Dog Rescue San Diego

Millan, 41, takes Savannah’s leash and readjusts the chain so it is higher on Savannah’s neck. “This expression of excitement,” he says, “has to be addressed with an expression of calmness.”

He sits, relaxed like a man on a train, mid-vacation. Savannah paces a little, whines a little (“They have to go through a little venting,” Millan says) and then lays down beside him. He tells Wang De Martinez that her anxious jerking of the chain added fuel to Savannah’s excitement. He reminds her of his mantra: calm, assertive energy.

“My job as a pack leader is to give direction. I’m not asking her to lay down, I’m thinking ‘Lay down.’ People want to convince a dog to do everything with sound: ‘Sit down. No. No. No. No,’” Millan pauses and laughs. “The more excited that you get, the more frustrated you get, the more you lose the dog.”

Millan, in Toronto to promote his range of pet-care products, has a reputation for rehabilitating “red zone” cases — dogs that have killed other animals or injured owners. In his wildly popular show, which is in its seventh season, he visits families and pets with problems and when he leaves, the owners are incredulous that their chihuahua is no longer nipping or that their Greyhound is no longer hiding under the bed.

Anxious dogs are the most challenging cases because building self-esteem takes time, Millan says. “It’s easier to work with five aggressive dogs who want to kill me than one fearful dog.” He cites Baby Girl, a Doberman-Greyhound mix that he worked with for months who was afraid of linoleum floors, loud noises and eating.

Millan admits that some cases don’t make it to air.

“The most difficult [case] would be the human in denial: ‘It’s the dog, it’s the family, it’s the world.’ Sometimes they call me and when you arrive, they don’t want to change. It’s really disappointing.