"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
Anatole France
4/26/10
4/1/10
2/20/10
Cesar's Way
CESAR’S WAY
Whenever we are walking or running, the dogs of all breeds are indistinguishable. They are simply a pack. When we rest, they break into breeds. The rottweilers will all go together. They dig a burrow in the ground to rest in. The pit bulls will lie down together, always in the middle of the pack, out in the sun. The German shepherds will go and lie under a shady tree. They all have their own style. When it is time to run again, they all fall in as if there were no differences between them at all. The dog and animal in them is far stronger than the breed. At least when it comes to the job of migrating. After they are exercised and rested, it is time for food and this is mixed by hand and fed when the dog is in a calm and relaxed state.
DOG PSYCHOLOGY
Establishing Calm-Assertive Dominance
1. Leash your dog when she approaches you, do not chase ever.
2. When meeting a dog, no eye contact, no voice and let the dog come to you and sniff around. Then bend down and pet. Avoid baby talk, emotionally charged voice.
3. Dogs are creatures of cause and effect. Unlike humans who misuse imagination, dogs respond immediately to conditioning and move on to change. All they need is strong consistent leadership to overcome almost any phobias they may have developed.
4. A dogs status in the pack is his identity
5. Every pack has its rituals and a pack leader.
6. A leader walks through doorways first and leads the walk and sets the pace.
7. Do not reinforce aggressive or fearful behaviour with cuddling, cooing, placating.
8. Balance is created by allowing the dog to express the physical and psychological parts of their being, not by giving treats, toys, affection.
9. Let Love reward Balance.
10. Redirect hyperactive panting excited dogs or dogs showing crazy jumping behaviour. They are not happy to see you, they have pent up energy.
11. Walk/exercise, then give food, then give affection.
12. Separation anxiety does not start when you leave the house. It starts when you get up in the morning and prepare to dress, eat breakfast and leave. If your dog is pacing, following you around, whining, take him for a brisk walk before leaving to drain the building anxiety.
13. Staring at a cat is fixating not a demonstration of focused behaviour.
14. Playing fetch is excitement, and does not create calm submissiveness. Walking, rollerblading etc creates an energy drain. And should be done before excitement creating activities like fetch, chase, dog parks etc.
15. Instead of pulling objects away from the dog, creating a tug-a-war, move towards to dog thereby claiming the object and indicating submission is being requested.
16. There is no morality in the animal kingdom, only survival.
THREE IMPORTANT COMPONENTS FOR A BALANCED DOG
1. EXERCISE:
This is the first part of your dog’s formula for happiness and it is absolutely the one thing you cannot skip. You need to walk with you dog twice a day and for a minimum of thirty minutes at a time.
A walk is not just a means to having a poop and a pee. In nature, dogs will spend up to twelve hours migrating for food.
Master the walk and you connect with all the aspects of your dog’s mind, animal, dog, breed and name- all at the same time.
A backyard is no substitute for a primal walk. A large yard is just a very big kennel behind walls.
How to Employ a Structured Regular Walk Schedule:
a. Use a short leash, approximately 3-4 ft. Fasten the collar over the top part of the dog’s head, not around her neck.
b. Only leash your dog when she comes to you in a calm submissive state. Wait our the excited jumping and don’t encourage it with voice and action.
c. Open the door and ensure you go out first. You are the pack leader.
d. As you walk your dog keep her beside you or behind you. Don’t let her walk you.
e. Establish a rhythm to your walk without stops for sniffs until you are both walking correctly together and are relaxed.
f. After walking uninterrupted for several minutes, now is the time to let your dog go ahead of you, a little, and sniff, pee, explore.
g. Resume the walk with the same energy and consistent leadership after a few minutes of ‘explore’ time.
Backpacks:
A useful technique for high energy dogs that need more of a workout is using a doggie backpack. Adding weight to a dog during her walk makes her work harder. It also gives her something to focus on, a job to do. The ballast you put in the pack should weigh between 10-20 % of your dogs weight.
Dogs Need Jobs:
95% of dog breeds around the world today were originally working breeds. No more than 5 percent of today’s dogs were bred to be lapdogs. Because we don’t always have legitimate work for our dogs with their special talents, the walk is the most important job you can give your dog.
After you have walked together, then it is fine to do the other exciting activities that you both enjoy. Swimming, fetch, tag, or doing tricks are just some of the activities to be enjoyed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking these exciting activities are a substitute for the walks. Compare with allowing you children to spend all day at Chucky Cheese’s. You set a time limit for that frenetic exercise and so you must for your dog and the types of activities she finds just as exciting.
After the walk, your dog will naturally go into the deepest form of resting mode- humans call it meditation mode. When she is in this mode, you can leave the house and go on with your day, secure in the knowledge that your dog knows you’re the pack leader and that all that boundless energy inside her is being channeled properly and constructively.
2. DISCIPLINE:
Discipline is a confusing term for many people. Discipline makes you a better person, makes you fit, makes you healthy, enables you to maintain a lifestyle, career, friendships etc. Discipline is a word that helps people stay on target, to reach their goals and dreams. It is a word that allows us to be balanced, a respectful human being, an honest person. Without discipline, you can’t be a role model, without discipline, you become a negative energy source.
Discipline-rules, boundaries, and limitations exists in every species on the planet. Bees are disciplined. Ants are disciplined. Dolphins are very disciplined. Discipline is survival in Mother Nature. For humans to succeed at anything, we need discipline. And as the pack leader of our dog/s we share our discipline with them. It is our job to tell them when to wake up, when to eat, and how to interact with one another. We set the rules, boundaries, and limitations about where to go and 3at what pace, when to rest, when to pee, whom to chase, whom not to chase, where to dig a hole, where to roll over. All that is part of discipline. Discipline is not punishment. It is the rules, boundaries, and limitations that exist for the good of the dogs and for our relationship with them.
Corrections:
In nature, dogs correct one another all the time, there is always a consequence for breaking the rules. Dogs hold no grudges, they correct and then move right on with their lives.
An important difference to remember when correcting a dog is it is NOT the same as punishing a child. Taking away privileges makes sense to children but a dog does not have the same reasoning ability. They don’t have your language, they don’t understand a time consequence and they don’t connect irrelevant actions to their immediate behaviour. They live in a world of cause and effect, they don’t think, they REACT. You can’t wait even 5 minutes to correct a dog because chances are, they have already moved on, to the next moment and any link of consequence to previous behaviour is totally lost. Dogs live in the “now” therefore corrections have to be in the “now”.
There are many schools of though regarding the science of correcting a dogs behaviour with some of the more popular being positive reinforcement. If you can train your dogs behaviour with treats, by all means go for it. However, many dogs come with real issues of abuse, neglect, pain etc and they require quite a different approach.
The distinction is in how and when you use corrections. You never, ever correct an animal out of anger or frustration. This is very important to always remember as you remain in touch with your own feelings. If you correct your dog out of anger, you are out of control yourself and your unstable energy will escalate the dogs unwanted behaviour. You always want to be a model of calm assertive energy. You are there to teach and show leadership, not to demonstrate instability.
When you correct your dog, it’s your energy, mindset, and the timing of the correction that matter more than the method, as long as the method isn’t abusive. Never strike a dog. A quick, assertive touch can snap a dog out of an unwanted state. I curl my hand into a claw shape so that when I quickly touch a dog’s neck or just under its chin, my curled fingers feel like the teeth of another dog or of the dog’s mother. Dogs often correct one another with gentle nips, and touch is one of the most common ways with which they communicate. A touch is more effective than a strike could ever be.
