Speaker 1: Hey, fam, I'm Jada Pinkett Smith and this is the
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Speaker 1: On his rise to becoming the dog Whisperer, Caesar Milan
Speaker 1: entered this country as an illegal immigrant, overcoming incredible hardships
Speaker 1: to show us what it truly means to live the
Speaker 1: American dream season. We've known each other for what like,
Speaker 1: I was nine twenty years old when I met Caesar.
Speaker 1: This is what happened, and I came to America. I
Speaker 1: wanted to be the best in the world. I came
Speaker 1: to Jada and I said I need to have a
Speaker 1: TV show or a radio and she said, well, for that,
Speaker 1: you have to speak English. The next day, a friend
Speaker 1: of her came to to my place in South Central
Speaker 1: and said, I'm your new English teacher. So because of Jada,
Speaker 1: I speak English. Wow, mm hmmm, that's very special. That's yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a dog friendly house, yes it is. Then you got cats.
Speaker 1: I know what, three cats, eight dogs. We've got three cats. Snakes,
Speaker 1: got three snakes got two. Well you remember saying the
Speaker 1: husky because you had his sister. Yeah, he's the happy,
Speaker 1: go lucky one. And then you gave me home my birthday. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The new one that you have, Steak Clover is part
Speaker 1: of our pack. And this is the Chinese guy. Yes,
Speaker 1: show you my rescue from China when we were shooting
Speaker 1: the Karate Kid with Jaden and he wasn't this friendly
Speaker 1: when he arrived. No, no, he was a little India
Speaker 1: not trusting. Yes, he's coming, he's done. This is really good.
Speaker 1: This is very very about it, very proud of your package.
Speaker 1: I have a super duper special guest today, not only
Speaker 1: because he is the internationally renowned dog whisperer Caesar Milan,
Speaker 1: but because he happens to be one of my oldest,
Speaker 1: closest friends. Thank you. My English is better. How did
Speaker 1: you guys meet? I used to date a guy who's
Speaker 1: dog he used to work with Kenji. Kenji was the
Speaker 1: first first road wilder. Yeah. They introduced me to the
Speaker 1: rest of the road willer owners. Yeah. And those roadwilers
Speaker 1: owners was Jada Pink Smith. Okay, so the roddy is
Speaker 1: you know, is the roddis introduced me to Jada. Then
Speaker 1: the right is introduced me to Will, who is not
Speaker 1: such a such an animal lover, which is interesting because
Speaker 1: you have all these animals in the house. But well
Speaker 1: typically it's not. Yeah, he's too much an animal. Never
Speaker 1: took the glass. Yeah you still haven't take a lesson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, he likes He's like, look if it makes
Speaker 1: you happy to have all these animals, cool, But he
Speaker 1: likes he likes Fang. He looks at Fang from the
Speaker 1: window and goes, oh, he's so pretty. That's about it.
Speaker 1: You know. I had four male rot wallers, and he
Speaker 1: taught me how to manage those dogs. At that particular
Speaker 1: point of time and where I was in my life,
Speaker 1: I wanted those dogs for protection. And I was a
Speaker 1: young woman by herself a lot and I need I
Speaker 1: wanted that that made me feel safe. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to get a gun. And you know, so I had rocks.
Speaker 1: Yeah about that went with me. Yeah, like the phitting
Speaker 1: me of the American dream to me because you came here, jumped,
Speaker 1: jumped the border, couldn't speak and could speak English. I
Speaker 1: didn't know anybody. What made you want to come to Americans? Well,
Speaker 1: when I was thirteen years old, I told my mom, mom,
Speaker 1: you think it could be the best doctor in the world.
Speaker 1: After watching Last n Rintin Tea, people watch a lot
Speaker 1: of animal shows. Those were my animal shows. I wanted
Speaker 1: to be a vet but because I come from my
Speaker 1: low income family, it wasn't possible for them to send
Speaker 1: me to a vet school. Right a thirteen years old,
Speaker 1: I told my mom, Mom, you think it could be
Speaker 1: the best uctory in the world. And she said, you
Speaker 1: can do whatever you want. Because when I was ten,
Speaker 1: I told her that I wanted to be a drug
Speaker 1: dealer because because when I'm from that's also those are
Speaker 1: role models. There you go, okay, that's my role models. Okay.
