National Geographic star and  dog rehabilitator Cesar Millan has amazed several dog owners world wide with his effective dog training techniques. His main focus is in his own words  ''to 'rehabilitate dogs and train people''. And he has done a lot of that since his first ''Dog Whisperer'' series have been aired on the National Geographic Channel. Having reached now season six, Cesar Millan can claim to have reached an elite status among dog rehabilitators. 

His show mainly focuses on dogs with quite serious behavior problems. You will see dogs that snarl at other dogs, dogs that bite their owners and dogs that are repeat offenders whose owners see Cesar as their last chance before putting the dog down. Cesar calls these cases, as ''the red zone dogs''.

Cesar's techniques appear to be quite simple yet effective. One of the most common methods observed is a leash jerk to the side to ''snap the dog out ''of an unwanted state of mind.  Often this leash jerk is accompanied by Cesar's typical ''Shhhhh'' sound. Such sound he states was what his mother used to make when her children were misbehaving.

Another technique Cesar uses a lot is a ''virtual bite''. In other words, he get's a dog attention by simulating a bite using his hand as a mouth to deliver ''bites''. A very controversial technique  used by Cesar is ''the alpha roll''. Basically this consists of  bringing a dog to the ground and holding its neck still until the dog submits.  Many dog trainers today are against this technique and even Cesar Millan's show uses a disclaimer in all his shows stating not to use his techniques without consulting with a professional.

Yet, without leadership Cesar's tecniques often may fail. Indeed, Cesar Millan often will refer to ''being a good pack leader'' in his shows. What he means by this is to set boundaries, rules and limitations so that the dog will learn who runs the household. The goal is to bring the dog back to its original purpose: work for humans and respect the leader. He often states that back when he was raised on a farm in Mexico the dogs were not trained or given cookies, they just knew what to do to help their owners. 

Many cases indeed derive from dog owners that tend to ''baby  their dogs'' and treat them as humans not dogs. There are many cases of small toy dogs that act very aggressively towards their owners and other dogs and people . Often Cesar points out how people tend to  associate dogs with human traits rather than treating them as dogs. 

Often, when dogs seem to have lost thier social skills and their ''essence of being a dog'' he rehabilitates them by taking them to his Dog Psychology Center. This is a special place where dogs are grouped together and taught how to behave in a pack structure.  Once introduced in the pack, after several days, dogs once with severe behavior problems appear to adjust and experience how it feels to be a dog again. 

Dog owners may learn quite a lot by watching the Dog whisperer in action. Best of all, dogs are seen as dogs again on his shows. It is great that Cesar emphasizes this as more and more people seem to want to treat dogs as humans often creating even severe behavior problems in dogs.