Remember, dogs are always reading your energy and they’ll know what you mean when you’re energy tells them, “It’s not okay to do that.” When I have a dog on a leash, I’ll give a little tug upward to snap the dog out of unwanted behavior. It’s a short little jerk that barely lasts a moment, and doesn’t hurt the dog- but the timing of it is vital. Whatever the correction method, it has to happen the split second the dog begins the unwanted behavior. That is where knowing your dog comes in. You need to learn to read your dog’s body language and energy almost as well as she’s already reading yours.
Energy is the language of emotion
Calm submissive and Active submissive vs. Calm assertive
Calm assertive energy is the first energy a puppy experiences, i.e. from his mother and it becomes the energy they associate with balance and harmony for the rest of their lives. They learn to follow a calm assertive leader, their mother. In doing so they practice calm submissive energy as a ‘follower’ and in doing so, learn patience. They learn survival involves competition with their littermates and cooperation with their mother- by default, their first pack leader.
Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations.
As you have rules for children so you must have rules for your dog. Dogs crave rules and structure in their life. There are certain behaviours which should always be blocked when demonstrated by dogs because by allowing them, you could be encouraging dominance. You should not allow the dog to jump on you or anyone else for that matter. Neither should your dog whine or bark incessantly when separated from you. No possessiveness over toys. No snapping, biting, jumping on you. No aggressiveness towards people or other dogs or other household animals. Some of the behaviours you will want to block will be instinctive ones. That is why you must be a pack leader. An owner can only affection and genetics. A dog handler can only control genetics. A pack leader controls instincts and genetics. You can teach her to catch a Frisbee or run an obstacle course, this is genetics. A man can graduate from Harvard but still lack lifeskills and not be balanced. When you train a dog, you only get access to conditioning, not to the dog’s mind and conditioning means nothing in the dog world. Can she eat her dinner without being protective over her food, can she play happily with other dogs without a fight? Can she travel in a pack? That’s instinct. A pack leader controls both.
You may play ball in the yard with your dog and she loves to retrieve and run after the ball but, this is genetics, that is the breed in her. You control the dogs behaviour by the ball, she is engaged with you because of the ball. But, what if she becomes bored with the ball and her new motivation is the cat. She starts chasing the cat. That is her instinct calling her. Can you control her now? Can you block that behaviour? Or, without the ball outside, can you control your dog during a walk? You can’t block her from chasing a squirrel or cat with a ball, but you can control those behaviours with leadership.
In my centre with 30-40 dogs, I have to constantly monitor and block instinctive behaviours. It is natural for dogs to smell and mount each other but if that behaviour gets too intense, it could escalate into a fight. Therefore I have to block that behaviour. No aggression is tolerated. However, when I block any instinctual behaviour, I must replace it with another activity to redirect the energy. You can’t just take something away and give nothing in return. You must replace the undesirable behaviour with a desirable one. I use obstacle courses, swimming pools, treadmills, tennis balls and other distractions for the dogs. They spend 5-8 hours a day in exercise that is psychologically stimulating to them. They must drain their energy and exercise their minds. A good pack leader will provide structure for the dogs life but also plenty of outlets for her natural energy as well.
3. AFFECTION
When is the right time to share affection? When the dog has been exercised and eaten. After the dog has changed his unwanted behaviour. After a dog has responded to a rule or command. Always when they are calm and submissive. The wrong time to give affection is when your dog is fearful, anxious, barking, possessive, dominant, aggressive, whining, begging or breaking any of the household rules.
Everytime you give affection, you are reinforcing the behaviour immediately preceding your affection.
An excellent example of the proper way to give affection is to observe dogs with jobs. Handicapped people with service dogs understand that the dog isn’t there just to be their friend. They must play the leadership role before the dog will turn on lights, lead across streets etc. These dogs even wear a sign so that people will not distract them by giving affection and create excitement in the dog so that they can’t perform their job. Police dogs and drug enforcement dogs only get affection after their day of work is completed. To hve to work for affection is a very natural thing for a dog. It is just humans who believe we must always give affection to a dog or else we are depriving it of something.
A dog is living a fulfilled life when he is living each day to the fullest, to his potential, he is exercising all his talents and abilities, is comfortable in a pack, gets regular exercise and feels he is working for food and water. Not dissimilar from us and our expectations of a fulfilled life. A dog is fulfilled when it trusts its pack leader to set consistent rules and boundaries for it to live by. Dogs love routine, ritual, and consistency. They also love new experiences and the chance to explore-especially when they feel they have a reliable bond with their pack leader.
A GUIDE TO RULES FOR THE HOUSE
1, Wake up on your terms, not his. Train him to wait calmly for you to get up and start the structure of his day.
2. Start the day with very little touch or talk, saving affection for after the walk. The walk is your bonding time together.
3. Feed your dog calmly and quietly, never giving him food when he is jumping up and down. He gets fed only when he is sitting down, calm-submissive. He never gets food in response to a bark.
4. When the pack leader is eating, you, no one interrupts your meal. Don’t buy your dog’s pleading looks
5. After exercise and food comes affection time. Instruct your dog to be in a calm submissive position, and then love him till it is time to go to work.
6. Never make a big deal about leaving the house or coming home. If you have properly exercised your dog and not nurtured his fear or anxiety, his natural body clock will tell him this is time for him to rest and be quiet for a while.
7. Once you return home, hold back as much affection as you can at first. Do not encourage overexcitement. Change your clothes, grab a snack to tide you over, and take your dog out again. After the walk, once again reinforce your mealtime rules, and then allow your calm submissive dog to be your best friend after dinner.
8. Sleeping arrangements for a dog should be clear and unambiguous. A dog should have a regular place to sleep and not randomly chose his own. Don’t let the dog take over your bed. You go to bed and settle first, then invite your dog in.
9. Every human in the household needs to be a pack leader. Everyone must live by the same set of rules, boundaries, and limitations. Intermittent reinforcement creates an unpredictable dog that is much harder to condition in the long run. Inconsistent leadership leads to an inconsistently obedient dog.
10. Schedule playtime with your dog every week. Playtime is not a substitute for walks! Always make sure you dog has had his exercise before initiating play so that he is relaxed and calm with his energy.
11. Don’t avoid or postpone bathing your dog because he hates it. Monitor the temp of the water as a cool bath in the summer can be appreciated after a hot brisk walk or play just as a warm bath in winter can be a great relaxing activity after a brisk cool walk outside.
12. Don’t allow out-of-control barking. Often this behaviour is a sign of physical and psychological frustration. This is a dog desperate for more physical activity and a more proactive pack leader.
13. Don’t allow possessiveness over toys and food. Make sure he knows that his toys are your toys first: make sure his is calm-submissive or active-submissive before you feed him and that he doesn’t growl if you come near him when feeding.
AT THE DOG PARK
Always, exercise your dog before taking to the dog park The dog park can be used to help your dog increase or maintain his social skills and perhaps give him some fun running and playing with members of his own kind. But, that is all you should expect from a dog park. It is never a place for your dog to work off his excess energy, it is never a substitute for a walk.
If after a long day of work, you throw your dog in the car, your dog is overexcited. You say we are going to the park. The dog picks up on your energy and signals. He gets excited and jumps around, that is not happiness. That is unexpressed, frustrated energy and creates and overexcited dog that does not behave well at the park. Other dogs will sense his unbalanced energy and he may sense others the same and they will all play off each other to create a very unstable situation with dogs attacking, growling, biting and aggressively chasing each other.
