SINGAPORE — You could say the mention of Singapore triggers a Pavlovian response in Cesar Millan. When we asked what he remembers best about his last Singapore experience, his voice immediately rose in excitement: “Chicken rice. Durian. I love it! My whole family enjoyed the best food and shopping.”

That’s why, when the famous Dog Whisperer returns to Singapore for his Cesar Millan live show on May 2, you’ll probably find him not just working like a dog, but also wolfing down the local delights.

Millan will also be returning to our TV screens for the new series Cesar To The Rescue, in which he travels to help people fed up with their neighbours’ unruly mutts.

Making television with animals, he said, is rather different from working with actors or people. “I tell my crew, ‘No touch, no talk, no eye contact. Pretend the dog is not here’,” he said. “Most people behave nervously or excitedly. Nervous, fearful, anxious, angry — any emotion out of balance is going to alter the dog.”

As a result, most behavioural problems are easily solved by the dog’s human. “I would say 99 per cent of the time, people think they’ve tried everything — except being calm,” he said. “Life is simple. We make it complicated.”

For example, in the course of his work, he has had his fair share of puzzling complaints from dog owners who reach out to him for help. “Most people don’t want the dog to lick them obsessively and this person says, ‘There’s something wrong with my dog — he doesn’t want to lick me.’ Most people complain that their dog barks too much, but this person said his dog doesn’t bark. Humans are never happy,” Millan chuckled.

Having whispered to dogs on television for 10 years, what keeps Millan motivated to keep doing what he does?

“To prove a point that it’s not the dog’s fault,” the 44-year-old said, simply. “Humans can hire lawyers to defend themselves, but dogs can’t. And I think that is a dream of mine — that one day, people will stop blaming the dog and take full responsibility, so that way, we don’t have dogs in the street and overpopulation.” It is easy to see stray dogs’ aggression as a problem in itself, Millan said, but nobody focuses on the fact that the strays are on the streets in the first place because they are abandoned pets.

Dogs are his passion as well as his career, so the divorced father of two unwinds by spending time on his ranch in California. “I love moving dirt and jumping on a tractor,” he said. “We have chickens, a horse, a llama, a tortoise and four guinea pigs. And a macaw named Valentino, which was my Valentine’s Day gift. We just planted 50 trees of oranges and lemons and grapefruit. The ranch calms you down really fast. My family and my girlfriend play a big role.”

Does he ever get tired of always being the pack leader, and want to take a backseat sometimes? “No, not really. The thing is, some people are born to lead. Some people are born to follow. There’s just no two ways about it.” If you don’t honour how you were born, Millan said, that’s where trouble starts.

“If I take any position other than pack leader, I would be absolutely devastated.”

Catch Cesar To The Rescue: Doggie Nightmares on April 30 at 8pm; Cesar To The Rescue starting on May 7, Wednesdays at 8pm; and Cesar Millan Love My Pitbull on June 18 at 8pm on National Geographic Channel (StarHub TV Ch 411 and SingTel mio TV Ch 201) and Nat Geo People (StarHub TV Ch 412 and SingTel mio TV Ch 255).

What: Cesar Millan Live in Singapore 2014

When: May 2, 8pm

Where: The Star Performing Arts Centre

Tickets: From S$78 to S$208, available from SISTIC. More information at http://www.cesarmillanlive.com and http://www.runningintothesun.com