"Summer"
Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan is a documentary-style reality television program centering on animal behaviorist as he works to rehabilitate dogs with behavior problems ranging from inconveniences such as excessive barking, to behaviors that if not corrected could leave the owners little choice but to medicate or euthanize the dog.
Mexican American Millan is a self-taught dog trainer who established a reputation for working with aggressive breeds and hard to handle cases at a San Diego dog groomers, subsequently developing a celebrity clientele.
In 2002, after he was profiled in a newspaper article, Millan received offers from a number of producers, and chose to work with Sheila Emery and Kay Sumner. They teamed with , which had been involved in successful reality-based cable shows, to produce a pilot. The producers had preliminary talks with Animal Planet, but the Network would not commit beyond a single pilot episode. The National Geographic Channel expressed interest in the program, ordering 26 half-hour episodes, on the proviso that MPH provide the required deficit financing. Under this agreement MPH and Emery/Sumner retained the copyright to the show. The channel retains control of television distribution in the United States and Canada. MPH and Emery/Sumner control worldwide home video and foreign sales and share that revenue with the channel, allowing them to create and market various video collections. The name of the program was similar to 1999 book The Dog Whisperer. Owens, a positive trainer, has distanced himself from the program and now calls himself "the original dog whisperer.