Remember, he is suppose to use the dog park as a place to practice social skills, not as a substitute for regular exercise. Drain as much of his excited energy as you can, then take him to the dog park when his energy level is close to zero. That way, when he gets to the dog park, he’ll be relaxed but will still move forward and engage with other dogs. This will encourage more healthy social interaction.
Also, don’t “punch out” at the park. Regardless of how tired you are, being a pack leader is a 24/7 job. Your dog still needs guidance from his pack leader. Be on alert, moving around the park area and constantly connecting with your dog through calm-assertive voice, eye contact, and energy. You must read your dog’s body language and how to snap him out of it if an interaction seems to be turning into a confrontation. If a dog does misbehave or is challenged or bullied by another dog, don’t react with soft energy. Don’t nurture dominant, fearful or aggressive behaviour by comforting the dog or petting him. Don’t let your dog hide or cower between your legs. Always clean up after your dog and never leave him unsupervised.. Your dog will be looking to your for his cues as how to behave. Don’t let him down!
Remember, your dog has 4 choices when interacting with other dogs- fight, flight, avoid, or submit. If your dog ignores or avoids other dogs at the park that is fine, so do we avoid people often. A healthy balanced dog knows how to avoid others as a way of preventing conflict and keeping his disposition stable.
Because of the inherent randomness of dog park experiences, there are other safer alternatives for socializing. Find dog-walking friends and walk your dogs together, slowly letting them get to know each other as a pack. Get together with others from a dog training group. Take your dog to family outings, functions where you are familiar with the other dog that may be there. Stay involved and correct your dog as necessary, encouraging your human companions to do the same. Remember, a wolf pack usually consists of only five to eight dogs at a time. You don’t need to be around ten to twenty dogs for your dog to benefit from and enjoy the company of his own kind.
CESAR’S WAY
Whenever we are walking or running, the dogs of all breeds are indistinguishable. They are simply a pack. When we rest, they break into breeds. The rottweilers will all go together. They dig a burrow in the ground to rest in. The pit bulls will lie down together, always in the middle of the pack, out in the sun. The German shepherds will go and lie under a shady tree. They all have their own style. When it is time to run again, they all fall in as if there were no differences between them at all. The dog and animal in them is far stronger than the breed. At least when it comes to the job of migrating. After they are exercised and rested, it is time for food and this is mixed by hand and fed when the dog is in a calm and relaxed state.
DOG PSYCHOLOGY
Establishing Calm-Assertive Dominance
1. Leash your dog when she approaches you, do not chase ever.
2. When meeting a dog, no eye contact, no voice and let the dog come to you and sniff around. Then bend down and pet. Avoid baby talk, emotionally charged voice.
3. Dogs are creatures of cause and effect. Unlike humans who misuse imagination, dogs respond immediately to conditioning and move on to change. All they need is strong consistent leadership to overcome almost any phobias they may have developed.
4. A dogs status in the pack is his identity
5. Every pack has its rituals and a pack leader.
6. A leader walks through doorways first and leads the walk and sets the pace.
7. Do not reinforce aggressive or fearful behaviour with cuddling, cooing, placating.
8. Balance is created by allowing the dog to express the physical and psychological parts of their being, not by giving treats, toys, affection.
9. Let Love reward Balance.
10. Redirect hyperactive panting excited dogs or dogs showing crazy jumping behaviour. They are not happy to see you, they have pent up energy.
11. Walk/exercise, then give food, then give affection.
12. Separation anxiety does not start when you leave the house. It starts when you get up in the morning and prepare to dress, eat breakfast and leave. If your dog is pacing, following you around, whining, take him for a brisk walk before leaving to drain the building anxiety.
13. Staring at a cat is fixating not a demonstration of focused behaviour.
14. Playing fetch is excitement, and does not create calm submissiveness. Walking, rollerblading etc creates an energy drain. And should be done before excitement creating activities like fetch, chase, dog parks etc.
15. Instead of pulling objects away from the dog, creating a tug-a-war, move towards to dog thereby claiming the object and indicating submission is being requested.
16. There is no morality in the animal kingdom, only survival.
THREE IMPORTANT COMPONENTS FOR A BALANCED DOG
1. EXERCISE:
This is the first part of your dog’s formula for happiness and it is absolutely the one thing you cannot skip. You need to walk with you dog twice a day and for a minimum of thirty minutes at a time.
A walk is not just a means to having a poop and a pee. In nature, dogs will spend up to twelve hours migrating for food.
Master the walk and you connect with all the aspects of your dog’s mind, animal, dog, breed and name- all at the same time.
A backyard is no substitute for a primal walk. A large yard is just a very big kennel behind walls.
How to Employ a Structured Regular Walk Schedule:
a. Use a short leash, approximately 3-4 ft. Fasten the collar over the top part of the dog’s head, not around her neck.
b. Only leash your dog when she comes to you in a calm submissive state. Wait our the excited jumping and don’t encourage it with voice and action.
c. Open the door and ensure you go out first. You are the pack leader.
d. As you walk your dog keep her beside you or behind you. Don’t let her walk you.
e. Establish a rhythm to your walk without stops for sniffs until you are both walking correctly together and are relaxed.
f. After walking uninterrupted for several minutes, now is the time to let your dog go ahead of you, a little, and sniff, pee, explore.
g. Resume the walk with the same energy and consistent leadership after a few minutes of ‘explore’ time.
Backpacks:
A useful technique for high energy dogs that need more of a workout is using a doggie backpack. Adding weight to a dog during her walk makes her work harder. It also gives her something to focus on, a job to do. The ballast you put in the pack should weigh between 10-20 % of your dogs weight.
Dogs Need Jobs:
95% of dog breeds around the world today were originally working breeds. No more than 5 percent of today’s dogs were bred to be lapdogs. Because we don’t always have legitimate work for our dogs with their special talents, the walk is the most important job you can give your dog.
After you have walked together, then it is fine to do the other exciting activities that you both enjoy. Swimming, fetch, tag, or doing tricks are just some of the activities to be enjoyed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking these exciting activities are a substitute for the walks. Compare with allowing you children to spend all day at Chucky Cheese’s. You set a time limit for that frenetic exercise and so you must for your dog and the types of activities she finds just as exciting.
After the walk, your dog will naturally go into the deepest form of resting mode- humans call it meditation mode. When she is in this mode, you can leave the house and go on with your day, secure in the knowledge that your dog knows you’re the pack leader and that all that boundless energy inside her is being channeled properly and constructively.
2. DISCIPLINE:
Discipline is a confusing term for many people. Discipline makes you a better person, makes you fit, makes you healthy, enables you to maintain a lifestyle, career, friendships etc. Discipline is a word that helps people stay on target, to reach their goals and dreams. It is a word that allows us to be balanced, a respectful human being, an honest person. Without discipline, you can’t be a role model, without discipline, you become a negative energy source.
Discipline-rules, boundaries, and limitations exists in every species on the planet. Bees are disciplined. Ants are disciplined. Dolphins are very disciplined. Discipline is survival in Mother Nature. For humans to succeed at anything, we need discipline. And as the pack leader of our dog/s we share our discipline with them. It is our job to tell them when to wake up, when to eat, and how to interact with one another. We set the rules, boundaries, and limitations about where to go and 3at what pace, when to rest, when to pee, whom to chase, whom not to chase, where to dig a hole, where to roll over. All that is part of discipline. Discipline is not punishment. It is the rules, boundaries, and limitations that exist for the good of the dogs and for our relationship with them.
