Cesar Millan with Angel, a miniature schnauzer puppy. Photo: © MPH - Emery/Sumner Joint Venture
Call it the cult of Cesar. It's an hour before the start of Cesar Millan's VIP party at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City and a crowd has already formed outside. They have paid $175 per ticket to meet the star of National Geographic's "The Dog Whisperer." Surprisingly, not all of them own dogs.
"Even though I'm not a dog owner, I watch his shows and it has taught me how to handle myself in more positive ways," Evelyn Campbell, a small business owner from Clifton, New Jersey, tells Paw Nation. "His energy [on the show] is phenomenal and it's taught me how to relax. When I become stressed, I breathe like he tells you to and it's helped me in my business."
Since "The Dog Whisperer" series first premiered in 2004, Millan has published three best-selling books, taken to the lecture circuit with his "Packpower Tour," launched "Cesar's Way" magazine, and started the Cesar and Ilusion MIllan Foundation to help shelter dogs and rescue organizations across the country.
"I have always worked with rescue organizations, even way before the show," Millan tells Paw Nation in a one-on-one interview before the party. "It's part of the karma. I always say, people who pay me keep my business going, and the people that I help keep my karma going. So the foundation is a way to extend the karma."
In addition to promoting the premiere of the sixth season of "The Dog Whisperer" and his latest book, "How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond," Millan and his wife Ilusion are in New York City to present a whopping $250,000 check to North Shore Animal League, the world's largest no-kill animal shelter. The money will help establish the "Mutt-i-grees" program, a humane education curriculum carried out by Yale University's School of the 21st Century and North Shore Animal League.
In person, Millan is much the way he appears on television -- exuding a subtly powerful presence -- but a lot more dressed up. He arrives for the party attired in a sleek, gray suit, pale lavender shirt, burgundy scarf, and a diamond stud in his left ear. When I ask if he likes getting dressed up, Millan waits a beat before quietly stating, "I love it. I smell like a dog every day, so every once in a while I like my wife to think I'm really sexy."
"Even though I'm not a dog owner, I watch his shows and it has taught me how to handle myself in more positive ways," Evelyn Campbell, a small business owner from Clifton, New Jersey, tells Paw Nation. "His energy [on the show] is phenomenal and it's taught me how to relax. When I become stressed, I breathe like he tells you to and it's helped me in my business."
Since "The Dog Whisperer" series first premiered in 2004, Millan has published three best-selling books, taken to the lecture circuit with his "Packpower Tour," launched "Cesar's Way" magazine, and started the Cesar and Ilusion MIllan Foundation to help shelter dogs and rescue organizations across the country.
"I have always worked with rescue organizations, even way before the show," Millan tells Paw Nation in a one-on-one interview before the party. "It's part of the karma. I always say, people who pay me keep my business going, and the people that I help keep my karma going. So the foundation is a way to extend the karma."
In addition to promoting the premiere of the sixth season of "The Dog Whisperer" and his latest book, "How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond," Millan and his wife Ilusion are in New York City to present a whopping $250,000 check to North Shore Animal League, the world's largest no-kill animal shelter. The money will help establish the "Mutt-i-grees" program, a humane education curriculum carried out by Yale University's School of the 21st Century and North Shore Animal League.
In person, Millan is much the way he appears on television -- exuding a subtly powerful presence -- but a lot more dressed up. He arrives for the party attired in a sleek, gray suit, pale lavender shirt, burgundy scarf, and a diamond stud in his left ear. When I ask if he likes getting dressed up, Millan waits a beat before quietly stating, "I love it. I smell like a dog every day, so every once in a while I like my wife to think I'm really sexy."
With him are Junior, a gray pit bull, and Angel, a black miniature schnauzer. The two pups appear in the first episode of the show's new season, in which Millan adopts four puppies of various breeds to demonstrate how to properly socialize and raise a puppy from the beginning. He wants America to learn how to prevent a lot of behavioral problems that can occur in dogs. "When I came to America, I saw that dogs needed rehabilitation or intervention. Since America has heard me say many times, 'it's not the dog, it's the human being,' I wanted to show them what it looks like from the beginning."
The number one mistake people make with puppies, Millan says, is that they pick dogs with the wrong energy level. "When getting a dog, people research which is the best breed for them," he says. "But it's not the breed, it's the human behind the dog, so you have to learn to pick the right dog." Most people, he says, should choose a dog with medium-level energy and a sweet temperament.
While there may be no such thing as a perfect person, Millan believes there is such a thing as a perfect dog. "Mother nature is perfect and dogs are a part of mother nature," he says. "To me, balance is perfection. Because when you accept everything about yourself, you live a grounded life. You're grateful about what you have, and there is no tension, no selfishness, no aggression."
The new season of "The Dog Whisperer" premieres Friday, October 9th at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic channel. Watch a preview below.
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Don't too much care for Mr. Millan. Sent him a note asking for advise and got NOTHING!!!! So, unless he's whispering so low that no one can here him, he really doesn't care about the people who USED to watch his show.
we have a dog whisper in our town too...quite amazing and same persona as Cesar
Hello
Yeah, he probably only got 1000 that day.