Product Description

Bestselling author Cesar Millan takes his principles of dog psychology a step further, showing you how to develop the calm-assertive energy of a successful pack leader and use it to improve your dog’s life–and your own.

Filled with practical tips and techniques as well as real-life success stories from his clients (including the Grogan family, owners of Marley from Marley & Me) and his popular television show Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, Cesar helps you understand and read your dog’s energy as well as your own so that you can move beyond just correcting behavioral issues and take your connection with your dog to the next level.

The principles of calm-assertive energy will help you become a better pack leader in every area of your life, improving your relationships with friends, family, and coworkers.

In addition, Cesar addresses several important issues for the first time, including what you need to know about the major dog behavior tools available and the difference between “personality” and “instability.”

Ultimately, what emerges from Be the Pack Leader are both happier dogs and happier, more centered owners.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8333 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-02
• Released on: 2007-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Millan, television's "Dog Whisperer," says that "Even the most unobservant person can see an owner's own issues totally mirrored in his or her dogs' problems," and in this follow-up to last year's bestselling Cesar's Way, he makes that connection more explicit and exploitable. Every dog wants a "clearly defined social framework, with a fair, consistent pack leader"; chances are good, then, that behind every unruly dog is an inconsistent human. To become the master your dog needs, one must cultivate "calm-assertive energy," a mind-set that puts both dogs and people at ease; besides thorough explanation, Millan offers a number of suggestions for developing this powerful form of non-verbal communication, including visualization techniques and inner dialogue ("focus your mind, and then tell yourself, 'This is my sofa.' "). Answering readers' requests for more straightforward advice, the book also offers a rundown of training tools-collars, leashes, etc.-and step-by-step instructions for properly handling common occurrences such as meeting a new dog, walking, feeding and visiting the vet. In numerous case studies, Millan's love for his work is obvious and infectious; whether you need a book for your dog or yourself, Millan's simple techniques, compassionate tone and intimate knowledge of dog psychology (and the human effect on it) makes this a worthy read.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Founder of the Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles, CESAR MILLAN is the star of Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan on the National Geographic Channel. In addition to Cesar’s educational seminars and work with unstable dogs, he and his wife have founded the Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing financial support and rehabilitation expertise to shelters. A native of Culican, Mexico, Cesar lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Ilusion, and their two sons, Andre and Calvin.

MELISSA JO PELTIER, an executive producer and writer of Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, has been honored for her film and television writing and directing with an Emmy, a Peabody, and more than fifty other awards. She lives in Nyack, New York, with her husband, writer-director John Gray, and stepdaughter, Caitlin.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1

Identifying Instability


“There was something I had never told him, that no one ever had. I wanted him to hear it before he went. ‘Marley,’ I said, ‘You are a great dog.’”
- John Grogan, Marley and Me

How do you know that your dog is unstable? If you are like the majority of my clients, you just know. Your dog gets aggressive with other dogs on walks and at the dog parks. Or howls for hours when you leave the house. Or compulsively runs away. All this is puzzling to you, because the family dog from your childhood was perfect — or that is the way that you remember him. In the amber glow of your memory, your beloved Blackie was mellow, obedient, and content to stay in the background. He was naturally social, and always got along with strange people and dogs. He fetched and returned the tennis ball, walked beside you to school, and never peed in the house. So why does your current dog dig up your garden? Why does he hide under the table when the garbage truck drives by? What in the world is up with him when he manically spins in circles when he gets excited? Of course, like most of my clients with unstable dogs, you simply accept that your dog was born with something missing — or has some sort of mental disorder. Or, if your dog was adopted from a rescue organization, you create a story — that he had such a traumatic experience in his past placements that he will never be able to forget the terrible abuse he suffered during those dark, lonely years before he met you. So of course, he will never be stable, and you should not complain, but instead, remain tolerant and feel really sorry for him when he pees all over your sofa whenever you turn the television on. How could you criticize him when he bites anyone who comes near his food dish, knowing what he’s been through in his short but traumatic life? You decide you have to pay the price to live with an unstable dog, because of everything that happened to him before. You owe it to him.

They’re All Great Dogs
The truth about dogs is, they don’t feel bad about the past. They don’t dwell on their bad memories. We are the only species that does that. Dogs live in the moment. If they feel safe and secure in the moment, then any past conditioned behavior can be reconditioned, provided we give our time, our patience — and our consistency. Dogs move on — often, very quickly. They — like everything else of Mother Nature — naturally want to return to balance. Too often, it is we, the humans, who are unknowingly preventing that balance from occurring.

We are human beings and one of the most beautiful things about our species is that we have empathy. When someone — including an animal —who we care about is in distress, we feel bad for them. We hurt when they hurt. But in the animal world, hurt is a weak energy. Feeling sorry is a weak energy. The kindest thing we can do for our animals who have suffered in the past is to help them move forward into the present. In short, that uncontrollable, neurotic monster you are living with is just waiting for you to help guide him on the way to becoming one of the world’s greatest dogs!


