Cesar Millan shares his tips

BRIDGET JONES

He has lent a hand to Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Scarlett Johansson, but dog whisperer Cesar Millan doesn't see a difference between a billionaire's dog and the furry friend of a homeless person.

The man with the canine touch travels the world sharing his tips and experience in puppy psychology and rehabilitating dogs.

And next week, Millan, who is famous for his long-running TV show on the National Geographic channel, is in New Zealand for two live shows in Hamilton and Auckland, complete with dogs, their owners and a goal to change the way we think about man's best friend.

"As I go around the world, is people are not connected to dogs instinctually. They're connected emotionally, they love dogs. In every country they go "we're dog lovers' or "we're massive dog lovers" - that's the expression," he says.

"But we have a problem, and the problem comes from a lack of knowledge. If you have the knowledge you can run a business properly, if you have the knowledge you can have relationships properly."

He says the key, as JFK once said, is to think not about what your dog can do for you, but what you can do for your dog.

"Everybody wants to train the dog, so "this is what I want the dog to do for me" - that's the relationship. But if you slow it down a bit, that's a very selfish relationship, because it's all about what the human wants. No one asks what does the dog want from me? How can I make him happy? What makes him happy?"

And Millan has it down to a simple three-part formula that gets back to basics - exercise, discipline and affection.

The 42-year-old self-taught professional was raised on a farm in Mexico, where he says he had a natural connection to animals and their behaviour.

Growing up he had an obsession with American TV shows like Lassie and Rin Tintin, shows he says made him think everyone in the US had amazing relationships with their dogs.

"But no, it was just an illusion, it was just a facade, it was like Las Vegas, it was artificial.

"When I crossed the border [into America] I realised people were not as connected to their dogs as I thought they were."

Millan was smuggled illegally into the US in 1990 and found work in pet stores, before he and his gift were "discovered" by actor Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, going on to find fame and fortune with his animal passion.

He says he was shocked to see the way pets were treated in America - often as accessories or toys.

"Growing up in Mexico I never saw an unstable dog - I saw skinny dogs, but not unstable dogs. Going to the US they are chunky and they are not stable. They have birthday parties, at least three or four beds, plates, the water comes to them, the food comes to them - they don't even have to move."

"The are not balanced, they seem to have everything but they don't."

And Millan believes this balance can be found in every dog - even those breeds that have been banned in countries like New Zealand. He says it is not the breed, but the owner's leadership that is the problem.

"You are dealing with a powerful breed and an uneducated human. You have problems with little dogs, it's just a smaller scale of power," he says.

"Aggression is not the problem; it's the outcome of a problem...that's just the symptom, a side effect. So as we have problems with kids, we have problems with dogs. Everybody wants trust, everybody wants respect, everybody wants love but the only way you can obtain it is if you behave honestly, you have integrity and you show loyalty.

"I don't see a dog as a student; I see a dog as a teacher."

- © Fairfax NZ News