TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Cesar Millan: Saving canines, nurturing humanity
JP/R
Change Size
JP/R. Berto Wedhatama
In a country where animal cruelty is common, the recent visit of Cesar Millan, the world-famous dog whisperer, hit close to home.
The self-taught expert sent strong messages during the Jakarta leg of his live tour over the weekend, as he encouraged more people to help with the global issues of dog abuse and dog overpopulation.
The animated 44-year-old was serious as he quoted Mahatma Gandhi: 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.' And home is where the root of the problem lies.
Millan, creator of the reality show Dog Whisperer, which airs on the National Geographic Channel, pointed out that most people who love dogs don't have the knowledge to train them. The Mexican-American, who was born on Aug. 27, 1969, nurtured his talent while raising dogs at his grandfather's farm in Mexico. As a boy, he was inspired by The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin TV show and became determined to go to America to learn how to train dogs and return to Mexico. 'I grew up thinking that this was what everybody did [in training dogs], just like everybody speaks Spanish in Mexico. But when I came to America, they didn't even know how to walk dogs,' said the father of two boys.
As seen in the TV show, which has run for nine seasons, people come to see Millan when they have problems with their dogs. 'Humans are the problem if we have bad habits and haven't changed them before entering into relationships with dogs,' said Millan. 'Dogs need exercise, discipline or mental stimulation and affection to have a healthy, harmonious relationship with humans. But people don't understand this and treat them like they treat people instead.'
Millan said that to nurture good habits with dogs, humans should change their own behavior.
'When my dogs came to me they were ready to kill. But because I have good habits, now they don't even fight each other.' The most common problem among dog owners, Millan said, was aggression, which resulted from human behavior. Millan uses aversion techniques to handle the highly aggressive dogs of his clients by giving them the 'touch' on certain parts of the dogs' bodies, a method that has been widely criticized.
He argued that the 'touch' method on the side of the neck ' just like mothers do to their puppies ' and on the area between the ribs and front legs, was meant to remove the fixation of aggressive dogs ready to kill their opponents.
'[The critics] forgot that I work with highly aggressive dogs. Through the show, I want to tell people that even the most aggressive dogs can be rehabilitated.'
Although he works with large, fierce breeds, in the end it was not a pit bull or rottweiler that sent him to hospital, but a shy-looking labrador who bit his arm as he approached.
Millan said that as a puppy, the owner used to grab her hind legs, but after rehabilitation, the dog ' named Holly ' had turned into a playful dog and was currently staying with Millan.
Millan's concerns over dog rehabilitation have grown as at least 600 million dogs are put to sleep every year worldwide because no home wants them.
He established the Dog Psychology Center in California in 2012 and has written six best-selling books on dog psychology. He will reappear on TV via his new show Cesar to the Rescue on National Geographic Wild starting in April.
He supports the sterilization of sheltered dogs to overcome the dog overpopulation issue.
'It's a good effort to balance overpopulation. In fact, to get dogs at shelters neutered should be the main campaign,' he said.
He suggested that people should adopt dogs instead of buying designer breeds.
'We need to not only adopt dogs, but to adopt the philosophy of helping. We can rehabilitate dogs and thus save their lives.'
In the show on Saturday evening, which lasted over two hours, Millan shared valuable lessons from his experiences with dog owners, giving them tips and tricks on how to read dog body language and correct common mistakes.
The tour was brought to Jakarta by Sorak Gemilang Entertainment in collaboration with Nestle Purina PetCare, the producer of dog and cat food Purina Pro Plan.
After Jakarta, Millan will continue his Asian tour to the Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong.
'I have worked with celebrities and presidents,' Millan said. 'The beauty of the dog is that they focus on the inside, rather than the outside. What they know is what energy they live with. If your energy is negative, they don't want anything to do with you.'
Millian said he was not a dog trainer. 'I train people, I rehabilitate dogs. That's what I am.'
