How Cesar Became My Friend and Mentor
By Cheri Lucas
From the time I was a little girl, I’ve had an undying compassion for the truly helpless—dogs without advocates. I dreamed of having a place where every abused or abandoned dog could be loved and cared for until I could find them forever homes.
In 1994 I founded Second Chance at Love Humane Society in Templeton, California. My mission has grown from rescuing dogs one-by-one to housing and helping as many as 50 dogs at a time. With the help of dedicated volunteers, I have rescued, rehabilitated and re-homed more than 3,000 dogs.
Just as Second Chance grew, so did our goals and objectives. I knew that some dogs needed more than just shelter to be saved; scarred and unsocialized, they had no hope of finding a new family and a fulfilled life. Although I loved them, I didn’t have the knowledge or the ability to help them move past their behavioral issues. I began to wonder if I was really doing them a favor by “warehousing” them without ever being able to place them in a home. I felt defeated.
In 1999, I read a short article about then-unknown Cesar in the Los Angeles Times. Something told me instantly that he had the answers I was looking for. I called the Dog Psychology Center of LA and Cesar answered the phone, “Canine!” He invited me to come to the center that weekend. As I drove into the heart of South Central LA that day, I turned down the alley leading to the center. When I got out of my car, over 40 dogs, off leash, mostly Pit Bulls and Rottweillers, silently greeted me at the gate of a warehouse with a large, concrete yard in front of it.
I spotted only one person toward the back of the facility. It was Cesar. “Open the gate and start walking toward me.” He said. “Don’t look, touch, or talk to the dogs. Just walk.” Although I didn’t know it at the time, this was the beginning of my own rehabilitation and education. Nothing has been the same since.
Cesar and I discovered we had more in common with each other than dogs. My father’s career was in international banking in Latin America. I grew up in Honduras, Guatemala and Venezuela and learned to speak Spanish as a child. Cesar and I both love gardening. We would spend hours at the DPC planting flowers and landscaping the facility.
Cesar and his family began visiting my ranch on a monthly basis. He would bring as many as 40 dogs to the ranch at one time, unbelievably, in one van. Cesar would park in a large, fenced in area on my property. His family would stay at my house, but Cesar and his assistant would sleep inside the van with all of the dogs sleeping around them on the ground.
We would start the day really early, often walking his pack and my pack together for 2 or 3 hours. Cesar loved my cooking, especially breakfast! After we’d eat, we’d work with the dogs again, eat lunch, walk the pack, and then I’d prepare a huge dinner for Cesar and his family. Without fail, toward the end of every day, Cesar would ask, “What did you learn today?” Without realizing it, Cesar was mentoring me. Dogs, cooking, feeding others…I was in my element. It was a magical time.
Cesar and his family visited my ranch nearly every month for a couple of years. My husband eventually purchased a large travel trailer for Cesar, and we fenced in the yard around the trailer for the dogs. I kept the refrigerator stocked with lunchmeat, tortillas, and queso fresco. He always had a few sets of clothing and shoes so he didn’t have to pack much when he came up. He called the trailer his “castle.”
Finally, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan began! I remember sitting on the floor in Cesar’s living room with Calvin and Andre watching the first episode! Cesar’s dream was finally coming true. He had never wavered from his belief that he would achieve his goal of being the best in the world at what he does. His confidence and ability to visualize his future was amazing.
Over the last decade, I’ve had the awesome opportunity of working with many dogs from the Dog Whisperer show. Cesar will send some dogs that need “boot camp” to my ranch, and often the crew will come up several weeks later with Cesar and film part of the episode here.
This year, I was a member of the team for the Cesar Live 2011 European Tour in May. We traveled to Spain, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Oslo and Malmo. Cesar mesmerized the sold out crowds, in some cases as many as 7,500 per show. Then in July, I accompanied Cesar to Spain again where we spent two months on his new reality TV show, El Lider de la Manada (The Leader of the Pack).
What Cesar has taught me has enabled me to turn our rescue dogs around to be successfully adopted by families. Because of what I’ve learned, I’ve also had the privilege of working with clients who are desperate to resolve their dog’s behavioral issues. But just as importantly, Cesar has taught me to believe in myself and never give up on achieving my goals. “Make it happen, Cheri!” was something Cesar has said to me dozens of times over the years…a lesson we can all apply to every aspect of life!
