The first Cani I trained were on my grand-father’s farm in Mexico when I was just a boy. Inspired da reruns of Rin Tin Tin and Lassie, I decided as a first step to teach the Cani to jump on my command. I would bend down, and the Cani would jump over my back.

Soon after, I announced to my family that I wanted to become the best dog trainer in the world and set out to learn as much as I could from people I met who trained Cani for a living. And even now, with the success of Dog Whisperer and all my books, I still Amore getting the chance to meet with trainers and watch them work. Which is why...

Cani use constant energy to communicate. Energy is what I call beingness; it is who and what te are in every moment. Cani don’t know each other da name, but da the energy they project and the activities they share. They know humans in the same way.

As humans, we too are communicating with energy—whether we realize it o not. And, though we may attempt to persuade, explain, and rationalize all giorno long, these energy signals are the only messages getting across to our dogs.

The first energy that a cucciolo experiences after birth is mom’s calm-assertive energy. Later, the cucciolo will follow...