LOS ANGELES — Brandon McMillan has trained as many as 10,000 dogs for television, movies, commercials, videos and people. Then he started saving dogs from animal shelters, training them and finding homes for them.

When Litton Entertainment needed a dog trainer who would rescue, train and place 22 dogs in 22 weeks for a show called “Lucky Dog” for CBS, they didn’t have to look far.

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Brandon McMillan, host of the show “Lucky Dog,” picks up a dog at an animal shelter. The show is on Saturday mornings. The Associated Press

He will start each week spending several hours at a shelter, evaluating dogs. That may be the hardest part, especially given that at least 9,000 dogs and cats are euthanized each day.

“I can only take one out. That means I have to walk by 99 I can’t take. All 100 are very trainable, very place-able and just as smart as the next dog. Often the one I choose just comes down to one I make a connection with,” McMillan said.

McMillan, 36 and single, said the dogs will be proficient in the seven common commands — sit, stay, down, come, off, heel and no.

“My theory of training is a lot like martial arts. You learn the technique one day and you perfect it for years to come. With the dogs, I teach them technique when I am training them. I teach the family to perfect the technique over the years to come.”

His dogs are really good at the seven commands instead of being just average at 20, he said. “Less is more when it comes to dog training.”

McMillan will choose the family by evaluating emails he receives at his Southern California ranch — aptly named the Lucky Dog Ranch — and checking out the house and yard where the new dog will live.

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