 2006) and various radio shows.

Awards and Nominations

In 2005, the National Humane Society Genesis Award Committee presented Millan with a Special Commendation, for his work in rehabilitating animals.
(requires verification - no information exists on the National Humane Societies website) In 2006, Cesar's TV Show Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan on the National Geographic Channel was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program.
In 2006, Cesar & his wife Ilusion were awarded honorary membership in the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP).[4]

Methods

Cesar Millan does not "train" dogs in the sense of teaching them commands like "sit, stay, come, heel". Instead, he rehabilitates unbalanced dogs and helps "re-train" their owners.

"Owners are learning to respect their dogs for what they are – dogs," said Martin Deeley, Executive Director. Co Founder and Past President of International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP).

Millan is known for his ability to walk large packs of dogs at the same time. Where most dog psychologists work with one dog at a time, Millan teaches in packs. The dogs in his well-behaved pack have each been rehabilitated, rescued from a wide range of extreme behavior issues, from insecurity to severe aggression. He asserts that the pack instinct is perhaps the strongest natural motivator for a dog and teaches that, in order to properly fulfill both our dogs and ourselves, owners need to become canines' calm, assertive pack leaders. He believes that a dog that doesn't trust it's human to be a good pack leader becomes unbalanced and often exhibits unwanted or anti-social behaviors.

Millan believe the walk is an important part of establishing the relationship between a dog and its owner. He often counsels people on how to hold themselves properly while on the walk: Straighten your posture. Lift your shoulders high. Stick your chest forward. Project calm-assertive energy.

"Cesar’s singular genius is his message to owners, and strategies for becoming full participants in the household pack," said Jill Morstad, PhD of Prairie Skies – Dog Training for Open Spaces.

Millan counsels people to use calm-assertive leadership and consistently give dogs rules, boundaries and limitations to establish themselves as solid pack leaders and help correct and control unwanted behavior. He asserts that there are no "quick fixes," even though changing some behaviors can appear to happen in a relatively short period of time. He believes that those changes will not "stick," unless the human acts consistently with his/her dog every day to keep unwanted behaviors from returning. In Cesar Millan's opinion, no one should ever hit or yell at a dog to correct unwanted behavior.

Many followers of his methods have found the application of his approach in other fields, such as with children and in the workplace, to be just as effective.[5][6][7]

Philanthropy

In December 2006, Cesar's wife Ilusion Millan announced the plan for a non-profit foundation. "We want to focus on making it accessible to the public. We hope to create awareness of dog issues and help rescue groups attain their goals and fill their needs. We already have an initial start-up project in the works for incorporating pet awareness, safety and care into children’s elementary education."[8]

Cesar has also been noted for his assocation with other social projects, such as the program for at-risk teens K-9 Connection [9] and Pups on Parole, a program for inmates [10].

Cesar is also associated with the Pets911 project,[11] which works to "effect social change in this country by providing a free public service that will one day ensure an environment where all animals are valued companions and have lifetime, loving homes." [12]

Also, Cesar's 2006 seminar tour gave part of the proceeds to the rescue groups that hosted the events.

Controversy

The controversy surrounding Cesar Millan has it's roots in the science of operant conditioning, particularly the effects of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement methods have been used since WWII, when marine animals were being trained for the military (as they still are today).

In general all of these trainers agree that a dog needs leadership, clear communication, boundaries and limitations. The language used may be different between them. Positive Only trainers consider "dominance" to be an aggressive, bullying stance and a negative. They use the term leader or leadership but not Alpha. In common dog training language and understanding, the Alpha is the leader (of the pack). The interpretation of "calm submission" by positive trainers is fear, based on the body language exhibited by the dogs.

It has also been pointed out that though Millan is referred to as an animal behaviorist, that this is a casual use of the term, and Millan does not refer to himself as such. Because of the controversy regarding his methods, the casual labelling of him as a behaviourist, provides an additional issue open to criticism.

Cesar may not call himself as an animal behaviorist, and admits no formal training, but he does refer to himself as "a real-world behaviorist." [13] and as a "dog behaviorist" on his own web site [14]which may add to the confusion.

There are many professional trainers and behaviourists are of the opinion that Millan's methods are inhumane, referring to the use of alpha roles that are discussed in his book, and techniques such as pulling dogs off the ground by tugging on their leash could be dangerous. Actual incidents and correct context of these events being criticised is more difficult to pinpoint or has been omitted by the critics in most cases. Most often these critics are from the Positive Only thinking and much of the criticism is academic, such as over language and credentials.

