We caught up with Cesar on a pleasant summer's day at the new Pack Ranch in Santa Clarita to ask him about Chili, a veteran of the Cesar pack now living with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Cesar took a break from the day's chores to sit down and tell us her story in his own words...

Chili belonged to a woman in the television world who was rescuing dogs. She had a nice, beautiful home, but unfortunately she had aggression issues with Chili and the other dogs in the house. It was definitely a very serious case - if I hadn’t taken her, she would have been put down.

So I took her in, and I worked with her. It turned out that behind that aggression was a very playful, very active, very loving girl. She definitely came from a frustrated/dominant point of view. She was not getting enough exercise, and she was very confident. That became aggression.

Back then, I had a lot of help from a very large pack of about 50 dogs here at the center. She came in and surrendered immediately. A dog that is normally confident or dominant, you know, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just a state of mind. They need the right energy in order to respond positively.

Once she joined our pack, things fell right into place. She went into a calm-submissive state that same day, and that was it. She’s very serious now about rules, boundaries, and limitations. When we had puppies around, she could always be counted on to keep them in line. She’s very much a teacher and a manager - if Chili was coming up to you, you knew you were doing something wrong! That’s the shepherd in her, always keeping things under control.

So, the intention was to work with her and then give her back to the woman, but unfortunately, that did not work out. The woman ended up entrusting Chili to me to find her a good home. Chili stayed with me as part of my pack for about seven years, until my friend Jada Pinkett Smith asked me to start finding her some dogs that would match her energy and the energy of her family. She already had a dog named Zeus that she had gotten in Canada, so we started looking for dogs that would be a good match for him and the rest of her pack.

We gave Barnes a tryout, but he didn’t work with the family. Then we noticed that Chili had really hit it off with a dog in their pack named Rocco, who was a great match for her energy. Together, Chili and Rocco made a perfect unit. So Jada’s pack ultimately became Zeus, Rocco, Luigi, and Chili. Since then, their pack has been brought down to just two girls - Chili and a dog named Mandy - and Chili is in charge of keeping balance. She’s become an amazing ambassador for us at the Dog Psychology Center, and her success has strengthened my friendship with Jada. Here, let me introduce you... Chili!

[Cesar calls to a Shepherd mix who is playing on the other side of the compound. She trots over happily.]

See how she walks? The strength? She's still very, very confident. The ears-down posture is her saying "I'm relaxed as well," but she’s still got that confidence.

[Cesar pats her side and pulls her up into his lap. Having recently worked her on the Dog Psychology Center’s new ranch property, he is free to share affection.]

She’s very loving, as well. Nobody knows how to hug like her. I’m serious, she’s a master of hugging. And she’s a ball-player, too. And when I say “ball-player,” I mean it doesn’t matter where you’re playing ball - in the water, outer space, it doesn’t matter - she will go after that ball. She’s very good. She’s at Junior’s level, I would say.

With the Smiths in China shooting the new Karate Kid with Jayden, she's staying with us, and they call to check on her regularly. Right now, with Mandy, their energies are perfectly balanced. Mandy is very sensitive - always at the back of the pack - and Chili is very confident. So it’s like the Yin and the Yang. You always want those complementary energies. Like in poker, when you have something like 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and that means you win something... it’s always best to have different energies, from low to high. That’s natural. So there is a very clear chain of command in the Smith house, and of course, Jada is the ruling body.

It’s amazing the dogs that I attract to myself in my life, because they all achieve on some level the canine version of the American dream. A lot of my dogs go to amazing homes. I prepare them, so I am a part of it, and then I prepare the humans that they go to. I teach them how to be calm-assertive pack leaders and give the dogs what they need. Chili reminds me so much of me. Because I’m living that American Dream myself, and she’s living the canine version: from a rescue, to me, to Jada Pinkett Smith. And now she’s on the cover of a magazine. Isn’t that incredible?