Speaker 1: And so I saw how respected they were, and that
Speaker 1: day my mom slapped me in the face that if
Speaker 1: you want to kill me, that's what you become. I
Speaker 1: don't want to kill you. I just want to, you know,
Speaker 1: make money so you know you can live. I believe
Speaker 1: it after mom, So I didn't know. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that those guys were about you know, I was ten,
Speaker 1: so you know, three years later, I'm looking at the
Speaker 1: dogs that I grew up with. They didn't have commands.
Speaker 1: So I wanted that. I wanted to have those Hollywood dogs.
Speaker 1: Those dogs were trained, so I really wanted to be
Speaker 1: a dog trainer. You're born with the desire. You want
Speaker 1: to sing, you want to you want to do this,
Speaker 1: You're born with it. Nobody tells you to do it right.
Speaker 1: So where is last thing? Rinting thing lives? United States?
Speaker 1: You know this mainland or Hollywood. So when I was
Speaker 1: twenty one years old and December, I went to my
Speaker 1: mom again, Mom, I'm leaving, So where are you going
Speaker 1: to Morris Christmas? I'm going to America? But tomorrow's Christmas,
Speaker 1: I know, but I have to go right now. So
Speaker 1: something that you feel that you have to listen to
Speaker 1: it and you have to act on that day. So
Speaker 1: my dad save a hundred dollars, he gave it to me,
Speaker 1: put my my sock, and that's all I had. That's
Speaker 1: all I had. You know. I took a bus, took
Speaker 1: like two days to get there. And once you get
Speaker 1: to the border, what you see is people wanted to
Speaker 1: take advantage of you. So that's when you learn about
Speaker 1: the streets. But that's another level of streets. No, that's
Speaker 1: another They can sell you, they can kill you for organs,
Speaker 1: they can I mean, yeah, that is more likely than
Speaker 1: jumping it. So it's not a piece of cake. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm respectful about it. I know I broke a boundary
Speaker 1: and a rule, but it was for a dream. So
Speaker 1: to a point that many times I let the border
Speaker 1: patrol catch me because Americans feed you, so when they
Speaker 1: catch you, they feed you. Mexican police don't feed you
Speaker 1: because many times I didn't eat because I wanted to
Speaker 1: save my hundred bucks. When I finally across the border,
Speaker 1: a guy came to me. Skinny guy, dirty as hell
Speaker 1: and smoking a joint. Can I say that, yes you can.
Speaker 1: So this guy came, so all the three things my
Speaker 1: mom's saying not to listen to. Okay, if a guy
Speaker 1: is dirty, but that is skinny, because in Mexico, if
Speaker 1: you're too skinny, there's something wrong with you, right as
Speaker 1: a culture that you want to see you fat. And
Speaker 1: of course if you smoke, we at that time, and
Speaker 1: then the guys it's crazy, you know, So all the
Speaker 1: three things, but inside of me I felt trust mm
Speaker 1: hm wow. Interesting. And the guy said to me, I
Speaker 1: charge you a hundred dollars. So he said, he you
Speaker 1: charge you a hundred dollars, that's right, you want to
Speaker 1: cross the border, I charge you a hundred dollars. That's
Speaker 1: all I had. That's a that's a sign technique, that's
Speaker 1: a sign. Oh he knew the road. You have to
Speaker 1: know that. You don't have to know the path. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they have to know the path. Yeah, you have to
Speaker 1: know when the border patrol changes, all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: So he knew. So finally we crossed. We got to
Speaker 1: the gas station. The guy said, I'm gonna get you
Speaker 1: a taxi and the taxi is gonna take it to
Speaker 1: San Diego. So I don't have any more money. This
Speaker 1: is I'm giving you everything. The guy paid the taxi driver. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the guy paid the taxi driver at twenty dollars, so
Speaker 1: he only he only made eighty dollars. That to me
Speaker 1: was like, okay, I'm supposed to be here. Well, how
Speaker 1: did you even get there? To kill myself? Yeah? What
Speaker 1: was going on that took you to that? So I
Speaker 1: arrived in l A and took a Greyhound and I
Speaker 1: arrive at nighttime and then I walked in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night through skid Road and downtown l A.
