Cesar Millan: Lead Your Pack and Transform Your Dog's Behavior - Use Cesar's Way to Enhance Your Life

Marv: Smartest trainer,

United States on Oct 24, 2023

Me: Cesar is the man, of course. I love his "calm assertive energy" and hope I will act similarly with our puppy when we get her in a few weeks. This book is mostly stories about different people and their experiences that were improved by small changes in their own human behaviour. This will be a good book for AFTER we've had the pup a while. I need a sort of "crash course" and although this us called Be the Pack Leader, I'm not getting much direction as to HOW to achieve this specifically although I suspect it is all energy-related, the root of the connection between human and canine. This book is all stories of people Cesar has helped, which will be useful later on as a dog companion reader. The other book of his I bought is much more suited to my specific time-sensitive needs and gets right down to it, in Short Guide to a Happy Dog. I recommend that you read that book FIRST if like me, you feel you need a bit more SPECIFIC direction. I'm a cat person getting a dog for the first time as an adult so I am trying to "think like a dog" might as it does not come naturally!

Canada on May 05, 2023

Michael McClure: Worth a read basically Cesar but I doubt if the book was written by him.

United States on Apr 14, 2023

Tree: I have followed Caesar for many years, watched his shows, read his books and applied his concepts to become a better pack leader for my Rottweiler, Takoda, who was showing aggression in his later years. I attributed this to him having pain from a degenerative joint disorder, and was able to identify that by ‘protecting’ and ‘babying’ Takoda, I was leaving him feeling vulnerable. I did see improvement but sadly our time together came to an end.
Takoda passed away at 12 years old and it took many years for me to be ‘ready’ to share my life with another dog, but I always vowed when I was ready I would never repeat the mistakes I made with Takoda.
Here I am, many years later with two rescue lab mixes, both displaying fear aggression on a couple occasions each. This time I am quick to clue in that the problem is me; I am creating an imbalance, I am not leading the pack effectively and they are responding by taking over in situations where I become nervous. Thankfully, I know where to turn for help; The Dog Whisperer of course-one of my greatest mentors!!
I find this book most helpful, as Caesar elaborates and clarifies the concept of having calm and assertive...

Canada on Jul 03, 2022

Amazon Customer: I believe this would be a great book for anyone with a problem dog as he address many common behavior issues. The downside of his techniques is that you have to apply them perfectly and safely. I would highly recommend learning the body language of dogs well before using some of his specific techniques. This is because you need to be in the right moment many times for Cesar's ways to work. Especially if you just got your first puppy/dog, you need to know what they are saying to us and what they're feeling about a particular situation. As I mentioned, his techniques may be beneficial to someone who has a problem dog such as aggression, food/toy guarding, fearfulness etc. and Cesar provides concise and detailed instructions on how to address the issues. Cesar has good tips on keeping your dog under control as prevention so none of these problems arise. I have to add that many people may not like that Cesar will clearly state affection is the last part of the formula for a happy dog, and to only give affection while the dog is in a calm submissive state. While this may work for some owners, I see the majority of people in first world countries on our planet are not going to like or...

Canada on Sep 16, 2016

Zilly115: It is true that you don't get to techniques until about 70% into the book. Even then, more example stories are intertwined with the tips. But overall, there is good advice and I believe in the calm assertiveness Cesar preaches. We have to be in control of our emotions whether we're training our dogs or not. In my case, I expect that it will take a while to see a change. Even when I walk my 6 year old hound/pit mix with high confidence, her 70lbs nearly pull my limbs out. (I'm trying to reverse 6 years of non existent or inconsistent training.) She doesn't have any issues at home. Outside it's fear aggression and pulling on the leash. I don't want to continue scaring people with other dogs; especially with little ones. I find that the diversional sounds work and giving her lots of exercise opportunities.
My critique is actually on a side comment Cesar made in the book. I have to disagree with this statement in the section regarding patients and therapy dogs: "Doctors and nurses are trained to be more impartial, but often their energy isn’t nurturing. They come using a purely intellectual energy." I don't know about doctors, but one of the first things we discuss in nursing...

