View full sizeCesar Millan, television's celebrated "Dog Whisperer," says that in reality, it's the owners who need training more than the dogs.Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer
When: 8 p.m. Friday.
Where: Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St.
Tickets: $35.75-$75, plus fees, available at Ticketmaster locations, the box office, at akroncivic.com or by phone at 330-253-2488.
At the crack of any given dawn, you can count on the silence of a slumbering suburbia being shattered by a cacophonous chorus of
Canis lupus familiaris
calling to the new day or each other.
Who among us has not rolled over and grumbled those immortal words: "Who let the dogs out?"
Well, look, the poor things are just doing what comes naturally. And as the grandfather of Cesar Millan, television's celebrated "Dog Whisperer," told the boy back on their rural farm in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, "Never work against Mother Nature."
Abuelo's advice is why Millan, who brings a multimedia show (and a lone pooch) to the Akron Civic Theatre on Friday night, goes with what works for dogs.
"Dogs are exercise, discipline and affection," said Millan, in a call from his Southern California home.
His television show, "Dog Whisperer With Cesar Millan," is in its eighth season on the National Geographic channel. The former undocumented worker -- he became a U.S. citizen in 2009 -- has published three best-selling books and is lauded by kith and kennel for his ability to change the behavior of aggressive, pouty, lazy, loud, miscreant mutts.
But the reality is that it's the owner who most often is barking up the wrong tree.
"People adopt a dog based on what they think is cute," he said. They go shopping for dogs and think they've been "chosen" by the one who came up and laid across their shoe or slapped a sweet puppy kiss on their cheeks.
Wrong. The dog needs to fit the person, and vice versa.
A person who works 10 or 12 hours a day may say, "I love Australian shepherds," Millan said, but the truth is that an Australian shepherd is a working breed. "They're not OK with 10, 15 or 20 minutes of a walk, and you've got to put a backpack on [the dog] to call it work."
Most dog owners will tell you they believe dogs are better than people. A pooch won't cheat at golf, go to the local no-tell motel with your wife or girlfriend or drink your last beer. And they don't judge themselves by which pup has the most toys.
"The dog thinks its goal in life is to achieve balance," Millan said. "A dog could care less about wealth. That's why a dog can live with a homeless person or a dog can live with a handicapped person. . . . What he does care about is whether he can achieve harmony and balance."
It's like Millan is some kind of canine-oriented Deepak Chopra, only the dogs already have achieved karmic bliss. It's the owners who are lacking.
"Dogs in America get birthday parties, toys and their own gift at Christmas," he said. "But the dog doesn't care about that. What he cares about is, 'Can you fulfill my needs every day? Don't take me for a walk just on Saturday or because you feel guilty.' "
Moreover, Millan also said that Americans' love for dogs doesn't translate into a knowledge of dogs.
That's why we're so fearful of certain breeds, like the pit bull. Among Millan's home "pack" of a dozen or more dogs -- and he's the alpha -- is a sweet-tempered pit bull.
"In the '70s, people had problems with Dobermans," he said. "In the '90s, it was Rottweilers. In the 2000s, it's the pit bull."
Part of that is our affinity for strong, powerful dogs, which itself is almost a manifestation of our Napoleonic little man-big car syndrome.
"Aggression is aggression, but the No. 1 aggressive breed is not the pit bull," Millan said. "It's No. 4. The Chihuahua is No. 1." Certainly the more powerful pit bull is a bigger danger. "But what that shows you is that we're not ready to control that much power."
If you profess to love a dog, and the dog acts, well, like a dog, and you get upset, the fault lies not in the animal but the owner, Millan said.
Millan will use his stage show to demonstrate -- on his own dog, and through graphics and pictures -- how best to relate to your dog. And, more important, how to get your dog to relate to you.
"I know that as soon as I wake up, I stay calm, I stay quiet, and the first thing I do is take them for a walk," Millan said. "They have this energy, and as they walk, they're using the bathroom, doing what dogs do. They follow me, and that's how they remember who they're going to follow throughout the day."
Naturally.