Corrections:
In nature, dogs correct one another all the time, there is always a consequence for breaking the rules. Dogs hold no grudges, they correct and then move right on with their lives.
An important difference to remember when correcting a dog is it is NOT the same as punishing a child. Taking away privileges makes sense to children but a dog does not have the same reasoning ability. They don’t have your language, they don’t understand a time consequence and they don’t connect irrelevant actions to their immediate behaviour. They live in a world of cause and effect, they don’t think, they REACT. You can’t wait even 5 minutes to correct a dog because chances are, they have already moved on, to the next moment and any link of consequence to previous behaviour is totally lost. Dogs live in the “now” therefore corrections have to be in the “now”.
There are many schools of though regarding the science of correcting a dogs behaviour with some of the more popular being positive reinforcement. If you can train your dogs behaviour with treats, by all means go for it. However, many dogs come with real issues of abuse, neglect, pain etc and they require quite a different approach.
The distinction is in how and when you use corrections. You never, ever correct an animal out of anger or frustration. This is very important to always remember as you remain in touch with your own feelings. If you correct your dog out of anger, you are out of control yourself and your unstable energy will escalate the dogs unwanted behaviour. You always want to be a model of calm assertive energy. You are there to teach and show leadership, not to demonstrate instability.
When you correct your dog, it’s your energy, mindset, and the timing of the correction that matter more than the method, as long as the method isn’t abusive. Never strike a dog. A quick, assertive touch can snap a dog out of an unwanted state. I curl my hand into a claw shape so that when I quickly touch a dog’s neck or just under its chin, my curled fingers feel like the teeth of another dog or of the dog’s mother. Dogs often correct one another with gentle nips, and touch is one of the most common ways with which they communicate. A touch is more effective than a strike could ever be.
Remember, dogs are always reading your energy and they’ll know what you mean when you’re energy tells them, “It’s not okay to do that.” When I have a dog on a leash, I’ll give a little tug upward to snap the dog out of unwanted behavior. It’s a short little jerk that barely lasts a moment, and doesn’t hurt the dog- but the timing of it is vital. Whatever the correction method, it has to happen the split second the dog begins the unwanted behavior. That is where knowing your dog comes in. You need to learn to read your dog’s body language and energy almost as well as she’s already reading yours.
Energy is the language of emotion
Calm submissive and Active submissive vs. Calm assertive
Calm assertive energy is the first energy a puppy experiences, i.e. from his mother and it becomes the energy they associate with balance and harmony for the rest of their lives. They learn to follow a calm assertive leader, their mother. In doing so they practice calm submissive energy as a ‘follower’ and in doing so, learn patience. They learn survival involves competition with their littermates and cooperation with their mother- by default, their first pack leader.
Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations.
As you have rules for children so you must have rules for your dog. Dogs crave rules and structure in their life. There are certain behaviours which should always be blocked when demonstrated by dogs because by allowing them, you could be encouraging dominance. You should not allow the dog to jump on you or anyone else for that matter. Neither should your dog whine or bark incessantly when separated from you. No possessiveness over toys. No snapping, biting, jumping on you. No aggressiveness towards people or other dogs or other household animals. Some of the behaviours you will want to block will be instinctive ones. That is why you must be a pack leader. An owner can only affection and genetics. A dog handler can only control genetics. A pack leader controls instincts and genetics. You can teach her to catch a Frisbee or run an obstacle course, this is genetics. A man can graduate from Harvard but still lack lifeskills and not be balanced. When you train a dog, you only get access to conditioning, not to the dog’s mind and conditioning means nothing in the dog world. Can she eat her dinner without being protective over her food, can she play happily with other dogs without a fight? Can she travel in a pack? That’s instinct. A pack leader controls both.
You may play ball in the yard with your dog and she loves to retrieve and run after the ball but, this is genetics, that is the breed in her. You control the dogs behaviour by the ball, she is engaged with you because of the ball. But, what if she becomes bored with the ball and her new motivation is the cat. She starts chasing the cat. That is her instinct calling her. Can you control her now? Can you block that behaviour? Or, without the ball outside, can you control your dog during a walk? You can’t block her from chasing a squirrel or cat with a ball, but you can control those behaviours with leadership.
In my centre with 30-40 dogs, I have to constantly monitor and block instinctive behaviours. It is natural for dogs to smell and mount each other but if that behaviour gets too intense, it could escalate into a fight. Therefore I have to block that behaviour. No aggression is tolerated. However, when I block any instinctual behaviour, I must replace it with another activity to redirect the energy. You can’t just take something away and give nothing in return. You must replace the undesirable behaviour with a desirable one. I use obstacle courses, swimming pools, treadmills, tennis balls and other distractions for the dogs. They spend 5-8 hours a day in exercise that is psychologically stimulating to them. They must drain their energy and exercise their minds. A good pack leader will provide structure for the dogs life but also plenty of outlets for her natural energy as well.
3. AFFECTION
When is the right time to share affection? When the dog has been exercised and eaten. After the dog has changed his unwanted behaviour. After a dog has responded to a rule or command. Always when they are calm and submissive. The wrong time to give affection is when your dog is fearful, anxious, barking, possessive, dominant, aggressive, whining, begging or breaking any of the household rules.
Everytime you give affection, you are reinforcing the behaviour immediately preceding your affection.
An excellent example of the proper way to give affection is to observe dogs with jobs. Handicapped people with service dogs understand that the dog isn’t there just to be their friend. They must play the leadership role before the dog will turn on lights, lead across streets etc. These dogs even wear a sign so that people will not distract them by giving affection and create excitement in the dog so that they can’t perform their job. Police dogs and drug enforcement dogs only get affection after their day of work is completed. To hve to work for affection is a very natural thing for a dog. It is just humans who believe we must always give affection to a dog or else we are depriving it of something.
A dog is living a fulfilled life when he is living each day to the fullest, to his potential, he is exercising all his talents and abilities, is comfortable in a pack, gets regular exercise and feels he is working for food and water. Not dissimilar from us and our expectations of a fulfilled life. A dog is fulfilled when it trusts its pack leader to set consistent rules and boundaries for it to live by. Dogs love routine, ritual, and consistency. They also love new experiences and the chance to explore-especially when they feel they have a reliable bond with their pack leader.
A GUIDE TO RULES FOR THE HOUSE
1, Wake up on your terms, not his. Train him to wait calmly for you to get up and start the structure of his day.
2. Start the day with very little touch or talk, saving affection for after the walk. The walk is your bonding time together.
3. Feed your dog calmly and quietly, never giving him food when he is jumping up and down. He gets fed only when he is sitting down, calm-submissive. He never gets food in response to a bark.
4. When the pack leader is eating, you, no one interrupts your meal. Don’t buy your dog’s pleading looks
5. After exercise and food comes affection time. Instruct your dog to be in a calm submissive position, and then love him till it is time to go to work.
6. Never make a big deal about leaving the house or coming home. If you have properly exercised your dog and not nurtured his fear or anxiety, his natural body clock will tell him this is time for him to rest and be quiet for a while.
7. Once you return home, hold back as much affection as you can at first. Do not encourage overexcitement. Change your clothes, grab a snack to tide you over, and take your dog out again. After the walk, once again reinforce your mealtime rules, and then allow your calm submissive dog to be your best friend after dinner.