United States on Aug 24, 2016

Jen.France: Well, after really enjoying the Dog Whisperer on TV I was a little bit disappointed in this book. We adopt older dogs (10 and over) all shapes, sizes and breeds…… and usually have five dogs at any one time. I do agree with being the pack leader or at least the person the dogs can rely on for consistency and gentleness, but some of the methods mentioned in the book would really not work for some of our rescued dogs who mostly respond better to the (kinder) treat based method of training (Jan Fennell’s book is a good example). On the other hand I believe that if you do have a very dominant dog it needs to know that it cannot rule the roost, or make life for the other dogs in the house a misery – but stability can be achieved in several ways, and I find that a firm approach, always calm and kind and using the treat method of good behaviour gains a treat, works well for the troubled dogs we adopt - although of course perhaps Cesar’s methods would work for some dogs, his results are instant and is that a "real" success or only temporary until the dog is not being dominated, even if it is with his "calm assertive energy". Surely for dogs that have known only cruelty and...

United Kingdom on May 29, 2015

Amazon Customer: I have 2 dogs. An 11 year old bitzer female, Reg, and a 10 month old Australian Cattle DOG, ralph. Ralph replaced my 13 year old Ridgeback/Bull Terrier, Woody. Ralph was coincidently born the day Woody passed. I brought both Reg and Woody up from pups. Having seen The Dog Whisperer, I checked online for a book by Cesar Milan. I chose Ralph from a litter of 3. They were on a cattle property just outside of the small mining town I live in in Western Australia. The owner of the mum was a bit upset that the pups had been romping through his vege. garden (They were born there). His plan was to knock Ralphs brother and sister on the head and tie Ralph up. I was not having that and took them home to my house. I had been visiting Ralph every day since he was 3 days old and would handle him and his siblings, mum is very gentle but sadly has been bitten by a snake and passed away. I got good homes for the other 2 and Ralph has settled in with old Reg who keeps him in line. Reg actually picked out Ralph to play with, she virtually ignored the other 2. I enjoy Cesars book as it delves into the phsyche of the dog. That appeals to me as I treat all people by who they are, and dogs have...

United States on Jun 04, 2013

pebbles: We have had dogs our whole lives (we're seniors) and never really had a dog with issues we didn't know how to address. That changed when we got our most recent dog from a rescue organization. We've had rescue dogs and cats before and highly recommend it, but being a good pack leader is even more important when you get an adult dog that hasn't been socialized well.
The first thing I would tell folks is to get one of Cesar's books or videos BEFORE you go get your dog. Knowing how to bring a dog (especially an adult dog like ours) home and introduce them to your family is very important and can nip some problems in the bud. We "fell in love" with "Tara" and brought her home and showered her with love and affection because we felt sorry for her and because we had missed having a dog since ours passed and because we love dogs. She responded with love and affection, but was beginning to show signs of taking over the house. On top of that, we found out that our sweet lovable little ball of fur, HATES, HATES other dogs. Not people, thank heaven, but she went ape whenever she saw a dog - I mean, crazed growling and barking and snapping. Not cool in a neighborhood that where almost...

United States on Apr 24, 2013

Sir Readalot: If you watch Cesar Millan's tv programme you'll be familiar with his training techniques. Bearing in mind that the program is heavily edited and is primarily an entertainment show and not a "how to" I hoped that a book entitled Be the Pack Leader would be much more of a guide to his techniques and training methods. On that front it was a huge disappointment. There is too much showbiz in the presentation and very little content of any value if you are genuinely looking for practical guidance in training your dog.
To be fair, I think Cesar is transparent about the origins of his popularity, his lack of education or training in dog psychology & what created & keeps his empire going. He admits he was groomed for stardom by Will Smith's wife, he got his real start to fame by being referred to Hollywood types. The first chapter is a nauseating tale about a billionaire and his dogs - if I read the word billionaire one more time I think I would have started ripping pages out of the book. Despite his obvious success as a dog trainer (he'd baulk at that word), he also waxes lyrical with his own brand of psychology which he uses on the dog's owners, and spouts all kinds of...

United Kingdom on Mar 19, 2010