"What the Dog Saw"

Cesar Millan as a child was called el Perrero, “the dog boy.” This suits him perfectly in his uncanny ability to train aggressive, hostile dogs into angels. At the Dog Psychology Center, Cesar takes care of forty-seven dogs believing in his motto of “Exercise, then food. Work, then reward.” The results have been shocking. The key is presence and state of mind. There must a sense of authority or you’re lost. Malcolm Gladwell states, “…in a way that is true of almost no other animals, dogs are students of human movement.” A dog will look to his owner for help unlike a chimp who uses the cues of the same species. A human cannot cooperate with a chimp. Dogs have a different attitude towards humans than chimps in that they are truly interested in humans to a point of obsession. A dog will communicate and act based on his or her owner’s movements and behaviors.

How does this dog-human interaction compare with human-human interaction? Millan fell in love at the age of twenty-three and married his wife Illusion a year later. Illusion characterized him as being macho-istic and egocentric never showing affection. He agreed to go see a therapist after Illusion threatened to divorce him. Wilma, the therapist, claimed, “Well, she wants something, too. She wants your affection and love.” Just like the dogs, his wife needed “exercise, discipline, and affection.” Cesar Millan had always been connected to dogs, but had not felt the same with humans. Millan was able to learn how to be a people whisperer on top of being a dog whisperer.

Gladwell is effectively arguing that dealing with dogs is similar in dealing with humans. Humans need to be shown affection and love. With dogs it is necessary to show the same affection, but at the same time showing authority and discipline. The dog needs to know who is in charge or will throw a tantrum like any other child not properly disciplined by their parents. The triad of "exercise, discipline, and affection" is the key to understanding this essay in that in order to succeed in life one needs to show these three things. Everyone has their own psychology and if treated properly one can connect with humans and if they are interested dogs too!