8. Sleeping arrangements for a dog should be clear and unambiguous. A dog should have a regular place to sleep and not randomly chose his own. Don’t let the dog take over your bed. You go to bed and settle first, then invite your dog in.
9. Every human in the household needs to be a pack leader. Everyone must live by the same set of rules, boundaries, and limitations. Intermittent reinforcement creates an unpredictable dog that is much harder to condition in the long run. Inconsistent leadership leads to an inconsistently obedient dog.
10. Schedule playtime with your dog every week. Playtime is not a substitute for walks! Always make sure you dog has had his exercise before initiating play so that he is relaxed and calm with his energy.
11. Don’t avoid or postpone bathing your dog because he hates it. Monitor the temp of the water as a cool bath in the summer can be appreciated after a hot brisk walk or play just as a warm bath in winter can be a great relaxing activity after a brisk cool walk outside.
12. Don’t allow out-of-control barking. Often this behaviour is a sign of physical and psychological frustration. This is a dog desperate for more physical activity and a more proactive pack leader.
13. Don’t allow possessiveness over toys and food. Make sure he knows that his toys are your toys first: make sure his is calm-submissive or active-submissive before you feed him and that he doesn’t growl if you come near him when feeding.
AT THE DOG PARK
Always, exercise your dog before taking to the dog park The dog park can be used to help your dog increase or maintain his social skills and perhaps give him some fun running and playing with members of his own kind. But, that is all you should expect from a dog park. It is never a place for your dog to work off his excess energy, it is never a substitute for a walk.
If after a long day of work, you throw your dog in the car, your dog is overexcited. You say we are going to the park. The dog picks up on your energy and signals. He gets excited and jumps around, that is not happiness. That is unexpressed, frustrated energy and creates and overexcited dog that does not behave well at the park. Other dogs will sense his unbalanced energy and he may sense others the same and they will all play off each other to create a very unstable situation with dogs attacking, growling, biting and aggressively chasing each other.
Remember, he is suppose to use the dog park as a place to practice social skills, not as a substitute for regular exercise. Drain as much of his excited energy as you can, then take him to the dog park when his energy level is close to zero. That way, when he gets to the dog park, he’ll be relaxed but will still move forward and engage with other dogs. This will encourage more healthy social interaction.
Also, don’t “punch out” at the park. Regardless of how tired you are, being a pack leader is a 24/7 job. Your dog still needs guidance from his pack leader. Be on alert, moving around the park area and constantly connecting with your dog through calm-assertive voice, eye contact, and energy. You must read your dog’s body language and how to snap him out of it if an interaction seems to be turning into a confrontation. If a dog does misbehave or is challenged or bullied by another dog, don’t react with soft energy. Don’t nurture dominant, fearful or aggressive behaviour by comforting the dog or petting him. Don’t let your dog hide or cower between your legs. Always clean up after your dog and never leave him unsupervised.. Your dog will be looking to your for his cues as how to behave. Don’t let him down!
Remember, your dog has 4 choices when interacting with other dogs- fight, flight, avoid, or submit. If your dog ignores or avoids other dogs at the park that is fine, so do we avoid people often. A healthy balanced dog knows how to avoid others as a way of preventing conflict and keeping his disposition stable.
Because of the inherent randomness of dog park experiences, there are other safer alternatives for socializing. Find dog-walking friends and walk your dogs together, slowly letting them get to know each other as a pack. Get together with others from a dog training group. Take your dog to family outings, functions where you are familiar with the other dog that may be there. Stay involved and correct your dog as necessary, encouraging your human companions to do the same. Remember, a wolf pack usually consists of only five to eight dogs at a time. You don’t need to be around ten to twenty dogs for your dog to benefit from and enjoy the company of his own kind.
Whenever we are walking or running, the dogs of all breeds are indistinguishable. They are simply a pack. When we rest, they break into breeds. The rottweilers will all go together. They dig a burrow in the ground to rest in. The pit bulls will lie down together, always in the middle of the pack, out in the sun. The German shepherds will go and lie under a shady tree. They all have their own style. When it is time to run again, they all fall in as if there were no differences between them at all. The dog and animal in them is far stronger than the breed. At least when it comes to the job of migrating. After they are exercised and rested, it is time for food and this is mixed by hand and fed when the dog is in a calm and relaxed state.
DOG PSYCHOLOGY
Establishing Calm-Assertive Dominance
1. Leash your dog when she approaches you, do not chase ever.
2. When meeting a dog, no eye contact, no voice and let the dog come to you and sniff around. Then bend down and pet. Avoid baby talk, emotionally charged voice.
3. Dogs are creatures of cause and effect. Unlike humans who misuse imagination, dogs respond immediately to conditioning and move on to change. All they need is strong consistent leadership to overcome almost any phobias they may have developed.
4. A dogs status in the pack is his identity
5. Every pack has its rituals and a pack leader.
6. A leader walks through doorways first and leads the walk and sets the pace.
7. Do not reinforce aggressive or fearful behaviour with cuddling, cooing, placating.
8. Balance is created by allowing the dog to express the physical and psychological parts of their being, not by giving treats, toys, affection.
9. Let Love reward Balance.
10. Redirect hyperactive panting excited dogs or dogs showing crazy jumping behaviour. They are not happy to see you, they have pent up energy.
11. Walk/exercise, then give food, then give affection.
12. Separation anxiety does not start when you leave the house. It starts when you get up in the morning and prepare to dress, eat breakfast and leave. If your dog is pacing, following you around, whining, take him for a brisk walk before leaving to drain the building anxiety.
13. Staring at a cat is fixating not a demonstration of focused behaviour.
14. Playing fetch is excitement, and does not create calm submissiveness. Walking, rollerblading etc creates an energy drain. And should be done before excitement creating activities like fetch, chase, dog parks etc.
15. Instead of pulling objects away from the dog, creating a tug-a-war, move towards to dog thereby claiming the object and indicating submission is being requested.
16. There is no morality in the animal kingdom, only survival.
THREE IMPORTANT COMPONENTS FOR A BALANCED DOG
1. EXERCISE:
This is the first part of your dog’s formula for happiness and it is absolutely the one thing you cannot skip. You need to walk with you dog twice a day and for a minimum of thirty minutes at a time.
A walk is not just a means to having a poop and a pee. In nature, dogs will spend up to twelve hours migrating for food.
Master the walk and you connect with all the aspects of your dog’s mind, animal, dog, breed and name- all at the same time.
A backyard is no substitute for a primal walk. A large yard is just a very big kennel behind walls.
How to Employ a Structured Regular Walk Schedule:
a. Use a short leash, approximately 3-4 ft. Fasten the collar over the top part of the dog’s head, not around her neck.
b. Only leash your dog when she comes to you in a calm submissive state. Wait our the excited jumping and don’t encourage it with voice and action.
c. Open the door and ensure you go out first. You are the pack leader.
d. As you walk your dog keep her beside you or behind you. Don’t let her walk you.
e. Establish a rhythm to your walk without stops for sniffs until you are both walking correctly together and are relaxed.
f. After walking uninterrupted for several minutes, now is the time to let your dog go ahead of you, a little, and sniff, pee, explore.
g. Resume the walk with the same energy and consistent leadership after a few minutes of ‘explore’ time.
Backpacks:
A useful technique for high energy dogs that need more of a workout is using a doggie backpack. Adding weight to a dog during her walk makes her work harder. It also gives her something to focus on, a job to do. The ballast you put in the pack should weigh between 10-20 % of your dogs weight.