Marley & Me

John Grogan’s book Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog hit the best-seller list in November of 2005 and, as of this writing, is still in the top ten. It’s easy to see why — this fun-to-read, touching tale of a lovable but out-of-control family Labrador, Marley, could easily be the life story of many of my clients dogs. Marley is usually destructive, rarely obedient, sometimes obsessive, and always unpredictable.

He’s even described on the book jacket as wondrously neurotic. To me, joining the words wondrous and neurotic is part of the reason that there are so many unstable dogs in America. Many people who love their dogs think that their pets’ unhealthy issues are just “personality quirks.” When author Grogan first published his tribute to the recently deceased Marley in the Philadelphia Inquirer, he initially thought that his former companion was one-of-a-kind - “the world’s worst dog.” He was soon flooded with letters and e-mails informing him that he was actually just one member of a giant “Bad Dog Club.”

“My in-box resembled a television talk show,” Grogan writes, ‘Bad Dogs and the People Who Love Them,’ with the willing victims lining up to proudly brag not about how wonderful their dogs were but about just how awful.” Like many of my clients, however, all these well-meaning dog lovers may not understand that their dog isn’t happy being “awful.”

I was thrilled last year when the wonderful Grogan family actually became my clients. Through my National Geographic channel series, Dog Whisperer, they contacted me and invited me to their home in Pennsylvania to help them with Gracie, their current dog. Also a gorgeous yellow lab, Gracie had a very different issue than Marley (which I’ll get to chapter 4). But as different as the two dogs were, Gracie and Marley’s problems were both caused by the same human issues — lack of leadership. When I finally met John Grogan and his wife, Jenny, Marley’s story made more sense to me. They are highly intelligent, compassionate people who see the world through the eyes of talented journalists. They observe, analyze, and describe, but they don’t interfere or try to change. They assumed they were stuck with Marley the way he was — that, in the words of John’s father, Marley just “had a screw loose.” Indeed, as the Grogans laughingly said to me, if it hadn’t been for Marley’s quirks, there wouldn’t have been a wonderful book for so many people to identify with, and to bring tears to so many people’s eyes. That’s the catch, isn’t it? We don’t want to change our dogs because they make us laugh, or feel unconditionally loved, or needed. But very often we don’t put ourselves into the position of how the dog feels. When a dog has a fear, or an obsession, or any of the many other problems I am called in to solve, most of the time we’re not talking about a “personality quirk.” We’re talking about an unfulfilled and sometimes an unhappy dog.

After I finished wiping the tears in my eyes and put down Grogan’s book, the first thing that came to my mind was that Marley was perfectly capable of being that “great dog,” all the time! In the book, John’s wife Jenny goes through postpartum depression after the birth of their second son and, overwhelmed with the frustration of caring for two babies and a dog that destroys furniture on a daily basis, she finally breaks down and orders the uncontrollable lab out of the house for good. Previously, Marley had been kicked out of obedience class, but John knows that if he can’t get the dog to follow some basic commands and learn not to jump up on people who come to the house this time around, he’s going to lose his best friend. So John actually did it. With grim determination, John buckled down, worked really hard to become a serious “pack leader,” and finally helped Marley to graduate from obedience class at last — even though he was seventh in an obedience class with eight dogs in it. With the help of a friend, John breaks Marley of his habit of tackling people who come to their front door. The point is, John was a pack leader when he absolutely needed to be — and Marley was perfectly capable of being an obedient dog. Together the two of them rallied to the challenge and did what needed to be done in order to keep the pack together. In my reading of the book, however, once Jenny recovered from her depression and things mellowed out at home, John stopped following through in his leadership. So Marley only went so far in learning how to obey household rules, boundaries, and limitations.

John and Jenny also had an advantage that many people who adopt older dogs or shelter dogs don’t have— the opportunity to condition Marley to be a well-behaved dog from puppyhood. Again, seeing their dog as journalists — in a detached way — they failed to interfere with what they assumed was Marley’s natural development. They observed all his antics with wonder and good humor. Plus, he was so darn cute! The endearing photograph on the cover of the book says it all — the curiously cocked head, the pleading brown eyes, how could anyone with a heart ever want to correct or give discipline to that adorable, floppy-eared pup John and Jenny made the well-meaning but common mistake of believing that Marley’s destructive antics as a puppy were evidence of his developing personality, his “spirit.” When you study dogs in nature — from wolves to wild dogs to domestic dogs that raise each other, like some farm dogs do — you will witness discipline and order instilled in their lives from their very first days as puppies. You’ll also see the elder canids putting up with an awful lot from the pups — instead will allow the little ones to crawl on them, tug on them, even nip. They won’t deny their innate playfulness, however they set definite limits on it. When playtime is over, the elder dog lets the pups know it right away — by nosing them to the ground with a gentle bite or lifting them up by their scruffs, if necessary. Sometimes, only a growl will get their point across. The older dog always follows through and the pups always back off. If danger is imminent, the elders manage to get the pups immediately herded together and inside the safety of t...

