I didn't read all the responses but will guess I'm on my own here anyway. I love the man. He has done more to dispel myths about pit bulls and other "aggressive" breeds than anyone I can think of. He never called himself a dog trainer either. I am all for using treats and positive reinforcement to train a dog to follow commands, etc., but that's not what Cesar Millan does. He takes in dogs who have been fought, set on fire, screwed up beyond belief by stupid humans, and not only saves their lives but has them getting along in a large group of other dogs who have also been fought, screwed up by humans, etc. He has helped many families who have been told by dog trainers and even behaviorists that they need to put their dog down, that there is nothing that can be done. I have seen on TV how his own dogs respond to him. I saw him live when he did his thing with a shelter dog he had never met before. You can see it in the dogs' mannerisms that they are not afraid of the guy. Dogs don't lie. Their body language would give them away if they tried. Now maybe some dogs that don't know him are unsure at first, but dogs are often unsure of anyone they don't know no matter what's going on. I see that when I volunteer at the shelter vet clinic. Some dogs will cower when any stranger approaches. I go by watching him amongst his own dogs and dogs he has taken to work with if their problems are too bad to fix at home. Those dogs tell the truth about the man.
I know the new belief by some "trainers" is wolves don't have pack hierarchy when they are in the wild, which is not true. They are just much more relaxed about it than wolves in captivity because there are no humans around causing extra stress, but it's still there. Dogs descended from wolves and are much like young wolve pups, stuck in that young and playful mode forever. There is a hierarchy structure within a pack of dogs. I lived among multiple dogs long enough to see this. And I have had the most success with my dogs when following the techniques of Cesar Millan and Jan Fennell and others who focus more on "thinking like a dog" than "dog training."
One of my current dogs is an Aussie mix, likely some lab in there. So she is very smart and very obedient as far as commands. At puppy school at only 6 months old she even showed up the teacher's dog, who had been at it for much longer. She LOVES people, especially kids, and does as commanded 99.9% of the time. And she has tried to kill other female dogs she sees as infringing upon her place in the pack. I give Cesar Millan and Jan Fennell and other similar authors sitting on my bookshelf right now all the credit it the world for helping me deal with dogs who have issues that go farther than peeing on the rug or jumping up on people to say hi. Not that I am comparing my dog skills to Cesar Millan's. I am no where near that talented. But he has never claimed to be a "dog trainer", has never said people shouldn't use positive reinforcement, and has never run down other trainers and behaviorists publically the way some run him down.
I don't care that he's never had formal training either. You can learn a hell of a lot just by growing up and watching packs of dogs the way he did. Turid Rugaas is another of my favorite experts in dogs and dog body language and I don't think she's had formal training either but I'm not sure. I do know she gleaned a lot of her knowledge by simply sitting silently and watching packs of dogs. My own dad had no formal training but grew up on a farm surrounded by multiple dogs along with your regular "farm" animals. He is the one who first told me back when my dog above was moving from puppy to teenage dog that she was going to kill my smaller, older dog. You do learn by watching them all your life. I didn't believe him back then. Oh, they're just playing I said. Well, the Aussie tried to kill the other one twice. I was thankfully able to break it up both times and after an insane amount of money in vet bills, my smaller dog pulled through both times. I will forever live with the guilt of allowing that to happen and I will make sure something like that never happens again. All by following the thinking of Cesar Millan and other dog mind readers. One good thing to come out of it was I know a lot more about dogs now than I did a decade ago.
In my opinion sometimes trainers too set on positive only training are a detriment to dogs. I did a dog training course a few years ago where I had to work with another trainer for part of it. We were working with shelter dogs out of a high kill shelter. There was one who was large and black, already 2 strikes against him as far as getting out alive. He was also young and very wild. If I wanted a good grade in the class, however, I HAD to use a head collar, even though the dog hated it. I couldn't use any "negative" techniques at all, not so much as a no or blocking the dog down when he jumped up. There was a lady interested in this dog but wanted to see if he could be trained not to jump up first. My husky was a jumper and a counter surfer extraordinaire when I got him. I had him taught within a few days that this was not okay by blocking him from behavior I didn't want, much the way other dogs will body block each other. But this was not allowed in my class. I spent the entire time trying to get the dog to accept the Gentle Leader or Halti,whichever one it was. In the end, the trainer decided he was "too much" for the person interested in him, even though she was not an old person. With a prong collar and a few "non-positive" techniques, and I don't mean inflicting pain in any way, shape or form, that dog could have been taught much faster. I never asked what happened to him in the end, but like I said, large, black, wild and high kill shelter. It likely wasn't a good ending. It bugs me when positive only trainers claim their way is the only way. (Something else Cesar Millan has never done.)