Known the world over for his calm, assertive approach to dog ownership, Cesar Millan, star of The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, is dispensing his dog whispering wisdom yet again with season five of his hit show on The National Geographic Channel.
In an exclusive interview with Suite101 writer Mia Carter, Dog Psychology Center founder Cesar Millan shared his sought-after advice on dog training, the most common mistakes that dog owners make, and more. Dog owners can consider the following Dog Whisperer tips for training and improving dog behavior.
Q. If You Could Give One Bit of Advice to All Dog Owners, What Would it Be?
"Dogs need to be fulfilled. And the fulfillment is based on exercise, discipline and affection. Most of the dog lovers like to fulfill dogs with affection first. And then practice affection again, and then give affection again.
"I teach people the right way of fulfilling dogs...It's [important to] practice leadership decisions and to be an authority figure, and authority figure doesn't mean you're angry or frustrated. Discipline versus punishment are two different things - [punishment] is one thing that I don't practice and sometimes dog lovers feel that if they practice the role of authority figure, their dog is not going to love them as much."
Q. What Would You Say is the Most Common Mistake that You See Among Dog Owners?
A. "What people most often do is they humanize the dog. And from that point on, they're going to practice human psychology in a dog. And when they really want the dog to listen to them, the dog is not going to listen to them because this is not the dog's state of mind. So we need to understand the psychology behind dogs.
"Everybody knows that dolphins are dolphins, so we're not going to humanize them. But often, people humanize dogs and that leads them to be disconnected in that area."
Q. Your Third Book, A Member of the Family, has Just Hit Bookstore Shelves. What Can Readers Expect?
"This is a how-to book [based on] the philosophy that I've been teaching over the years. It's about how to choose a dog from day one. Especially if you have a family, and the family wants a dog, a lot of times people make an emotional decision.
"And so I suggest they leave the emotions aside and become more psychological about the decision. So understand the needs of a dog, [understand] that everybody counts in the family, that everybody needs to enforce the rules, the boundaries, the limitations. Everybody needs to learn how to train the dog properly, how to feed the dog properly, how to open the door properly when people come to visit.
"People need to understand that there is a way where everyone can be in sync and the dog will respect every member of the family...It's all about being a pack leader."
Dog owners and future dog owners who are looking for more dog training tips from Cesar Millan, including advice on how to become a calm, assertive pack leader, will also enjoy Millan's latest book, A Member of the Family, which hit store shelves October 7, 2008, joining his two other works, Cesar's Way and Be the Pack Leader.
Pet owners can learn more about Cesar Millan's dog training philosophy in season five of The Dog Whisperer, which airs on The National Geographic Channel.
Mia Carter - Mia Carter - Journalist, Producer/Editor & Web Writer. Carter's work has appeared on CBS and CNN.com.
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