“How to Raise the Perfect Dog” – Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier

by Nancy Lili

Useful, that’s exactly what Cesar Millan’s collection of puppy experiences, “How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond,” is. Though I’ve read reviews of the book that claim it isn’t a How To book, I’ll disagree. The most important thing this book stresses is obtaining a calm-assertive energy to become your dog’s pack leader, and once we’ve established that, everything else comes easily. It never specifically mentions how to prevent your dog from chewing on your sneaker laces, like Miss Sally Pickles enjoys, but it does affirm that once we’ve projected the right energy, she’ll magically back off and do the right thing. And so far, it’s true. It works. It may become redundant to be told to maintain a calm-assertive energy, and the writing style itself may be a bit of a conversational bore, but it definitely holds the hand of the reader through this crucial learning experience.

The ideal reader of this book is a soon-to-be puppy owner (regardless of breed; Millan adopts four types of pups and demonstrates how calm-assertive energy will work across the board). I began reading this a couple days too late, but Davy and I’ve already adopted many of the Dog Whisperer‘s words of wisdom. Though we’ve both had dogs our whole lives, the way we’ve each raised them was completely different, and that’s something Millan references in most chapters in terms of puppy health, puppy education, or puppy socialization. Davy grew up babying puppies, like most Americans do; and I grew up with a strict Dogs Are Dogs Are Animals rule, typical of Mexicans and Mexican Americans. Learning the ideal balanced combination of our histories from Millan is allowing us to better raise a dog that will be loyal to us and wait for commands, or in other ways, raise the perfect dog.

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