I have watched lots of episodes of the Dog Whisperer, probably most of them. I actually think most of his advice is pretty good for the average dog owner. For example, I have a neighbor that always "exercised" her dog by tying it in the front yard. Needless to say, the dog was nuts, crazy hyper, barked at everything. She watched the dog whisperer, and actually started walking her dog because Caesar pointed out that dogs need exercise via walking.
The exercise and dicipline mantra make sense to me. I walk my dog two miles a day, and have rules in the house like no dogs on the furniture, no jumping, no food stealing. I don't enforce through intimidation or hitting, all it takes is a sharp "NO" and Rosie behaves because she knows who is in charge, and she knows I'm in charge because I control the food. I don't see where Caesar Millan harms dogs, he never strikes them or even raises his voice, he does do leash corrections, which my own obedience instructor also advocates along with treat training.
It seems to me that there would be fewer dogs in shelters if "average dog owners" bought into dogs needing exercise and dicipline. A lot of "average dog owners" just go get a dog and never walk it or establish rules, and soon the dog is running roughshod over the house, jumping on people, chewing furniture, then it gets taken to the shelter.
I can see criticizing the dog whisperer program for showing Caesar working with dangerous dogs, leading stupid people to think they could try the same techniques. But it seems to me that his work with "regular" dog problems is fine and useful. I think a lot of the vitriol directed toward him is simply because he became popular. It is true that he doesn't have an education in animal behavior, but neither did my mother have an education in child development and somehow she did an excellent job raising three children. Maybe there is room for more than one paradigm in dog training.