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September 28, 2025 15 mins

When you see a dog behaving badly — barking, jumping, biting — don’t blame the dog. Blame their owner’s bad energy. That’s just part of the fascinating conversation Amy and T.J. had with Cesar Millan. They began by asking the do’s and don’ts of dog training, and ended up getting a lesson in human and spiritual mindfulness!  This unexpectedly enlightening conversation about human behavior was so good, we decided to keep talking and make this a two-part series. After you finish this episode, stay tuned for part 2!

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, folks, and welcome to this episode of Amy
and TJ. And right now you have a dog that
is misbehaving and rogues. People think I need a dog trainer?
What is the only name you can come up with?
The only ones? Can you think of a second dog
trainer that lives down the street from you, across the country,

(00:25):
and another I can't name another one?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, there's no other dog liss there. He is the
dog whisper.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I hope he doesn't whisper during this interview we got
in the studio right now, the man himself, the dog
whisper missus steves alone.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you, guys, I earned the title.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Now is it possible? Are are there any people out
there who are just not dog people?

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yes? Really?

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Now what makes someone it's not a dog person?

Speaker 3 (00:52):
I don't know I made them not another person. But
what I can tell you is there's three kinds of humans,
right is the ones who love dogs, the ones who
are afraid of dogs, and the ones who don't like dogs. Wow,
you can look at it in the pitbull world, right
because some people love pitbulls, some people are afraid of pitbulls,
some people just don't like pitbulls. But that's not just
in the breed, it's also in the dog. Some people

(01:15):
just don't like dogs and they're afraid of dogs.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Can you sense that in someone when you first meet them,
Because people will say, I'm not a dog person, or
I'm not a cat person, or do you just with
all the.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Work, they're very obvious a dog in the room. They're
obvious without a dog in the room. Because there's no triggering,
you can't get a feel.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Okay, so you can well do dogs know when they're dog?

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Is like an X ray machine of your spirit and
your instinct and your heart and now your mind. They
don't know what you do for a living, but they
just know how your spirit is, how your health, which
is your instinct and your heart. How much are you loving? Low? Medium? High? Right?
Everything is has a you can measure it low, medium, high.
You can be happy low, medium or high. So Doug

(01:59):
will comments and sense okay, Documan is kind of happy.
Do I hear you? Right?

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Can you not fool a dog?

Speaker 3 (02:04):
We can't cat a dog. You can't fool God, your
mom and a dog.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
You know, it's funny. I got my dog. He's a multipoo.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
I actually researched breeds because I was going through cancer
and everyone in the house was really sad, and I said,
you know what, we need a dog to bring everyone's
spirit sup. That wasn't maybe the smartest idea for me
in the middle of chemo to be training a dog
and dealing with potty training a dog. But I survived,
We all survived. But I picked him because they said

(02:35):
that breed especially can sense when someone's feeling sad or
pain and will come to you. He'll go to the
saddest person in the room, and it's proven to be
true eleven years later. If you're upset or sad, he
will come to you.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
He always sits next to me in the house.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
I didn't know this was the he does.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
He loves you. He comes to you because he knows
you need some comforting, right.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
And forth exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
But how do dogs sense that? Do you have an
idea that?

Speaker 4 (03:02):
Obviously I know you don't directly communicate with them, but
if anyone would know, it would be you.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah, but it's not the breed, because you know, there's
a lot of dogs that go to hospitals and they're
not specifically a breed. It's just that particular dog has
the gift right, and most of the dogs that have
the gift to outlift people that are not feeling well
as the middle of the pack, the happy go luckys right,
Because there's three positions in the pack. Back of the pack,
middle of the pack, front of the pack. So if

(03:28):
you're going to bring a front of the pack into
a hospital, is actually going to attack them?

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (03:33):
You say so the middle of the pack, those are
the one they accept anybody and that's what they can
uplift people. So back of the pack dogs become way
too sensitive. That would be too much from the back
of the pack to come and visit people in the hospital.
So it's not the breed, it's the position of the
pack that dog was born to be.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
So if you have like Sei Shires, you get a
back of the pack because that dog is going to
sense before it happens, so their sensitivity becomes there. You
see it. So if you if you're a person with
disabilities you can't see, you get a middle of the pack.
If you're a police officer, you get a front of
the back.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Can I ask or are people trained well enough to
identify that is so specific with you?

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Now?

