When dog owners found out that Cesar Millan was coming to Manila, the human fans of the dog whisperer were beside themselves with excitement. If they had tails, they would’ve wagged them.
Many people showed up at the Eastwood Central Plaza, where Cesar held a show last Tuesday night. There were those milling about the venue, looking to buy tickets, with their dogs waiting patiently beside them. Alas, the dog owners failed to read the fine print: No dogs allowed inside the venue.
It was actually a good thing, because it was boiling hot inside. We were panting, both from the oppressive heat and uncontrolled anxiety.
The charismatic Cesar proved that his power as pack leader extended to humans, too. How else to explain the quiet that settled over the huge crowd, every ear cocked in his direction, heads tilted, butts still and seated as they listened to his commands to lead harmonious and balanced lives?
‘What is happiness?’
He ran onstage in a jacket, jeans, and sneakers. “My mission is to help you understand your dog’s needs. What is the mission of your dog, what does he want to do for you? Fulfill your life with happiness,” he said by way of introduction.
“We can interpret happiness by many ways, but what is happiness?” he continued, before noticing that the weather was making him uncomfortable. “Hold on, it’s gotten hot right now,” he pointed out, unzipping his jacket to reveal a blue-and-red jersey emblazoned with Philippines in front and Millan at the back.
The crowd went wild. “That’s happiness! It’s that simple, right? I took my shirt off, and you got happy,” Cesar said cheekily.
Cesar went on to say that the Philippine show was special to him, not only because it was his first time to visit the country, but that he’s always mistaken for a Filipino. “The world thinks I’m Filipino. They never think of me as Mexican, they think I’m Filipino. So I’m home!”
The celebrity dog guru, who has worked with Will Smith’s rottweilers and Oprah’s cocker spaniel, credits his poor upbringing in Mexico for providing him with the insight and knowledge into reforming problem pups. “In Mexico, we had skinny dogs, but they had no psychological problems; in America, dogs are nice and chunky, but I get to have a TV show,” Cesar said with a laugh.
His main tenet in dog-rearing is based on harnessing one’s instincts to create an energy that a dog will respond to positively. “Emotions plus intentions equals energy,” said Cesar, adding that both must be in sync in order for us to communicate what we want to our dogs.
More often than not, our intentions and emotions don’t jive, leaving a dog confused. A dog is an animal that responds to the cues around him and interprets the cues based on instinct. This is why, Cesar reminded us, that we should never attribute or project human emotions onto dogs, an attitude we are guilty of all the time. (We think our chow chow is surlier when she is in heat, because she must have PMS; or our poodle will get upset if he finds out we went to High Street without him).
Aggression
Nor should we rely on a dog’s breed as an indicator of aggression or misbehavior. Breed, according to Cesar, is never the main factor to consider when a dog is misbehaving. He showed a video of the only dog that has ever sent him to the hospital; and the only dog that has bitten him was not even a pitbull or a rottweiler (two of the most feared breeds in the United States because of their undeserved reputation of viciousness), but a yellow labrador retriever named Holly.
Holly had turned aggressive and latched onto Cesar’s fist, waving her head back and forth after having sunk her teeth into him. Once Cesar was able to dislodge his fist from her mouth, he stared her down until she looked away, before allowing himself to be treated and taken to the hospital (“I was feeling faint already, though,” he said).
He explained how he was able to get Holly to open her mouth and release him. Instead of moving away from her, he moved in, which prompted her to gag, and he delivered a light tap to her stomach, which made the dog open her mouth instinctively.
‘Humans don’t growl’
Cesar was quick to warn the audience, though: “I’m not telling you to do this, I’m just saying what I did. Don’t go saying, ‘Let’s do this, I wanna see if this s**t works.’”
Holly’s case, Cesar recalled, was one where dogs would typically be put down. “They think if a dog tastes blood, it’s a vampire now,” he said, shaking his head and letting off a high-pitched giggle. “It’s so ridiculous!”
He asked to adopt Holly instead, and the next video he showed was of Holly batting her muzzle playfully against the same fist she had viciously bitten just a few months ago.
Throughout his talk, several dogs of different ages and breeds were brought, out along with their owners, to have a one-on-one consultation with Cesar. As expected, the crowd went crazy clapping and hooting when he delivered his first “Tsst!” The sharp, hissing sound is a Millan trademark, and he explained briefly what it means.
“We use ‘Tsst!’ because humans don’t growl.” It was so effective that Cesar’s South Park version was able to neutralize Eric Cartman on the animated show.
Our favorite doggie patient that night was Pancake, a three-year-old beagle who would growl at her owner Marvin every time he would try to take away her food. Pancake has also bitten Marvin once during a food scuffle, so he has resorted to dousing her with water to distract her while taking away the food.
Cesar urged humans to look to the present and don’t judge a dog to react based on past behavior, because this will just perpetuate a cycle of misbehavior. Obviously, “once bitten, twice shy” is not in Cesar’s idiom when he urged Marvin to get over his fear and assertively take the food away from his beagle. Marvin tried his best to get over the memory of Pancake sinking her teeth into him.
The last dog he presented that night was one whose story, according to Cesar, touched the world. Out came Kabang, the dog who made news when her upper snout was ripped off by a motorcycle spoke after rescuing her two young masters from getting run over. We thought we had sweated out all the water in our bodies, but we realized our tear ducts had not dried when Kabang came out—snout-less, her entire tongue exposed, but looking happy and content.
“She doesn’t know that she’s missing her upper snout; even when she didn’t have her surgery yet, she was so happy,” said Dr. Anton Lim who had brought her out.
“Balance and harmony are dedication to the pack, and that’s exactly what dogs do every day. They’re always greeting you, ‘What can I do for you?’ In this (Kabang’s) case, she took it to the next level, saving a kid’s life. That is one of the beautiful things a dog brings to our lives,” said Cesar.
Cesar ended the show with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “‘The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.’ I am a Mexican that has been lucky enough to travel the world, speaking English, but with a heart that speaks a universal language.”
Cesar added, “Now I realize that my heart is also from the Philippines because you’ve welcomed me so well in the little time I’ve been here. I got a lot of hugs and kisses. A lot. I think I’ve gotten married five times without knowing it,” he joked.
Bidding the crowd farewell, he said, “I am proud to be here with you because I see how you do things from the heart, and I hope that we take care of our pets the same way.”
“Cesar Millan Live in Manila” was sponsored by Pet One, a fresh and artificial preservative-free line of locally produced dog food committed to providing quality nutrition for dogs of all ages.