Dogs Need Jobs:
95% of dog breeds around the world today were originally working breeds. No more than 5 percent of today’s dogs were bred to be lapdogs. Because we don’t always have legitimate work for our dogs with their special talents, the walk is the most important job you can give your dog.
After you have walked together, then it is fine to do the other exciting activities that you both enjoy. Swimming, fetch, tag, or doing tricks are just some of the activities to be enjoyed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking these exciting activities are a substitute for the walks. Compare with allowing you children to spend all day at Chucky Cheese’s. You set a time limit for that frenetic exercise and so you must for your dog and the types of activities she finds just as exciting.
After the walk, your dog will naturally go into the deepest form of resting mode- humans call it meditation mode. When she is in this mode, you can leave the house and go on with your day, secure in the knowledge that your dog knows you’re the pack leader and that all that boundless energy inside her is being channeled properly and constructively.
2. DISCIPLINE:
Discipline is a confusing term for many people. Discipline makes you a better person, makes you fit, makes you healthy, enables you to maintain a lifestyle, career, friendships etc. Discipline is a word that helps people stay on target, to reach their goals and dreams. It is a word that allows us to be balanced, a respectful human being, an honest person. Without discipline, you can’t be a role model, without discipline, you become a negative energy source.
Discipline-rules, boundaries, and limitations exists in every species on the planet. Bees are disciplined. Ants are disciplined. Dolphins are very disciplined. Discipline is survival in Mother Nature. For humans to succeed at anything, we need discipline. And as the pack leader of our dog/s we share our discipline with them. It is our job to tell them when to wake up, when to eat, and how to interact with one another. We set the rules, boundaries, and limitations about where to go and 3at what pace, when to rest, when to pee, whom to chase, whom not to chase, where to dig a hole, where to roll over. All that is part of discipline. Discipline is not punishment. It is the rules, boundaries, and limitations that exist for the good of the dogs and for our relationship with them.
Corrections:
In nature, dogs correct one another all the time, there is always a consequence for breaking the rules. Dogs hold no grudges, they correct and then move right on with their lives.
An important difference to remember when correcting a dog is it is NOT the same as punishing a child. Taking away privileges makes sense to children but a dog does not have the same reasoning ability. They don’t have your language, they don’t understand a time consequence and they don’t connect irrelevant actions to their immediate behaviour. They live in a world of cause and effect, they don’t think, they REACT. You can’t wait even 5 minutes to correct a dog because chances are, they have already moved on, to the next moment and any link of consequence to previous behaviour is totally lost. Dogs live in the “now” therefore corrections have to be in the “now”.
There are many schools of though regarding the science of correcting a dogs behaviour with some of the more popular being positive reinforcement. If you can train your dogs behaviour with treats, by all means go for it. However, many dogs come with real issues of abuse, neglect, pain etc and they require quite a different approach.
The distinction is in how and when you use corrections. You never, ever correct an animal out of anger or frustration. This is very important to always remember as you remain in touch with your own feelings. If you correct your dog out of anger, you are out of control yourself and your unstable energy will escalate the dogs unwanted behaviour. You always want to be a model of calm assertive energy. You are there to teach and show leadership, not to demonstrate instability.
When you correct your dog, it’s your energy, mindset, and the timing of the correction that matter more than the method, as long as the method isn’t abusive. Never strike a dog. A quick, assertive touch can snap a dog out of an unwanted state. I curl my hand into a claw shape so that when I quickly touch a dog’s neck or just under its chin, my curled fingers feel like the teeth of another dog or of the dog’s mother. Dogs often correct one another with gentle nips, and touch is one of the most common ways with which they communicate. A touch is more effective than a strike could ever be.
Remember, dogs are always reading your energy and they’ll know what you mean when you’re energy tells them, “It’s not okay to do that.” When I have a dog on a leash, I’ll give a little tug upward to snap the dog out of unwanted behavior. It’s a short little jerk that barely lasts a moment, and doesn’t hurt the dog- but the timing of it is vital. Whatever the correction method, it has to happen the split second the dog begins the unwanted behavior. That is where knowing your dog comes in. You need to learn to read your dog’s body language and energy almost as well as she’s already reading yours.
Energy is the language of emotion
Calm submissive and Active submissive vs. Calm assertive
Calm assertive energy is the first energy a puppy experiences, i.e. from his mother and it becomes the energy they associate with balance and harmony for the rest of their lives. They learn to follow a calm assertive leader, their mother. In doing so they practice calm submissive energy as a ‘follower’ and in doing so, learn patience. They learn survival involves competition with their littermates and cooperation with their mother- by default, their first pack leader.
Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations.
As you have rules for children so you must have rules for your dog. Dogs crave rules and structure in their life. There are certain behaviours which should always be blocked when demonstrated by dogs because by allowing them, you could be encouraging dominance. You should not allow the dog to jump on you or anyone else for that matter. Neither should your dog whine or bark incessantly when separated from you. No possessiveness over toys. No snapping, biting, jumping on you. No aggressiveness towards people or other dogs or other household animals. Some of the behaviours you will want to block will be instinctive ones. That is why you must be a pack leader. An owner can only affection and genetics. A dog handler can only control genetics. A pack leader controls instincts and genetics. You can teach her to catch a Frisbee or run an obstacle course, this is genetics. A man can graduate from Harvard but still lack lifeskills and not be balanced. When you train a dog, you only get access to conditioning, not to the dog’s mind and conditioning means nothing in the dog world. Can she eat her dinner without being protective over her food, can she play happily with other dogs without a fight? Can she travel in a pack? That’s instinct. A pack leader controls both.
You may play ball in the yard with your dog and she loves to retrieve and run after the ball but, this is genetics, that is the breed in her. You control the dogs behaviour by the ball, she is engaged with you because of the ball. But, what if she becomes bored with the ball and her new motivation is the cat. She starts chasing the cat. That is her instinct calling her. Can you control her now? Can you block that behaviour? Or, without the ball outside, can you control your dog during a walk? You can’t block her from chasing a squirrel or cat with a ball, but you can control those behaviours with leadership.
In my centre with 30-40 dogs, I have to constantly monitor and block instinctive behaviours. It is natural for dogs to smell and mount each other but if that behaviour gets too intense, it could escalate into a fight. Therefore I have to block that behaviour. No aggression is tolerated. However, when I block any instinctual behaviour, I must replace it with another activity to redirect the energy. You can’t just take something away and give nothing in return. You must replace the undesirable behaviour with a desirable one. I use obstacle courses, swimming pools, treadmills, tennis balls and other distractions for the dogs. They spend 5-8 hours a day in exercise that is psychologically stimulating to them. They must drain their energy and exercise their minds. A good pack leader will provide structure for the dogs life but also plenty of outlets for her natural energy as well.
3. AFFECTION
When is the right time to share affection? When the dog has been exercised and eaten. After the dog has changed his unwanted behaviour. After a dog has responded to a rule or command. Always when they are calm and submissive. The wrong time to give affection is when your dog is fearful, anxious, barking, possessive, dominant, aggressive, whining, begging or breaking any of the household rules.
Everytime you give affection, you are reinforcing the behaviour immediately preceding your affection.
An excellent example of the proper way to give affection is to observe dogs with jobs. Handicapped people with service dogs understand that the dog isn’t there just to be their friend. They must play the leadership role before the dog will turn on lights, lead across streets etc. These dogs even wear a sign so that people will not distract them by giving affection and create excitement in the dog so that they can’t perform their job. Police dogs and drug enforcement dogs only get affection after their day of work is completed. To hve to work for affection is a very natural thing for a dog. It is just humans who believe we must always give affection to a dog or else we are depriving it of something.
