Milan says if we can learn to stop judging a dog’s behavior by its breed,
maybe we can learn to stop judging people by their race.
Patrick Leiser and Liesl Wilhardt
meet the Dog Whisperer
PHOTO BY KELLY BEAL
humans have against one another. Milan
might be a celebrity now — a dog trainer
to stars from Will Smith to Oprah Winfrey,
with a hit National Geographic show and
two bestselling books on dog training —
but he still remembers coming to the U.S.
20 years ago as an illegal immigrant from
Mexico, who didn’t speak English.
Milan says if we can learn to stop
judging a dog’s behavior by its breed,
maybe we can learn to stop judging people
by their race.
“We already do it,” he says of the way
people create prejudices about other races
and ethnicities. “The Chinese and the
whites and the Hispanics and the blacks;
we do the separation thing, and then we
start blaming them,” he says. “My goal
beside rehabilitating dogs is to help people
understand that concept.”
If we start to enact breed bans and judge
dogs based on their breed, rather than as
individuals, says Milan, “We’re just
nurturing that concept.” He says if we can
move past “racism” against dog breeds like
pits, “then we can move into the human
relationship.”
“We can’t blame the breed,” he says.
“We have to see them as who they are;
they’re powerful and we have to redirect
that energy.”
Dogs and owners, according to Milan,
should be matched according to their
energy. You don’t choose the right dog
based on breed, you choose based on
energy. “The dog is not going to think ‘Oh
my God, this human just rescued me, he’s
such a great human, I’m going to treat him
as a pack leader.’”
Continuing his metaphor between
races and dog breeds, Milan says, “I’m
going to speak as a Hispanic descendant.
We have Hispanics who are low level,
medium level, high level or very high level
energy. There’s not a race or a breed that’s
better for certain people; what is better for
certain people is the energy that they’re
taking home.” A low energy person needs
a low energy dog. Only a very high energy
person can be the “pack leader” for a high
energy dog, according to Milan.
Luv-a-Bull’s hours of walks a day, love
and rehabilitation seem to work on even
the most energetic of Lane County’s pit
bulls, but El Diablo, as it turns out, has a
whole lot of energy for a Chihuahua. After
working with the pint-sized terror, and
an extensive interview with Wilhardt and
Leiser, Milan decided to take El Diablo
back with him to his Dog Psychology
Center in Los Angeles. “My problem with
Diablo is that I’m afraid of him,” admits
Wilhardt. Diablo’s energy was throwing
off Luv-a-Bull’s peaceful pack.
Milan was so impressed by the Luv-a-
Bull’s balanced pitty-pack that he asked if
one of his own pack dogs could be sent to
Eugene to retire. A week or two after Milan’s
whirlwind tour of Oregon, Rakim the
elderly pit bull was delivered to Wilhardt’s
door. Rakim was an escape artist in L.A.,
leaping off balconies and tearing through
walls to get out of his owners’ apartment
before coming to live with Milan. Now
Rakim (renamed Morgan Freeman) for
the fi rst time in his life will wander Luv-a-
Bull’s wooded trails in Eugene’s south hills
with Wilhardt and Leiser.
As for Diablo, Milan says the terror
of the Wal-Mart parking lot has learned
to swim for exercise, is settling into
his new home, and well on his way to
rehabilitation.
ew
To find out the rest of El Diablo’s story, tune into the Dog
Whisperer’s fifth season on the National Geographic
Channel, or check out Luv-a-Bull at www.luv-a-bull.org
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EUGENE WEEKLY AUGUST 28, 2008 13