Dog whisperer Cesar Millan hits Stanley
Pack leader extraordinaire Cesar Millan, in town on the Hong Kong leg of his world tour, whispers his words of wisdom to a hot-under-the-collar Cecilie Gamst Berg
They say you should never meet your heroes because you'll only be disappointed. But when that hero is Cesar Millan, internationally renowned dog psychologist and people-trainer, it is perhaps worth taking the chance.
Did you know cesarmillan is a verb? As in, "my dog was out of control but I cesarmillaned him into submission"? Well, I use it, anyway - and a new verb is not all the man has given me. But more on that later.
It's May 10. I've braved the pouring rain to get to Stanley Plaza for an outdoor event ahead of Millan's Hong Kong show, part of his Leader of the Pack world tour.
After the interview there'll be a photo shoot on a third-floor veranda where it doesn't rain quite as much as it does outside, and Millan's team have picked out a pack of dogs for him to pose with.
While the cameras flash, the dogs' owners will try to get their pets to play up for the camera so Millan can subdue them with his trademark calm and assertive energy.
"I've got this," he will say, smiling patiently, but the dog owners will keep shouting and clicking their fingers, apparently thinking they are better at communicating with dogs than Cesar Millan. They're not.
in a restaurant in Stanley Plaza, eagerly watched through a glass wall by tour organisers, handlers, impresarios and general hangers-on - important people with plastic cards around their necks - Millan, 44, is having a quick lunch by himself between interviews. He dabs fastidiously at his mouth with a handkerchief like Gustavo Fring in Breaking Bad, and I imagine he is wishing he were running up some hill somewhere with a pack of dogs. Although courteous to a fault, he seems tired, which is perhaps not surprising given he has toured several cities with his show and thousands of people want a piece of him.