The staff of Cesar Millan, Inc. is proud to announce that, through the efforts of the non-profit organization k9 Connection, Cesar’s Way has been approved as an educational text for English and Science classes throughout the Santa Monica and Malibu unified school district!

Regular readers may recall learning about k9 Connection in last month’s issue, when we interviewed Ilusion Milan about her involvement in the group for the article Dogs and Kids. For those unfamiliar with them, they are an outreach program which works locally with at-risk teens ages 12-18, bringing them together with rescue dogs in an effort to bring about a positive change. Eight teens and eight dogs come together in a daily 3-week program designed to help the kids train the dogs to make them more adoptable, while simultaneously allowing them to apply lessons about positive reinforcement and responsibility to their own lives. The end of each program culminates in a graduation ceremony, the most recent of which both Cesar and Ilusion attended. The ceremony includes a demonstration of what each child has taught his or her dog and a personal address from the child to the audience members. The program has been operating for two years in the greater Santa Monica area, and has completed fourteen of these 3-week programs so far.

In order to use Cesar’s Way in their program curriculum at Santa Monica Community Day School, k9 Connection had to appeal to the local school boards to have the text approved. As a result, English classes in the entire school district can use the book to teach kids about the language of energy and the development and implementation of personal goals, and science classes can study the psychology of dog packs, the biological benefits that human beings take away from their relationship with dogs, and the many differences between their senses and ours!

For more information about the work being done by k9 Connection, visit their website.