“Even as a kid, I always knew that I wanted to work with animals.”
And Cesar Millian has certainly done that, parlaying his love of dogs into not just a personal industry, but by helping scores of pets owners understand their charges, and pets understand that they are loved.
Having garnered the moniker “The Dog Whisperer,” Millian is now celebrating his 20th consecutive year on television.
Millian, who came to the United States from Mexico, began his career as a groomer, but he soon realized that he had ‘something different’ in the way he thought about dogs.
“I saw how people were communicating with their dogs and it seemed like the humans were letting the dog tell them what to do. That’s when I knew that it was about training the humans and rehabilitating the dogs,” he explains.
Giving more detail, he says, “Before I teach the human any training methods, I make sure that the person understands that we’re working with a dog and that dogs have their own psychology, and the way that a dog learns is not the way a human learns.”
He says that over the years, he’s become much better at teaching the philosophy needed prior to moving into training techniques.
“I tell people, ‘you need to build trust and respect with the dog, then any and all training will fall into place,’” says Millian.
One of the training products that Millian uses is one that he’s created — an interactive device to help dogs stay within a certain area.
“I said, ‘We have technology that help people with rules, boundaries, limitations, so why not use this in the way we communicate with our dogs?’ You need something that reminds your dog, especially when you’re not there, what the rules, boundaries, and limitations are. So, we invented something that allows them to enjoy and play, but still be safe,” says Millian.
The Halo Collar that Millian and his team have built, with a new 4th generation product recently released, replaces the need for an invisible dog fence, with a containment function held directly by the collar. Users can instantly create and store unlimited wireless fences in each collar at the touch of a finger in an app that doesn’t require Wi-Fi or a cellular connection.
Through positive reinforcement the collar gently encourages the dog to stay within the boundaries as set in the app, using a variety of sounds and vibrations that simulate touch. As an added safety feature, the collar also provides real-time GPS location information.
Dog sporting the Halo Collar 4.
Millian wants to be clear that the key to the collar is the training that is included, which he specifically designed.
“In the instructions, I tell you about how to make sure that your dog is going to benefit from the tool, because there’s only two things you want the dog to understand — to be blocked or to be redirected — before the dog is in a bad situation. I teach about how the mind of the dog works before you even put anything on the dog. All of this is important,” he says.
In addition, Millian expresses firmly that the collar does not inflict pain on the animal in any way. “This is not something that’s cruel to the dog. Cruel is when a dog is confused. Cruel is when a dog is unhappy. Cruel is when a dog becomes chaotic because he’s not getting exercise and discipline. That’s when a dog will destroy the house or run away. So this is not cruel, this is about giving the dog peace and love and keeping them safe.”
As for his current series, Better Human Better Dog, now in its 5th season, Millian says that his favorite part is the ‘matchmaking.’
“We do it so that dogs don’t end up in a situation that doesn’t work out,” he explains. “So I’m teaching people how to do the right way of adopting. Because most people, when they adopt the dog, they base it on the dog’s background story, or they say, ‘that doge is super cute,’ but what they don’t think about is, is the dog compatible with you.”
He says that there’s one particular case on the show that moved him. “We had a boxer who was blind and deaf and extremely aggressive, and we said, ‘let’s help him’ and we did and that was really challenging, but he’s the one I remember the most and feel good about.”
As for his success, Millian points to several factors, saying, “I’ve used my faith well in that I believed I could do it and then I went and did it. I’m also very passionate about what I do and I’m actually very creative. So, I’ve really gotten to use all of that to create something out of nothing. And I know that a lot of people call something like this ‘manifesting it’ into reality, but none of it happens without a lot of hard work.”
As a final thought, Millian points out that, “America is about to elect its next ‘pack leader,’ and he’d like people to think about the work he does when they make their choice, as he says, “In my mind, [it’s important] to elect someone with good energy, with good philosophy, with good action. We want happiness. We want health. We want love. So we are the pack, and we want a good leader.”
He insists that, “This has nothing to do with red or blue. My clients can be Republicans and my clients can be Democrats. So my one mission is to bring this knowledge to make want to be better humans and because you became a better human, you want a better pack leader, right?”
And it all comes back to looking at dogs as an example, he says, as he points out, “Dogs just want a human who’s calm and confident, has love and joy, who understands safety, peace, and trust. And, you know, helping somebody else find happiness and health doesn’t really require money, fame and power, it’s about being kind and respectful, and we can all do that.”
He sums with the thought that, “Maybe the one thing people don’t know about me, but it’s sort of obvious, is that I want to change the world, from dogs all the way to the top with people.”
‘Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog’ is available on National Geographic and Disney+
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