A dog is living a fulfilled life when he is living each day to the fullest, to his potential, he is exercising all his talents and abilities, is comfortable in a pack, gets regular exercise and feels he is working for food and water. Not dissimilar from us and our expectations of a fulfilled life. A dog is fulfilled when it trusts its pack leader to set consistent rules and boundaries for it to live by. Dogs love routine, ritual, and consistency. They also love new experiences and the chance to explore-especially when they feel they have a reliable bond with their pack leader.
A GUIDE TO RULES FOR THE HOUSE
1, Wake up on your terms, not his. Train him to wait calmly for you to get up and start the structure of his day.
2. Start the day with very little touch or talk, saving affection for after the walk. The walk is your bonding time together.
3. Feed your dog calmly and quietly, never giving him food when he is jumping up and down. He gets fed only when he is sitting down, calm-submissive. He never gets food in response to a bark.
4. When the pack leader is eating, you, no one interrupts your meal. Don’t buy your dog’s pleading looks
5. After exercise and food comes affection time. Instruct your dog to be in a calm submissive position, and then love him till it is time to go to work.
6. Never make a big deal about leaving the house or coming home. If you have properly exercised your dog and not nurtured his fear or anxiety, his natural body clock will tell him this is time for him to rest and be quiet for a while.
7. Once you return home, hold back as much affection as you can at first. Do not encourage overexcitement. Change your clothes, grab a snack to tide you over, and take your dog out again. After the walk, once again reinforce your mealtime rules, and then allow your calm submissive dog to be your best friend after dinner.
8. Sleeping arrangements for a dog should be clear and unambiguous. A dog should have a regular place to sleep and not randomly chose his own. Don’t let the dog take over your bed. You go to bed and settle first, then invite your dog in.
9. Every human in the household needs to be a pack leader. Everyone must live by the same set of rules, boundaries, and limitations. Intermittent reinforcement creates an unpredictable dog that is much harder to condition in the long run. Inconsistent leadership leads to an inconsistently obedient dog.
10. Schedule playtime with your dog every week. Playtime is not a substitute for walks! Always make sure you dog has had his exercise before initiating play so that he is relaxed and calm with his energy.
11. Don’t avoid or postpone bathing your dog because he hates it. Monitor the temp of the water as a cool bath in the summer can be appreciated after a hot brisk walk or play just as a warm bath in winter can be a great relaxing activity after a brisk cool walk outside.
12. Don’t allow out-of-control barking. Often this behaviour is a sign of physical and psychological frustration. This is a dog desperate for more physical activity and a more proactive pack leader.
13. Don’t allow possessiveness over toys and food. Make sure he knows that his toys are your toys first: make sure his is calm-submissive or active-submissive before you feed him and that he doesn’t growl if you come near him when feeding.
AT THE DOG PARK
Always, exercise your dog before taking to the dog park The dog park can be used to help your dog increase or maintain his social skills and perhaps give him some fun running and playing with members of his own kind. But, that is all you should expect from a dog park. It is never a place for your dog to work off his excess energy, it is never a substitute for a walk.
If after a long day of work, you throw your dog in the car, your dog is overexcited. You say we are going to the park. The dog picks up on your energy and signals. He gets excited and jumps around, that is not happiness. That is unexpressed, frustrated energy and creates and overexcited dog that does not behave well at the park. Other dogs will sense his unbalanced energy and he may sense others the same and they will all play off each other to create a very unstable situation with dogs attacking, growling, biting and aggressively chasing each other.
Remember, he is suppose to use the dog park as a place to practice social skills, not as a substitute for regular exercise. Drain as much of his excited energy as you can, then take him to the dog park when his energy level is close to zero. That way, when he gets to the dog park, he’ll be relaxed but will still move forward and engage with other dogs. This will encourage more healthy social interaction.
Also, don’t “punch out” at the park. Regardless of how tired you are, being a pack leader is a 24/7 job. Your dog still needs guidance from his pack leader. Be on alert, moving around the park area and constantly connecting with your dog through calm-assertive voice, eye contact, and energy. You must read your dog’s body language and how to snap him out of it if an interaction seems to be turning into a confrontation. If a dog does misbehave or is challenged or bullied by another dog, don’t react with soft energy. Don’t nurture dominant, fearful or aggressive behaviour by comforting the dog or petting him. Don’t let your dog hide or cower between your legs. Always clean up after your dog and never leave him unsupervised.. Your dog will be looking to your for his cues as how to behave. Don’t let him down!
Remember, your dog has 4 choices when interacting with other dogs- fight, flight, avoid, or submit. If your dog ignores or avoids other dogs at the park that is fine, so do we avoid people often. A healthy balanced dog knows how to avoid others as a way of preventing conflict and keeping his disposition stable.
Because of the inherent randomness of dog park experiences, there are other safer alternatives for socializing. Find dog-walking friends and walk your dogs together, slowly letting them get to know each other as a pack. Get together with others from a dog training group. Take your dog to family outings, functions where you are familiar with the other dog that may be there. Stay involved and correct your dog as necessary, encouraging your human companions to do the same. Remember, a wolf pack usually consists of only five to eight dogs at a time. You don’t need to be around ten to twenty dogs for your dog to benefit from and enjoy the company of his own kind.
CESAR’S WAY
Whenever we are walking or running, the dogs of all breeds are indistinguishable. They are simply a pack. When we rest, they break into breeds. The rottweilers will all go together. They dig a burrow in the ground to rest in. The pit bulls will lie down together, always in the middle of the pack, out in the sun. The German shepherds will go and lie under a shady tree. They all have their own style. When it is time to run again, they all fall in as if there were no differences between them at all. The dog and animal in them is far stronger than the breed. At least when it comes to the job of migrating. After they are exercised and rested, it is time for food and this is mixed by hand and fed when the dog is in a calm and relaxed state.
DOG PSYCHOLOGY
Establishing Calm-Assertive Dominance
1. Leash your dog when she approaches you, do not chase ever.
2. When meeting a dog, no eye contact, no voice and let the dog come to you and sniff around. Then bend down and pet. Avoid baby talk, emotionally charged voice.
3. Dogs are creatures of cause and effect. Unlike humans who misuse imagination, dogs respond immediately to conditioning and move on to change. All they need is strong consistent leadership to overcome almost any phobias they may have developed.
4. A dogs status in the pack is his identity
5. Every pack has its rituals and a pack leader.
6. A leader walks through doorways first and leads the walk and sets the pace.
7. Do not reinforce aggressive or fearful behaviour with cuddling, cooing, placating.
8. Balance is created by allowing the dog to express the physical and psychological parts of their being, not by giving treats, toys, affection.
9. Let Love reward Balance.
10. Redirect hyperactive panting excited dogs or dogs showing crazy jumping behaviour. They are not happy to see you, they have pent up energy.
11. Walk/exercise, then give food, then give affection.
12. Separation anxiety does not start when you leave the house. It starts when you get up in the morning and prepare to dress, eat breakfast and leave. If your dog is pacing, following you around, whining, take him for a brisk walk before leaving to drain the building anxiety.
13. Staring at a cat is fixating not a demonstration of focused behaviour.
14. Playing fetch is excitement, and does not create calm submissiveness. Walking, rollerblading etc creates an energy drain. And should be done before excitement creating activities like fetch, chase, dog parks etc.
