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from the sunday times.
i love it: "bye, man."
Questions for Cesar Millan
Leader of the Pack
By DEBORAH SOLOMON
Published: May 7, 2006
Q: As the founder of the Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles, you claim that Americans are driving their pets to the brink of insanity by smothering them with affection.
The U.S. is a very assertive society with people, but not when it comes to dogs. People are soft and kissy with dogs. That is why dogs take over. All dogs in America are suffering from the same problem — lack of exercise and lack of leadership.
On your television show, "Dog Whisperer," and in your new book, "Cesar's Way," you encourage dog owners to treat their pets with the "calm assertiveness" of a natural pack leader. Why is that state apparently so hard to achieve?
Because Americans are focused on making money. And to make a lot of money, you have to be hyper.
And you believe that we're projecting our own neuroses onto our dogs, even when we leave the house?
If what you do is say, "I'm sorry, baby, Mommy has to go, blah, blah, blah," the dog doesn't understand what you are saying. He only understands that you are in a soft state and he is dominating you.
So what departing words would you prefer we say to a dog?
"Bye, man."
Do you think it is O.K. for a dog to sleep in bed with his owner?
Yes, because a dog pack sleeps together. But the thing is, you have to invite the dog into your bed.
Should a dog be allowed on the living-room couch?
Make sure you invite them. The whole point is that you always remind them who owns the couch. The pack leader reminds them who runs the show.
How do you explain this country's infatuation with dogs? There are some 65 million pet dogs in America.
You know why people like dogs? Because dogs can't talk and say, "You didn't walk me today." Do you realize how many people would be sued by a dog if a dog was capable of suing them?
Your Honor, my owner failed to take me to the park.
Believe me, it would go all the way to the Supreme Court. When a dog barks and destroys the house, it's because his physical body is not being fulfilled. In the natural habitat, a dog migrates constantly. They can cover 90 miles in one day.
Do you find that dogs on the West Coast or in the suburbs get more exercise than New York City dogs, most of whom live in apartments and don't have backyards?
The backyard is not exercise. It doesn't represent freedom. It doesn't represent fun. It doesn't represent balance. The backyard is just going back and forth between walls. People in New York don't have the backyard and are forced to walk the dog more often, which is the best thing that can happen to dogs.
Yet in your book you insist that many Americans and especially New Yorkers don't know how to walk a dog properly.
Every time I go to New York, I see dogs in front of people. Oh, brother. The dog should be behind the person. In the natural dog world, the dog is always behind the pack leader. Pack leaders never, ever tell the dog to go in front.
But what if a person is a schlepper by temperament? Not everyone can be a pack leader.
Not everyone is a pack leader with humans. But anyone can be a pack leader with animals.
On your show, you tend to play up your image as a virile, Mexican-born farm boy in touch with your animal instincts.
This isn't about gender. Look at female elephants. They rule the pack, and they don't act like males.
What do you make of that best-selling book about the dog who misbehaved, "Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog"?
I didn't read enough of it to say. I didn't find it interesting from a psychological point of view.
You're not actually a psychologist, are you?
No. Not by a school. There is no college that teaches you how to control a pack of dogs.
But how can you justify running a dog-psychology center when your whole approach is based on the idea that we're already too dog-obsessed in this country?
The dog doesn't have to know that. Only the dog owner knows.
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