Spotlight on Brandon McMillan

I recently sat down and talked with Daytime Emmy® award winner Brandon McMillan, professional animal trainer and host of Lucky Dog on CBS.  If you have never seen Lucky Dog, then you need to start watching.  It is a family friendly reality show in which Brandon McMillan rescues dogs in shelters and trains them for new families (tissues usually needed – in a good way).  Lucky Dog is in its third season, with a fourth season coming next Fall.  For those of you who think people aren’t real on TV, you’d be wrong in this case.  Brandon McMillan is friendly and down to earth.  What you see is what you get.  His extensive knowledge of animals, their history and understanding of their behaviors is impressive. With a natural passion for rescuing dogs, he has successfully combined that with his lifelong skills to train them for new forever homes.

Brandon McMillan is widely known in Hollywood for training dogs, tigers, bears, and lions for movies and commercials.  Movies include: We Bought a Zoo, The Hangover, Red Dragon, The Jungle Book II, Buddy and Soul Plane.  He has also trained animals for television shows such as: Dharma and Greg, 24, Jackass, Wildboyz and Carnivale.  Hollywood celebrities often call Brandon to train their dogs and after reading about him, you’ll see why.

Lucky Dog is a really unique idea and it brings attention to all of the great dogs in shelters.  Did you come up the idea of Lucky Dog?
Yes.  Years ago I had a dog facility outside LA called LA Dog Retreat, which was a training and boarding facility, but one of my specialties was rescuing dogs turning them into movie stars.  That caught the eye of Litton Entertainment and CBS Daytime.  They came out to watch me work because they were looking to do a dog training show on Saturday mornings.  They wanted to make it unique and something that no one’s ever done.  They saw me working and said, “That’s what we want!”.  We wanted to keep it positive and without drama.  Too many shows make the dogs look bad.  I want to prove that dogs just aren’t a pet, but a member of the family.

Tell me about Argus and what made you decide to co-found the organization?
I knew a man who was a friend of a friend that stepped on an IED in Afghanistan and lost both legs.  He was using prosthetics and learning to walk again.  So my friend called me up and asked if I knew how to train service dogs.  I said, “Technically, yeah, because I’ve trained dogs for movies and TV over the years to open up a refrigerator and similar stuff like that.  Tell me what you need.”  He explained how this man is learning to walk again and needs help picking up things and everyday tasks.  After watching a video of him, I knew exactly what to do.  I talked to my friend Mike Herstik, who is a bomb dog trainer for the military and later became my partner with Argus. He knew exactly what to do too.  We both trained the dog and when I brought the dog to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C. I was surrounded by hundreds of veterans who wanted service dogs.  I was only supposed to stay for a few days, but extended my trip for weeks.  I sat with them and asked them what they needed.  After returning to California, I immediately started the paperwork for the 501c3 and Argus was born.   Go to www.argusservicedogs.org for more info.

Do you remember the first dog you ever trained?
I don’t remember the exact first one.  It was a long time ago.  We moved around a lot when I was a kid and I was always the new kid on the block.  I must have been 7 or 8 years old putting out flyers with those old school paper pull tabs.  People would call the house asking for their dog to be trained and got this little kid!  I’d ride my bike there, go to the door and they’d see me and say, “There must be some mistake.”  I’d go in and train their dog in a half hour.  The looks on the people’s faces were priceless!  The best part was getting $5 and at the time it felt like $5,000!

I’m a foster failure and I’m sure you’ve gotten attached to many dogs, but do you have any that you almost didn’t turn over to their new parents?
Yeah, my Chihuahua Lulu.  She was returned to me 4 times.  Lucky Dog was kind of based on her.  I saw her every day in the shelter for about 6-8 weeks in the front cage.  She was shaking in the corner.  I finally asked about her and the shelter said they were probably going to put her down the next day to make room for other dogs.  I was halfway home when I turned around and took her.  I found her about 4 families and each one returned her for various reasons – not good with kids, bit another dog – and I started looking for a home for her less and less.  5 years later, I still have her.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What is your favorite part of the whole rescue/training process?
Changing lives….both dogs and people.  I’m saving the dog’s life, but the the bigger change is in the human’s life.  Most of the people who contact me to rescue and train a dog are doing so because of something traumatic that happened in their lives.  This reiterates my point that dogs aren’t just pets, but they change lives.  It’s a known fact that dogs reduce stress and depression.

What are some of your biggest challenges when beginning the training process on a dog you just rescued?
When they’re abused, they tend not to trust humans a lot.  The biggest challenge is the unknown.  When I pull a dog from the shelter I only know what they look like and potentially their age.  I don’t know much about the personality.  The shelter doesn’t always know much about the dog.  I need to be careful and consider the homes they’re going to – to make sure they’re good with kids and aren’t aggressive.

From personal experience, I can feel overwhelmed when there are so many dogs/cats that needs homes.  How do you keep it in perspective?
That’s a tough one to answer.  I have a lot of people that inquire about getting a dog from me.  I have a general list of what people want – mainly a family dog that is good with kids.  I eliminate the odds.  If the dogs are aggressive I don’t take them.  I generally have them for 1-3 weeks unless it’s a service dog so training them to not be aggressive is basically out of the question because it takes way longer than my standard training regimen.  I narrow down the families with certain dogs.