Speaker 1: The next day. By that time, I knew the Yellow
Speaker 1: Pages existed, so That's when I started calling kennels. I
Speaker 1: wanted to you know, I wanted to work in a kennel. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I already knew. Okay, so what do I gotta do?
Speaker 1: Card watched No, you know, washing dishes? No, I get it,
Speaker 1: But that's not the profession I came to America for.
Speaker 1: So I knew I have to start for the bottom,
Speaker 1: and cleaning kennels is not a problem. Those are the
Speaker 1: jobs the immigrants we get. We don't get the middle
Speaker 1: of the pack jobs. We don't get the top of
Speaker 1: the pack jack, we get the back of the pack.
Speaker 1: See the thing about you, You've always had this certainty.
Speaker 1: Like I just remember, even back in the day, you
Speaker 1: were just so certain to be like I want to
Speaker 1: teach people how to be with their animals. I need
Speaker 1: a TV show. And I was like, wow, Like you
Speaker 1: are so certain about what you saw in your vision. Look,
Speaker 1: I come from a low income family. That you have faith,
Speaker 1: you have passion, you have instincts. That's why you survive.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. Proberty makes you strong. You
Speaker 1: could say that again. You know what I mean? So
Speaker 1: you master poverty. The only thing you have to know
Speaker 1: is how to make money. America is the line of opportunities,
Speaker 1: you know for sure, but it's also the line of
Speaker 1: quality of opportunities, and that's what you gotta look for.
Speaker 1: How did you get from the kennel to your spot
Speaker 1: and self? So the first I became a dog walker
Speaker 1: in Englewood and so the only thing I didn't know
Speaker 1: it was illegal to walk dogs of flesh in America.
Speaker 1: I had no idea. I knew I was illegal, but
Speaker 1: I didn't know it was illegal to walk dogs of
Speaker 1: flesh in America. So I was walking forty toy dogs
Speaker 1: off leash, yes, in neighborhoods. So it would take me
Speaker 1: two hours to go from Englandwood to South Central, and
Speaker 1: you will always catch me at the same time. Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I started going to people's homes and said, man,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of walk your dog. I do it for free.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure your dogs stop barking, and
Speaker 1: I know how can I do it. I'm gonna exercise him.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take you for the longest walk off his life,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna bring it back, and I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you what I did for free. And I think that's
Speaker 1: the other place that we connect. We kind of that
Speaker 1: inner drive and that hard like we have. We have
Speaker 1: the same code. Now, how did you get to the
Speaker 1: TV show? The l A Times heard about me right right,
Speaker 1: and they followed me to a consultation and then at
Speaker 1: the end she said, so you seem to have a
Speaker 1: great thing going on, you know, and what would you
Speaker 1: like to do? What is your next goal? And I say,
Speaker 1: no hesitation, I would like to have my own TV show.
Speaker 1: So the newspaper came on a Sunday Monday was a
Speaker 1: line of producers trying to find out what the show
Speaker 1: was all about. Wow. Wow, Yeah, I started my whole
Speaker 1: thing in Englandwood, in the hood. Yeah, you know, it
Speaker 1: was just a dream. You got to meet people like yourself.
Speaker 1: I speak English because of you. How would you describe
Speaker 1: your friendship? The first work comes out of my mouth
Speaker 1: if you ask me, Jada gratitude. That's just we don't
Speaker 1: have to see each other all the time, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's like if I call him, he
Speaker 1: shows up. If he calls me, I show up. And
Speaker 1: when we need each other, we're there, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And so but we always connected, you know,
Speaker 1: I feel connected. He's my own g because we've known
Speaker 1: each other forever. Yeah, and I think that's the other
Speaker 1: place that we connect. I'm offering you honestly and give
Speaker 1: me honestly. I'm offering you integrity. I'm offering you loyalty
Speaker 1: and give me like like we understand that exchange. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like no question, that's yeah, because I find that with dogs. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so I can have millions of dogs and I will
Speaker 1: find the same thing honestly in loyalty. But it's also
Speaker 1: good to find it in your own kind. Yeah, when
Speaker 1: you can't. Animals are here to remind us about simplicity,
Speaker 1: about honesty, about integity, about loyalty. They're not just for
Speaker 1: affection only. Dogs have to have a purpose in life.
