Millan is his family’s pack leader, too

He talked about being a pack leader with his family as well as with his canine friends:

Q: What kind of dogs do you own yourself?

A: I own two pit bulls. I’ve got Daddy, he’s 15 years old. I’ve got Junior, which is the dog that Daddy and I are raising so we can keep up the image that pit bulls are not bad. It’s the people behind the dogs. And Daddy’s 15, so we’ve got to think about him departing and all that stuff that hurts.

And then we’ve got a Jack Russell; a Rottweiler; we have a mixed Labrador pit bull; we have a Jindo, which is the German shepherd of Korea; we have another Jindo, a white Jindo; we have three little puppies, a month old, and the mother; and then we have a Chihuahua; and then — what else? — we have an English bulldog named Mr. President, and that’s pretty much it. We have like 10 at home. I’m a father. I have a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old, and obviously I work on my relationship with my sons and my wife.

Q: I’ve got three.

A: And 30 years of age? You’re winning, man! Well, I just got my vasectomy done, man, so it’s over for me. I wanted to have a girl, but my wife said, no, we’re too busy.

Q: So are these lessons universal enough to apply to children?

A: Absolutely. I mean, exercise, discipline and affection, these things are very important. Even if you have a girl, she wants to exercise. She wants to know what the rules and boundaries are. One of the things I learned in America, it’s not actually the grown-ups who lead the pack. The kids are the dogs. That’s why we have “Super Nanny,” “Nanny 911” and “The Dog Whisperer.” So why in other countries this doesn’t happen? Because the grown-ups tell the children and the dog what to do. Right or wrong, this is more natural. The reality is, (the children) are more respectful over there. They would never raise their voices to their parents.

Q: So parents elsewhere are more in control.