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Cesar Millan is great. Having watched his show many times, I'm convinced that no one should be allowed to own a dog until they can pass a class demonstrating a thorough understanding of his technique and the need for it.

His show makes it abundantly clear that the problem is with the owner, not the dog. And his firm but gentle handling of the toughest dogs is extraordinarily effective. You can see the dogs' eager response to someone who actually sets boundaries and enforces the rules. Dogs need that just like kids do.

Now that I'm thinking about it, it's too bad prospective parents don't have to take a similar class!

You can see the dogs' eager response to someone who actually sets boundaries and enforces the rules. Dogs need that just like kids do.

Our dog, a 5-year-old Australian Cattle Dog/Rottweiler mix, came to us as a 6-week old Wal-Mart parking lot dog: a litter of pups being sold out of the back of a pick-up where my son convinced me to get one over the phone. That weekend we ordered pizza and breadsticks for delivery at the house. The pup stole a breadstick from my plate on the coffee table, I forcibly removed the breadstick from the pup's mouth, and ate that breadstick in front of her. Then, I gave her a piece of a breadstick from my plate. I had established the boundary and that I was the pack leader who would decide when and what she ate. She has been a pleasant dog ever since.