Critics state that Millan's training methods focus on dominance theory, which has been disproven through the study of David Mech and others, and positive punishment and negative reinforcement to address problem behaviors, without first considering that there might be other medical factors at work which are influencing a "problem" dog's behavior. However, in a letter to fans seeking dog training help, Cesar's first recommendation is: "Seek the advice of a trusted veterinarian to rule out any physical or neurological problems and request a referral for a dog psychologist or behaviorist."[15]

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, the director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine of Tufts University, has said “Cesar Millan's methods are based on flooding and punishment. The results, though immediate, will be only transitory. His methods are misguided, outmoded, in some cases dangerous, and often inhumane. You would not want to be a dog under his sphere of influence. The sad thing is that the public does not recognize the error of his ways.” [16] In a February 23, 2006 New York Times article Dr. Dodman says of Millan’s show "My college thinks it is a travesty. We've written to National Geographic Channel and told them they have put dog training back 20 years." [17]

Jean Donaldson, The San Francisco SPCA Director of The Academy for Dog Trainers has said “Practices such as physically confronting aggressive dogs and using of choke collars for fearful dogs are outrageous by even the most diluted dog training standards. A profession that has been making steady gains in its professionalism, technical sophistication and humane standards has been greatly set back. I have long been deeply troubled by the popularity of Mr. Millan as so many will emulate him. To co-opt a word like ‘whispering’ for arcane, violent and technically unsound practice is unconscionable.” [18]

Dr. Ian Dunbar, Director of the Center for Applied Animal Behavior in Berkeley says "He has nice dog skills, but from a scientific point of view, what he says is, well ... different," says Dunbar. "Heaven forbid if anyone else tries his methods, because a lot of what he does is not without danger." [19]

Dr. Andrew Luescher, Veterinary Behaviorist for the Animal Behavior Clinic at Purdue University says “Millan's techniques are almost exclusively based on two techniques: Flooding and positive punishment. In flooding, an animal is exposed to a fear (or aggression) evoking stimulus and prevented from leaving the situation, until it stops reacting. To take a human example: arachnophobia would be treated by locking a person into a closet, releasing hundreds of spiders into that closet, and keeping the door shut until the person stops reacting. The person might be cured by that, but also might be severely disturbed and would have gone through an excessive amount of stress. Flooding has therefore always been considered a risky and cruel method of treatment.” [20]

On April 28, 2006, Millan's original publicist, Makeda Smith of Jazzmyne Public Relations and her partner, Foster Corder of Daughters 2 Feed Films, filed a lawsuit against Millan requesting compensation for damages in excess of five million dollars for alleged copyright infringement, breach of contract and breach of confidential relationship. The National Geographic Channel, MPH Entertainment, Inc and Emery/Sumner Productions, LLC are also defendants named in the complaint. Smith alleges that Millan has completely forsaken her after several years of utilizing her expertise to introduce and position him within industry, professional, and media circles, nationally and internationally, without any compensation. [21]

On May 5, 2006, a television producer for the TV series 8 Simple Rules also filed a lawsuit against Millan, claiming that his labrador retriever had been seriously injured while at Millan's training facility during an exercise routine on a treadmill.[22]. National Geographic released a statement that Millan was not present at the facility at the time of the alleged incident.

On September 6, 2006, The American Humane Association issued a press release condemning Millan's tactics as "inhumane, outdated, and improper" and called on The National Geographic Channel to cease airing the program immediately. [23]

In October 2006, Volume 146, Issue 4, Esquire magazine declares Cesar Millan the 'Misguided Expert of the Year'. [24]

On October 27, 2006, the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants warned the National Geographic Channel that the Dog Whisperer might encourage children to behave unsafely around dogs. The group questions the 'TV_G' rating the show is given. [25]

Also in the month of October 2006, The Alaska SPCA refused to sponsor a dog rescue benefit by one of Millan’s trainers, stating "We just don't align ourselves with the Dog Whisperer's methods”. [26]

On the other hand the Yukon Humane Society has Cesar Millan listed under Educational Resources and Training.[27]

People magazine, January 22, 2007, Page 105 has an article describing how Millan's ways are the subject of controversy. While Millan is defended by several celebrity dog owners, some claiming jealousy as critics' primary motive, he is criticized by a number of professional dog trainers who take issue with Millan's methods as well as the way Cesar's teachings are applied by his fans. The article quotes Manhattan trainer Andrea Arden who recalls seeing a man pin a stranger's Boston terrier to the ground and then defend his actions by saying he was teaching the dog to be calm-submissive and said "I am a follower of Cesar Millan." Noted trainer Ian Dunbar is quoted as saying "It's become a huge emotional debate. Do you show the dog what's right buy rewarding good behavior, or do you punish the dog for breaking rules he doesn't know existed." Arden sums things up by saying "People think he's a god. I think 'what show are you watching.’"

Works

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Cesar's Way, 2006

Book

  • Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems, Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier, *2006. ISBN 0-307-33733-2

DVDs

  • People Training for Dogs, DVD. Cesar shares his experience and wisdom from a lifetime of working with dogs and explains how his methods work. (This is not a training video)
  • Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan - The Complete First Season, DVD, 2006, ASIN B000EGDALQ

See also

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