Speaker 1 (04:14):
It might be commonplace for among folks that do that will,
But do people like in a hospital or whatnot? Do
they know when they bring in a dog, are we
doing enough research to make sure we're getting the right
middle back front pack dog.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
They call it temperament. I call it position of the pack.
It's easier to see a sensitive dog. You see what
I'm saying. It's like and the guy we can see
when the guy is back at the back, we can
see the guy. You know what I mean. It's assessment
and evaluation of the guy what he was born to be.
And the same thing is with the dog. But people
call it temperament.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
How much of someone's dog? Is it a reflection of
the human owner or the family dynamic, all of it?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
They take it on.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
A dog is a reflection of three things. Your energy,
your philosophy, and your actions. Just like a kid. I'm
a father, so my kid are going to reflect my energy,
my philosophy, my actions with dogs. Wow, therefore my dogs
are going to reflect my So my what's my energy?
My energy is silence, calmness, confidence, love, George five. So
when I am silence, they reflect that. But when I'm

(05:20):
all of them, they reflect that obviously, right, And then
the philosophy is I practice dog psychology. I don't practice
human psychology and a dog most people do, Oh my.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
God, it's a baby.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Just go for a walk and the dog is in front.
I was just walking in you know, right now in
Central Park and everybody's in the phone walking a dog.
That's this connection, he says. So I'm pretty sure how
how those people when they when they begin the ritual
of going for what you want to go for a buck,
for a walk, they create excitement.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
So I do that. So you've seen me do that.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
I'm like, brody, want to go outside and swagging.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Okay, she said the ship to me once.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
She just doesn't.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Know that is actually a true story. He goes, I'm
not Brody. My name is Tej.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Please don't talk to grown men.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
But it's cute because in fact, we come back from
the run from the walk.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Sometimes I let him run to the door of the apartment,
like let's run, let's run, And I always like to
have him come into the and it's cute because you
can wrap them up and it's really sweet because there's
just this joy.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Is that bad?

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Listen? Don't? Oh, it's not bad, because human gets a
lot of joy out of it. But most of the
time the dogs begin to become a little confused because
the human uses a lot of excitement like horse people
do the opposite. Horse people are more quiet and more calm,
and then they walk the horse. Right. But dog people,
you go for a walk and you said, no horse

(06:45):
person will ever do that ritual. It's a ritual.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
I so do that.

Speaker 5 (06:49):
That's a ritual. So dog people you in America. That's
why I have a show for twenty years. The hardest,
the hardest habits to break is human habit. And they say,
I watched the show Caesar, and I read your books. Okay,
let me see you with your dog.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Sons. The to do no size ears. They do ear
size nose because they humanize the dog. And you know
humans with ears eyes want to hear things.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Why is that not a good thing to do? What
I have been doing for eleven years?

Speaker 3 (07:22):
And then what is the right thing, because listen, you
can do that after you do what they need, right,
So no size ears, that's what they need, right. So
silence and calmness first. Once you achieve that, and you
go for a long walk and come back, yeah, you
can celebrate. So do the excitement at the end of

(07:43):
the walk, not in the beginning of the walk, especially
for people who have least reactive dogs or dogs who
are if you open the door they take off, or
dogs they jump on people, or dogs they got the food,
you see. So what you begin to do is just
do a more calm ritual that allows the animal to

(08:04):
understand what you want because you don't have to use words. Well, yeah,
it more like a Charlie chaplain way of talking than
you know, the energy buddy language.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
I have always been frustrated because multiple people will walk
my dog, and then when I end up walking him,
he ends up trying to walk me, which I cannot stand.
I don't think anyone likes that happening. So I've been
a little frustrated. We had him trained initially, but not
at all after that one time, and so I've always

(08:38):
just been frustrated with not being able to communicate or
effectively discipline Brody to not walk me and not to
tell me where he wants to go.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
And pull me. But do you have a harness on it?

Speaker 2 (08:50):
I had just a leash.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, it's perfect. Yes, that's actually how you guide a doctor.
So the best way to see who guides the dog
the right way with the tool like a leash is
show show dog show people. So in the dog show

(09:12):
that from Achiuaua to a great Day, and they all
wear a leash other in the top. The leashes for
three things. To guide the dog, to stop the dog,
to park the dog looking what the horse? They guide
the horse, they stopped the horse, they park the horse.
That's the same leash. So then the mind of the
of the animal becomes conditioned that that's what that thing
is for to be guided. That's when you walk the

(09:33):
dog to stop, that's when you pull the leash up.
So that's when a dog show they pull the leash
up and then the brains stopped like a statue. Never
pull the leach back because that engaged the pull.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Oh I never pulled it up.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
I do pull it back, yeah, And so at the
moment it's a reaction of the brain. So how you
pull the react But if you do this, they stop.
That's why in a dog show they pull up with
two fingers from a Chihuahua to a great day. Best
in show wins because the guy guided or the girl
guided the right way.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Okay, pull up. I've never tried that ever.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Before you pull because what you want to inject through
it it's calmness, no brody, Yes, that's about it.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
I've done that before, except for I pulled back. Yes,
I've been very irritated.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah, of course, because the dog is not listening. The
dog is not listening because the strategy is not good.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
I mean, I knew that the failure was on my part.
It just wasn't clear how I was failing. But now
I understand.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
So all those.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Dogs we see on New York City streets and we
look and say, man, what's wrong with that dog? The
question is what's wrong with that?

