In the wild, a dog's very survival depends on a strong, stable, and organized pack, where every member knows its place and follows the rules established by the pack leader. The pack instinct is perhaps the strongest natural motivator for a dog.

Cesar Millan teaches that, in order to properly fulfill both our dogs and ourselves, we each need to become our canine's calm-assertive pack leader. A dog that doesn't trust its human to be a good pack leader becomes unbalanced and often exhibits unwanted or anti-social behaviors.

Cesar does not "train" dogs in the sense of teaching them commands like "sit," "stay," "come," and "heel" - he rehabilitates unbalanced dogs and helps "re-train" their owners to better understand how to see the world through a dog's eyes.

Cesar counsels people to calmly, assertively, and consistently give their dogs rules, boundaries, and limitations to establish themselves as solid pack leaders and to help correct and control unwanted behavior. He doesn't believe in "quick fixes." Though changing some behaviors can appear to happen in a relatively short period of time, none of those changes will "stick" unless the human acts consistently with his or her dog every day to keep unwanted behaviors from returning. In Cesar's opinion, no one should ever hit or yell at a dog to correct unwanted behavior.

Cesar's holistic approach has been the subject of national media, including The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, CBS-TV, Nightline, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and The Today Show. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Denise Richards, Daisy Fuentes, Nicolas Cage, Scarlett Johansson, Patti LaBelle, and Hilary Duff are just a few of Hollywood's elite attesting to Millan's rehabilitation abilities.