Critical reception Common Sense Media gave the series a mostly positive review, calling it "a pleasure to watch."
Reception by the animal behavior community In February 2006, an article in the
New York Times quoted Dr. Nicholas Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at
Tufts University's
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, said that his college had "written to National Geographic Channel and told them they have put dog training back 20 years". A
New York Times August 2006
op-ed by Mark Derr, an author noted for his publications on dogs, criticized
Dog Whisperer for its reliance on a "simplistic view of the dog's social structure". According to Derr, Millan's methodology "flies in the face of what professional animal behaviorists—either trained and certified veterinarians or ethologists—have learned about normal and abnormal behavior in dogs". Millan's theory of dominance in domestic dogs has been described as flawed. Also in 2006, the
American Humane Association (AHA) requested that the National Geographic Channel stop airing the program, saying that training tactics shown on
Dog Whisperer were inhumane, outdated and improper. By November 2009, Millan had invited the American Humane Association to the set of
Dog Whisperer, at which time, according to Millan, "they changed their state of mind about what is cruel". The association announced in February 2010 that despite "sharp differences of view in the past" and some lingering areas of disagreement, they shared many areas of interest with Millan. Debra Horwitz, president of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, said the major benefits of
The Dog Whisperer are that it makes owners aware that they are not alone in the problems they have with their pets, and that it provides good advice on the need for dogs to exercise and have rules. Horwitz added the show also has the major drawback of attributing behavior problems to dominance when the dog may be misbehaving because it is fearful or anxious. Pet columnist Steve Dale said in a July 2010 newspaper column that while he believed Millan was "blessed with an amazingly intuitive understanding of dog behavior", some of the methods shown on the program, particularly those related to
dominance, were inappropriate and not substantiated by science. The
Humane Society of the United States Genesis Award Committee presented Milan with a 2008 Special Commendation for his work in rehabilitating animals. Dr.
Sophia Yin, a veterinarian, researcher and animal behaviorist, wrote articles and spoke about Cesar Millan's television show and methods, calling Cesar Millan's methods "based on the erroneous understanding of dominance and the need to use force or coercions [sic] as the first-line of training for all problems". She did, however, point out in the same sentence that "there are some good recommendations and lessons one can learn from it and other shows", and went on to list them. In some countries in Europe, the TV show has a warning label text before it starts, for example in Sweden the warning before the show reads: "Note that several methods or techniques in this show could count as illegal animal abuse violations in Swedish law, check the laws carefully before using anything shown in this program", and Sweden has had national debates over Millan's techniques and whether they should be shown or not.
Ratings Dog Whisperer premiered in 2004 as a half-hour program but subsequently became first in the National Geographic channel ratings and was expanded to a
prime-time, one hour format. In 2008, the show in its 100th episode had grown from an estimated 100,000 households per episodes per household to an estimated 1,000,000 people per episode. By 2010
Dog Whisperer had been National Geographic's top-rated series for six years. ==Awards==