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Correct? The dogs? The business is to train humans, smart humans.
So most of my clans are very smart, Harbor graduated,
but they can't go Chiwawa.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
It's funny because I thought, well, I know how to parent,
I know how to be a good mom, But somehow
that didn't translate into being as effective as I want
it to be as a dog owner.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, you don't need the words. You can know the
certainty of what you want. Right. So the reason why
you are good mind because you know what you want
and you know how to deliver the message. But the
human needs to hear what you want. The dogs don't
need to hear, they just need to feel it, so
they can literally do it with their eyes closed.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Is it fair to say that every you mentioned Central Park,
I mean everybody we see you walking your dog is
looking at their phone or doing something else. Would you
recommend anybody walking your dog don't do that.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
When you are connected to the to the phone, you're
connected to mental things, right, So it's intellectual connection that
you have. When you are connected with the dog, you're
connected to your spirit, to your instinct and your heart.
Trisrespect love where your mind is off. So when you're
walking the dog, you don't want to think. You want
to feel. What do you want to feel? You want

(12:01):
to feel happiness, you want to feel health, and you
want to feel love. So for an hour, that's what
you're feeling, and then the people around will get this
energy from you versus this. So the human is like this,
and the dog is with the tall labs like what's

(12:21):
what the human shoulders is like this here, So the
dog goes here and the human shrink and then the
leash is the only reason why the dog is there
is because as a leash, Because they're disconnected. It's like
a couple walking and the guys looking.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
We see that too.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
He's not on the phone, he's somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
I'm always amazing, girl, you just made a point. I'm
amazed when I see sometimes somebody walking down the street
with a dog without a leash, and the dog stays
right next to them.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
They're connected homeless people, homeless people in La. We have
a lot of homeless people in La. Nine out of
ten they have a pit bull off leash. I'm from Mexico.
Every don't have a leash, right, So dogs in Mexico
are skinny, but they don't have psychological problems. Dogs in
America are junking. I get to have a TV show.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
Is there a single biggest mistake that dog owners make?

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Well? Not to check on their energy, not to understand
the philosophy they're practicing and the actions they're doing right,
Because a dog needs three things right, like a kid.
Like there's a lot of kids right now walking around
with their nannies and stuff like that. So what are
they doing. They're following, where are they going to play?
And explore? Follow play, explore? So those three activities is
how you influence the mind of a child or a dog,

(13:38):
because that's how we all learn. We follow our parents,
We play with our parents and explore, follow, play, explore.
So how does animals teach other their own? They follow,
they play and explore. But there's rules, boundaries and limitations.
It's not just oh yes, play whatever you want, as
long as you want, whoever you want, pick up whatever
you going, No, no, no no. Within any activity, there
is rules, banded limitations because that organizes, it makes you discipline.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Rules, boundaries, limitations.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
What about rewards, Well, the reward is that you're a
good human. That's a good reward. Right. Your patience is
a reward. Your communists, your knowledge is a reward. So
don't think the reward is only food. That means you
just have extra money to share, but the biggest food.
Because you want to feed the spirit. How do you
feed the spirit? Would you bring your best spirit? How

(14:25):
do you fit instant? You bring leadership? How do you
feed the heart? What you give heart? You see it?
So that's a reward.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
I love that. So you're not into treats, Yeah I do, But.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
I'm a treat too. My house is a treat, my
ranch is a treat. I can't forget that. I'm already
providing a shelter. I'm already providing a family. I wake
up five am in the morning so they can have
the walk on time. That is a treat.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
I'm use that line on you one day.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
I'm a treat. I love that.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
Hey, it works both ways, all right. Obviously TJ was
just teasing there. He already knows that I already know
he is the tree. So it's not important. But we're
gonna have much more on our conversation with the amazing
dog Whisper and TJ, you asked him a very interesting question.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
This is one that everybody wants to know. The most
famous dog whisper in the world exactly how many dogs
does he has? And yes it is in the double digits.
But even if you don't have a dog, folks, you
want to hear part two of our conversation with Caesar
Milan because it's not just about making dogs better dogs,
about making humans better humans. Look for part two. It'll

(15:46):
be posted right after this episode here on Sunday,
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