Speaker 1: You have to. It doesn't mind, I know. But he's
Speaker 1: like bits doesn't have a purpose. What purpose does play? Explore?
Speaker 1: But you mean something different when you say foul, because
Speaker 1: this follows me everywhere I go. But I feel like
Speaker 1: that's an I feel like that's anxiety, Like he just
Speaker 1: doesn't want me out of his sight or something. Well,
Speaker 1: there is there is one thing called separation anxiety. Uh.
Speaker 1: Many dogs become obsessive, but yeah, I think he's obsessive.
Speaker 1: So when the dog feels that the human doesn't relax
Speaker 1: or anything like that. The dog feels the need to
Speaker 1: overprotect the human. Your philosophy really is then to change me.
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's your work is to change me
Speaker 1: in order to help the dog, right am? I right
Speaker 1: on that, because the dog becomes the energy do you
Speaker 1: project and the activities you do. Yeah, so you're you're
Speaker 1: the I'm the key. You're the key. So if the
Speaker 1: human doesn't practice healthy energy and healthy habits, how can
Speaker 1: the dog practice it? Right? I think I'm so healthy?
Speaker 1: How did that happen? Even in that particular difficult state, Caesar,
Speaker 1: when you felt like you wanted to take your life?
Speaker 1: What was that one thing that you were just like, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about your family that you
Speaker 1: built once you got here. The ex wife, she was
Speaker 1: not an animal person, you know, so, Whisper, you're not
Speaker 1: an animal person. But I didn't know we got pregnant.
Speaker 1: I get it. We were not compatible right away. You
Speaker 1: don't take it as a lesson. You take it as
Speaker 1: a as a curse, you know what I mean? You're
Speaker 1: taking as a you know what I mean? Like, why
Speaker 1: why this happened to me? Often you take it upon
Speaker 1: yourself as you did something wrong, you know, and that's
Speaker 1: when you know that I wanted to commit suicide, even
Speaker 1: in that particular difficult state, Caesar, when you really did,
Speaker 1: when you felt like you wanted to take your life,
Speaker 1: what pulled you through that? Like? What was the thing?
Speaker 1: What was that one thing that you were just like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: how did you even get there to kill myself? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What what was going on that that took you to
Speaker 1: that deil? The feeling of failure, I'm not good enough.
Speaker 1: You're talking to yourself, you know, You're nobody's putting you
Speaker 1: in that hole. You're pretty much digging that hole and
Speaker 1: and doing that to yourself. So was it failure in
Speaker 1: your personal life? Nobody loves you, Your pack doesn't love you.
Speaker 1: It's my pack just left. Yeah, okay, so it's not
Speaker 1: it's it feels like your houses on fire and nothing
Speaker 1: you can do and I have to do a live
Speaker 1: tour that will not bring me back into two months later.
Speaker 1: You understand that the way it was deliver that was
Speaker 1: a tough time for me too, because I felt I
Speaker 1: felt really helpless, you know at that time, just not
Speaker 1: known exactly how to help you know, but you did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess you know. Yes, It's like I never went
Speaker 1: away because I always had that anchor with Jada, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like I always make a call. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just something inside of me that make
Speaker 1: a call as soon as I make a call, and
Speaker 1: then she anchored me back, you know. But it's something
Speaker 1: needed to happen to me in order for me to
Speaker 1: to practice what I teach. Yeah, and that that's a
Speaker 1: good point because I do believe that all the trials
Speaker 1: that have occurred, I just see how after that and
Speaker 1: when you come through that, how everything just expands and
Speaker 1: explodes and mind in regards to your relationship with the
Speaker 1: dogs and how connecting humans to dogs deepens and the
Speaker 1: whole thing. What did you find for yourself in that
Speaker 1: position of that depression that could get you out into
Speaker 1: a place of like, no, I am going to live,
Speaker 1: I am going to be Okay. I didn't love myself,
Speaker 1: you know, even though all that accomplishment and all the
Speaker 1: things that I have done, as you get to a
Speaker 1: point where I was already in my way and I
Speaker 1: love it myself. God, you see what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: that needed to be like the slap in the face
Speaker 1: to awaken me to start loving myself again because I
Speaker 1: went into a place where I wasn't doing things for
Speaker 1: you for me. Yeah, you know what I mean. Like
Speaker 1: when I came to America to gain back how I
Speaker 1: came to America, I did because I love myself and
Speaker 1: I believe in myself. Can we bring in our fish balls?
