Cesar Millan leads the pack with old-school methods.
You know you’ve arrived when there’s an episode of South Park devoted to you. “Don’t reason with it. Don’t argue with it. Just dominate it!” urged an animated Cesar Millan on the show’s “Tsst!” episode, named for the dog trainer’s signature sound.
Toto, we’re not in clicker class anymore.
With a pencil-thin goatee and charming accent, Mexican-born Millan is the star of Dog Whisperer, the No. 1 show on the National Geographic Channel. By the end of his hour-long episodes, Millan has rehabilitated and transformed a conga line of canine delinquents, from home-wrecking Great Danes to Miniature Pinschers with alligator complexes.
Part Deepak Chopra, part Judge Judy, Millan advocates projecting “calm, assertive energy,” providing discipline and exercise to bring dogs into “balance,” and using straightforward discipline — from collar pops to finger jabs to his trademark “Tsst!” — to remind pampered pooches who really holds the leash.
As the third season of his hit cable show debuts (Mondays at 9 p.m. ET, starting Oct. 23), this “Supernanny” for dogs continues his unwavering message: Outta-control dogs aren’t born, they’re made, by indulgent owners who stow them in $800 Louis Vuitton bags, never let their paws touch the ground, and confuse them into thinking that they are human.
Want to read the full story? Pick up the November 2006 issue of DOG FANCY today.