Cesar’s Way by Cesar Millan

A while back, I happened to watch a couple episodes of the Dog Whisperer for the first time. I have to admit, I was fascinated - Cesar would enter the realm of the "troubled dog(s)" and if one was watching the dog, you could see the dog knew Cesar was in charge. Cesar wouldn’t speak to the dog, look at the dog, touch the dog, he wouldn’t acknowledge the dog in anyway until he was ready to do so. And the dog knew what Cesar was doing. There was no if, ands, or buts about it. This happened in every scenario (of which there was about 4 or 5 if I remember correctly).

But Cesar’s shows weren’t about training the dog, so much as training people. He readily admits this. Now I have two furry 4-legged children myself, so I was much intrigued by his "training" methods and set about to find one of his books. Cesar’s Way is currently on the bestseller list and just came out in paperback so I ordered one off of Amazon.

It was...okay. It covered his background, how he came to the States and became a nationally known dog psychologist. Note: not a dog trainer, a dog psychologist. He explains his theory on dog behavior and what we as humans can do to improve our relationship with our canine companions. He strongly believes in pack dynamics, and what people need to do to make their hound a happy member of the family "pack", but not the dominant member.

I liked what he had to say, but I found the book a bit simplistic for my needs. He gave so many examples of poorly behaved dogs and what their owners did to create the little monsters, and then he would reiterate that the humans need to be pack leader. Perhaps this was supposed to be more of an introduction to "Cesar’s Way" and less of a "how-to".

In a nutshell, what I came away with was: dogs require exercise, discipline, and affection, in that order. Cesar is a big proponent on well exercised dogs and giving them upwards of two hours daily. He also expounds on the human being calm-assertive, that a persons hound will respond better knowing you are always in charge. Dogs need structure, boundaries and focus in their lives.

What I would have liked more of was how-to achieve some of this structure and disciplinary techniques and when to do it. But perhaps he discusses this more in another book. I also don’t think that hunting breeds were quite taken into account as he works predominantly with rottweilers, pit bulls, German shepherds and other large or "aggressive" breeds. So all in all, I think this book is best suited to someone who is thinking about getting a dog for the first time or a family who might be thinking about bringing a pet into the house. Or if you want a autobiography of Cesar’s philosophy.