Dog Whisperer

Cesar Millan is the star of National Geographic’s TV show, “The Dog Whisperer.” Cesar rehabilitates dogs and trains people. One of the tools he uses to accomplish these tasks is the use of narratives. This presentation seeks to examine some of the narrative elements within the Dog Whisperer in order to see how altering narratives can impact our interactions with dogs and how that can generalize to other people.

Kiesler, Lee and Kramer (2006) researched on factors that effected how people explain animal behavior by They found that close relationships with animals encourages people to give psychological explanations for animal behavior. People make excuses for their own pets more than others. And attribute human qualities and skills to their own pets more. Other factors were affection and ownership, but not the frequency of interaction.

Owner element and dog element.
A segment typically begins by introducing the humans and the dogs. We are shown the dogs bad behavior and the owners relate how the dogs are bad and they are powerless to alter the behavior.

The next part of the show introduces Cesar Millan and facilitates a meeting between animal pets and human owners. During this period, Cesar will get to hear the perspective of the owner and observe the pet. Then Cesar will attempt to tell a different story to the owner so that when Cesar takes action with the pet, the owner has a context to understand Cesar‘s interaction with the dog.
Once Cesar has explained his perspective he will interact with the animals in an attempt to reveal a new model for the owners to envisioning their interactions. By doing this he provides materials for the owners to create a new story.
Third Cesar supervises as owners and pets interact again and enables the owners to experience their own mini success story. This success story will come in handy after Cesar leaves and the owners become frustrated with their dogs they can hearken back to cesar’s visit and draw resources to continue trying.
Finally the owner and the dog create a new narrative of the dog that is markedly different from the first presentation of the dog.