Speaker 1: This is ourish bowl right here where we pick questions.
Speaker 1: So do I pick it or you pick it? That's
Speaker 1: up to you. You want me to pick it for you,
Speaker 1: you want to pick it, Okay, you pick it? Caesar,
Speaker 1: Are female dogs easier to train the male dogs? I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a gender, you know, uh, definitely, party
Speaker 1: training will be the only thing will be easier with
Speaker 1: a girl dog. The girl dog. Yeah, there's that way
Speaker 1: with humans too, by the way, easier. It's like in
Speaker 1: the human world and a woman become an engineer. Of course,
Speaker 1: of course has nothing to do with the gender. What
Speaker 1: is your motivation? Right? So what motivate dogs to do
Speaker 1: things is food, toys and you. So you just have
Speaker 1: to find what motivates the dog's okay there. It is
Speaker 1: a lot of times we would says are females better
Speaker 1: than males. It's preference because in the end the dog world,
Speaker 1: the females are going to be smaller, the males are
Speaker 1: going to be bigger. So in the animal world the
Speaker 1: males are the best looking ones. So if your preference
Speaker 1: is bigger, more, more, fur, better, code and things like that,
Speaker 1: and then you gonna mail for that. Yeah, prettier huh yeah,
Speaker 1: the peacock for example, and the ducks and the dogs
Speaker 1: for example. You know that only happens in the animal
Speaker 1: world and the human world. We're the ugly ones who
Speaker 1: we get it. We get it. This one is what
Speaker 1: is the most common mistake a pet owner can make.
Speaker 1: The most common mistake a pet owner can make is
Speaker 1: not understanding what the needs of a dog's are. So
Speaker 1: first is the needs, and then is the training. So
Speaker 1: with humans, though, the need for us typically is to
Speaker 1: love the animals, so we tend to love the animal first,
Speaker 1: and maybe too much so a lot of times. For example,
Speaker 1: like the most typicult it is right now as people
Speaker 1: are postponding to have children, right, so the dog becomes
Speaker 1: the empty space fil field, right, So that's more for
Speaker 1: the human than it is for the dog. That's so
Speaker 1: what happens when a human does that, the human is
Speaker 1: going to treat the dog as a human child when
Speaker 1: a dog is a puppy. So a lot of times people, oh,
Speaker 1: he's a puppy, and the dog is three years old,
Speaker 1: so they still treating him a puppy. So mentally the
Speaker 1: dog is confused. Right, It's like a mama's boy, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Nobody wants to marry a mama's boy. Yes,
Speaker 1: that is real. But Caesar, I love you, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, my gratitude for you is is
Speaker 1: for the next millions of life. Thank you for letting
Speaker 1: me come into your family. You know, from the first
Speaker 1: day I feel part of the family. You know, absolutely
Speaker 1: trust it. And that's a big deal. Yes, that's a
Speaker 1: big deal. So I just know that I'm very grateful
Speaker 1: for everything you have done and you have done for
Speaker 1: my family. Never actually told you that you have blessed
Speaker 1: my family, that you would not believe if you did it,
Speaker 1: just because that's who you are. Thank you, Caesar. Give
Speaker 1: me some it's amazing. You guys are making me tier
Speaker 1: up on our next red table talk at those two
Speaker 1: bottles of wine and was going for the third bottle
Speaker 1: and it was like, now, hold up, I might have
Speaker 1: a problem here. And I was raining pills like skittles
Speaker 1: and I was in a coma for three days. My
Speaker 1: mother struggled with addiction to heroin. It took me six
Speaker 1: years to get one year clean. And I just said,
Speaker 1: let go all right. To join the Red Table Talk
Speaker 1: family and become a part of the conversation. Follow us
Speaker 1: at facebook dot com slash red table Talk. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to this episode of Red Table Talk podcast produced
Speaker 1: by Facebook Watch, Westbrook Audio, and I Heart Radio.