Customer Reviews

Exercise, Discipline, Affection
All I really want to do is walk my dogs without them pulling on their leashes. Cesar makes it look so easy and, unfortunately, his book does not give me the magic, step-by-step formula that will instantly transform my dogs into perfect little walking machines. Alas!

On the positive side (and surely more realistic), the book gives wonderful insights into how to communicate so that your dog understands what you want. His threefold formula of exercise, discipline, and affection is simple and effective. My two little dogs (1 yr. old puppies actually) are happy to get a morning and evening walk, have boundaries at mealtimes and limits on where they can go in the house and what they can do, and , of course, get lots of affection.

If you want a step-by-step manual don't buy the book. Milan states up front that he is NOT a dog trainer. However, if you want an interesting read that helps you understand how your dog learns best, I'd recommend buying it.

Gotta love Cesar...
My reason for buying this book was pretty shallow. I love the Dog Whisperer and was about to get a dog of my own. Not wanting a dog that acted out of line, I figured reading this would be a nice start.

I was right.

If you've seen Cesar's show on the National Geographic Channel, you basically know, in a sense, what to expect. What I didn't expect was how much his philosophy of 'calm-assertive' energy played into being a better person as a whole. The whole 'calm-assertive' thing, as skeptical as I was, actually works too. I always thought Cesar knew what he was talking about but using his methods with my new addition actually works wonders.

Lets not forget the guidlines he so adamantly preaches...
1. Exercise
2. Discipline
3. Affection
"In that order!"

What really makes me laugh, and even like the book more, is that it's so clearly Cesar. Listen to him talk on his show sometime, then read Be The Pack Leader. It reads EXACTLY like he sounds.

Strewn about are 'Success Stories.' I really enjoyed them. More than anything it just solidifies how much Cesar's approach works in rehabilitating dogs. Without Cesar even coming to help out these ordinary people transformed their dogs--and more times than not--themselves.

If you're like me and wanted this book simply to learn how to deal with new dogs, Appendix-A Quick Reference Guide To Becoming A Better Pack Leader, at the back of the book is going to be your bible. It sure was mine the first couple of weeks.

Overall, even if you have a perfectly behaved dog--or don't even have one--Be The Pack Leader is a terrific, fast, read. Everything is very straight-forward and to the point and is chalk full of amazing tips on transforming your dog. Highly recommended.

A Better Book than Cesar's Way
Cesar Millan truly loves dogs and wants to make their lives better by teaching us how to interact with them in instinctual ways that they will understand and by showing us how to fulfill their true needs. His repeated reminder that dogs should not be humanized cannot be emphasized enough, nor his mantra of calm-assertive behavior (which excludes both pampering and hostility in equal measure). Anyone who has worked with groups of dogs at liberty knows the truth behind the words - dogs respect the one who carries him/herself with confidence and remains consistent and fair.

I also greatly admire that Mr. Millan has sought out professionals in behavior and positive reinforcement to increase his understanding. A willingness to continue one's education and expand one's knowledge is exceptional and commendable.

I hope he continues his quest for knowledge, because it still comes up short in some areas. His unfailing belief in "alpha always first" has been largely undermined by recent study. In several packs, members other than the alpha lead the hunt - a smart leader knows when to defer to superior skills. Wolves on the way to a hunt may disperse and regroup along the way - sniffing, playing, marking, and enjoying - until they are closer to their prey. Helen Thayer observed wolves switching off the lead position, sharing the arduous job of breaking trail through snow. Leadership is about guidance and good decisions, not about absolutes; therefore I cringe when he insists that the only "correct" way to walk a dog is to keep her behind or beside you, using "high collaring" or compulsion to do so. The correct way is whatever the leader decides, and if I want to defer to my dog to lead me out of the woods, that's my decision (and a smart one, given our relative navigation skills). I really don't care whether she is ahead, beside, or behind me, so long as she is not pulling and is paying attention.

He also continues to insist that positive reinforcement is fine for training behaviors, but ineffective for rehabilitation. Sadly, it appears he has only encountered trainers who don't properly implement the proven, effective method of counter-conditioning (pairing the trigger of a dog's fear or aggression with positive experiences to alter the association). CC does not involve simply throwing food or comfort at a dog who is already aggressing or reacting. Dogs are worked sub-threshold (at the level that does not set them off) and gradually worked closer and closer to the trigger. It is very nuanced, and can take a long time, but it certainly works when done correctly and is a valid option for people wanting to avoid physical methods. However, it certainly can and should be paired with "calm-assertive energy" in the handler, as so many of these problems are fear-based, and the dog can benefit from the handler's energy/attitude.

Sadly, this book, like its predecessor (this book being much better-organized and thought out than the original), will probably be demonized without justification. Mr. Millan so clearly emphasizes that all things are to be done in a calm, controlled, fair and pain-free manner that he simply cannot be compared to the compulsion trainers of the dark, not-so-distant past. He likewise advises that each person answer to his/her own conscious, particularly in deciding what "tools" to use. He makes far too many good points to place this book into the "bad" category, and I hope trainers who do not agree with his methods will read the book before vilifying it.