I’ve read that your parents trained wild animals for the circus, but what made you decide to get into the business of training dogs/animals for movies and TV?
My style of training is what I like to call “Hybrid Training”.  We trained all types of animals – dogs, big cats, bears, lions, you name it.  With every wild animal you need to switch up your style of training.  Believe it or not, dogs are one of the most difficult animals to train.  The main reason why is that dogs become a product of their own environment very quickly.  When you spoil a dog, it means they probably won’t listen.  It’s very hard to spoil a tiger or a bear.  A dog’s DNA is wired to be pampered and spoiled.  Training wild animals helped with the overall technique, but when it comes to the psychological side, dogs are difficult because they have emotions and are meant to be taken care of.

Not to offend you, but do you feel any differently about the circus now?
No offense taken.  Yes, of course.  I was fortunate enough to work around great trainers who taught me everything I needed to know about animals.  I didn’t see any abuse, but we all know it exists.  Now that I’m older, do I want to see animals in cages?  No.  It was a great life to grow up in and I’m taking that knowledge and applying it to something positive now.  I’m saving dogs and using those techniques to train them.

Obviously you have a passion for working with animals, but how did you get involved with Shark Week?
I had a show called Night on Animal Planet where I went around the world and filmed animals at night observing their behavior.  These animals are nocturnal and prefer to hunt at night.  A couple of the episodes were filmed underwater with sharks.  This caught the attention of the biggest shark film producer and Shark Week guru, Jeff Kurr.  He called me and said he would love to have me on one of his shows.  I had heard of him but didn’t know that much about him so I Googled his name.  Then I said, “Where do I sign up?”.  He had nothing at the moment, but he called me up a few years later and said I was perfect for a show he wanted to do. I was the ideal candidate because I’m not only a surfer, but I have a lot experience diving with sharks which is exactly what he needed. The show is called Great White Serial Killer and it’s about a beach in central California that has a shark attack on surfers every 2 years almost on the same date.  What we’re trying to prove is that it could be from one shark, not a group.  It’s called this because serial killers and great whites use the same tactics of hunting.  It was controversial name, but we said to watch the episode and you’ll see the similarities.   Great whites are patterned creatures and if they know they can get prey in one spot, they will return.  They are migratory animals and know there’s a certain time of year to find prey in the exact same region so they will continue returning.  Serial killers are the same way – same hunting patterns and return to the scene of the crime.

If you didn’t work with animals, is there anything else you could imagine yourself doing?
Fireman or Stuntman…which I did with wild animals for commercials years ago.  That was fun to me.  I like the adrenaline rush, that’s my roots.

I have to ask, is your dog perfectly trained?
She is probably the worst trained dog!  Actually she’s not bad, but the theory of handling is important.  People need to understand training vs. handling.  Handling can be more important than training.  If you handle a dog properly, you can stop a bad behavior such as aggression.  She was so abused and had such a negative experience with being trained that it took me almost 2 years to even pick her up without her screaming.  I know she was kicked because when I pet her with my hand she would squint, but when I pet her with my foot she would run and squeal.   It took me about 2 years before she would come up to me.  Chihuahuas are lap dogs, not working dogs like German Shepherds.  She’ll come or stay when I tell her though.  She is the first dog that I had to make a conscious decision on how far I wanted to take her training.  She was so abused that I had to get to the point that she would listen.  The fact that she is happy and trusts me is enough.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Africa.  There’s so much wrapped into one – I can dive with sharks, surf, scuba, do a safari.

What was your first tattoo?
Down my spine (no one knows about it) – from my neck down to my tail bone.  My first few tattoos were from the same person, a Maori in Hawaii and are Polynesian.  The one on my calf is the one that people recognize and it’s my giveaway.  I’ll keep getting them.  I love artwork, especially cultural artwork.

Do you have a favorite dog breed?
I hate being biased, but I like German Shepherds.  This breed has passed with flying colors after being tested in every area – military, bomb detection, guide dogs, contra band detection dog, seizure alert dog, physical assist dog, therapy dog, etc.  Name one other breed that can do all of that consistently.

Did you ever have one as a pet?
Yes, we had several.  That was our family dog.  We had 3 German Shepherds all named Zeke over the years.

What is your favorite band?
I was born in the wrong decade.  I like Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash, Dob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Ray Charles.  I like the classics and they don’t make them like that anymore.  When I was a kid I liked them and everyone said I liked Grandpa music.  Now they like that music!

What is your favorite water sport?
I like to surf.  The only problem with surfing in California is the crowds.  Thankfully I get sent all over the world to film wildlife shows so anywhere I go, I bring my boards and surf.

What is your biggest pet peeve?
Traffic.  I have the biggest road rage.  People would never guess that I have road rage. Living in LA tends to do that to someone. I cannot stand the dumb decisions people make on the road. And get off your phones and drive please. Thank you.

What is your favorite TV show?
Family Guy is genius.  I like The Walking Dead, Married with Children, and Twilight Zone – it’s a classic.

Do you have a favorite quote?
Yes. “One day your life will flash before your eyes, make sure it’s worth watching.”  I have a lot of quotes I like.  I have ones I live by such as “To achieve great things, we must live as though we’re never going to die” and “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” – Bruce Lee.  I devised my dog training style on that idea.  That’s they theory of the 7 common commands (Sit, Stay, Down, Come, Off, Heel and No). Less is more.

You can watch episodes of CBS Lucky Dog on Hulu and check your local listings for Saturdays on CBS.

Brandon McMillan has dedicated his life to helping animals and leads a very busy, yet inspiring life.  My advice would be to keep your eye on him because I’m sure he will continue to be successful.

“It’s beautiful thing when a passion and career come together.”