15. Instead of pulling objects away from the dog, creating a tug-a-war, move towards to dog thereby claiming the object and indicating submission is being requested.
16. There is no morality in the animal kingdom, only survival.
THREE IMPORTANT COMPONENTS FOR A BALANCED DOG
1. EXERCISE:
This is the first part of your dog’s formula for happiness and it is absolutely the one thing you cannot skip. You need to walk with you dog twice a day and for a minimum of thirty minutes at a time.
A walk is not just a means to having a poop and a pee. In nature, dogs will spend up to twelve hours migrating for food.
Master the walk and you connect with all the aspects of your dog’s mind, animal, dog, breed and name- all at the same time.
A backyard is no substitute for a primal walk. A large yard is just a very big kennel behind walls.
How to Employ a Structured Regular Walk Schedule:
a. Use a short leash, approximately 3-4 ft. Fasten the collar over the top part of the dog’s head, not around her neck.
b. Only leash your dog when she comes to you in a calm submissive state. Wait our the excited jumping and don’t encourage it with voice and action.
c. Open the door and ensure you go out first. You are the pack leader.
d. As you walk your dog keep her beside you or behind you. Don’t let her walk you.
e. Establish a rhythm to your walk without stops for sniffs until you are both walking correctly together and are relaxed.
f. After walking uninterrupted for several minutes, now is the time to let your dog go ahead of you, a little, and sniff, pee, explore.
g. Resume the walk with the same energy and consistent leadership after a few minutes of ‘explore’ time.
Backpacks:
A useful technique for high energy dogs that need more of a workout is using a doggie backpack. Adding weight to a dog during her walk makes her work harder. It also gives her something to focus on, a job to do. The ballast you put in the pack should weigh between 10-20 % of your dogs weight.
Dogs Need Jobs:
95% of dog breeds around the world today were originally working breeds. No more than 5 percent of today’s dogs were bred to be lapdogs. Because we don’t always have legitimate work for our dogs with their special talents, the walk is the most important job you can give your dog.
After you have walked together, then it is fine to do the other exciting activities that you both enjoy. Swimming, fetch, tag, or doing tricks are just some of the activities to be enjoyed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking these exciting activities are a substitute for the walks. Compare with allowing you children to spend all day at Chucky Cheese’s. You set a time limit for that frenetic exercise and so you must for your dog and the types of activities she finds just as exciting.
After the walk, your dog will naturally go into the deepest form of resting mode- humans call it meditation mode. When she is in this mode, you can leave the house and go on with your day, secure in the knowledge that your dog knows you’re the pack leader and that all that boundless energy inside her is being channeled properly and constructively.
2. DISCIPLINE:
Discipline is a confusing term for many people. Discipline makes you a better person, makes you fit, makes you healthy, enables you to maintain a lifestyle, career, friendships etc. Discipline is a word that helps people stay on target, to reach their goals and dreams. It is a word that allows us to be balanced, a respectful human being, an honest person. Without discipline, you can’t be a role model, without discipline, you become a negative energy source.
Discipline-rules, boundaries, and limitations exists in every species on the planet. Bees are disciplined. Ants are disciplined. Dolphins are very disciplined. Discipline is survival in Mother Nature. For humans to succeed at anything, we need discipline. And as the pack leader of our dog/s we share our discipline with them. It is our job to tell them when to wake up, when to eat, and how to interact with one another. We set the rules, boundaries, and limitations about where to go and 3at what pace, when to rest, when to pee, whom to chase, whom not to chase, where to dig a hole, where to roll over. All that is part of discipline. Discipline is not punishment. It is the rules, boundaries, and limitations that exist for the good of the dogs and for our relationship with them.
Corrections:
In nature, dogs correct one another all the time, there is always a consequence for breaking the rules. Dogs hold no grudges, they correct and then move right on with their lives.
An important difference to remember when correcting a dog is it is NOT the same as punishing a child. Taking away privileges makes sense to children but a dog does not have the same reasoning ability. They don’t have your language, they don’t understand a time consequence and they don’t connect irrelevant actions to their immediate behaviour. They live in a world of cause and effect, they don’t think, they REACT. You can’t wait even 5 minutes to correct a dog because chances are, they have already moved on, to the next moment and any link of consequence to previous behaviour is totally lost. Dogs live in the “now” therefore corrections have to be in the “now”.
There are many schools of though regarding the science of correcting a dogs behaviour with some of the more popular being positive reinforcement. If you can train your dogs behaviour with treats, by all means go for it. However, many dogs come with real issues of abuse, neglect, pain etc and they require quite a different approach.
The distinction is in how and when you use corrections. You never, ever correct an animal out of anger or frustration. This is very important to always remember as you remain in touch with your own feelings. If you correct your dog out of anger, you are out of control yourself and your unstable energy will escalate the dogs unwanted behaviour. You always want to be a model of calm assertive energy. You are there to teach and show leadership, not to demonstrate instability.
When you correct your dog, it’s your energy, mindset, and the timing of the correction that matter more than the method, as long as the method isn’t abusive. Never strike a dog. A quick, assertive touch can snap a dog out of an unwanted state. I curl my hand into a claw shape so that when I quickly touch a dog’s neck or just under its chin, my curled fingers feel like the teeth of another dog or of the dog’s mother. Dogs often correct one another with gentle nips, and touch is one of the most common ways with which they communicate. A touch is more effective than a strike could ever be.
Remember, dogs are always reading your energy and they’ll know what you mean when you’re energy tells them, “It’s not okay to do that.” When I have a dog on a leash, I’ll give a little tug upward to snap the dog out of unwanted behavior. It’s a short little jerk that barely lasts a moment, and doesn’t hurt the dog- but the timing of it is vital. Whatever the correction method, it has to happen the split second the dog begins the unwanted behavior. That is where knowing your dog comes in. You need to learn to read your dog’s body language and energy almost as well as she’s already reading yours.
Energy is the language of emotion
Calm submissive and Active submissive vs. Calm assertive
Calm assertive energy is the first energy a puppy experiences, i.e. from his mother and it becomes the energy they associate with balance and harmony for the rest of their lives. They learn to follow a calm assertive leader, their mother. In doing so they practice calm submissive energy as a ‘follower’ and in doing so, learn patience. They learn survival involves competition with their littermates and cooperation with their mother- by default, their first pack leader.
Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations.
As you have rules for children so you must have rules for your dog. Dogs crave rules and structure in their life. There are certain behaviours which should always be blocked when demonstrated by dogs because by allowing them, you could be encouraging dominance. You should not allow the dog to jump on you or anyone else for that matter. Neither should your dog whine or bark incessantly when separated from you. No possessiveness over toys. No snapping, biting, jumping on you. No aggressiveness towards people or other dogs or other household animals. Some of the behaviours you will want to block will be instinctive ones. That is why you must be a pack leader. An owner can only affection and genetics. A dog handler can only control genetics. A pack leader controls instincts and genetics. You can teach her to catch a Frisbee or run an obstacle course, this is genetics. A man can graduate from Harvard but still lack lifeskills and not be balanced. When you train a dog, you only get access to conditioning, not to the dog’s mind and conditioning means nothing in the dog world. Can she eat her dinner without being protective over her food, can she play happily with other dogs without a fight? Can she travel in a pack? That’s instinct. A pack leader controls both.
You may play ball in the yard with your dog and she loves to retrieve and run after the ball but, this is genetics, that is the breed in her. You control the dogs behaviour by the ball, she is engaged with you because of the ball. But, what if she becomes bored with the ball and her new motivation is the cat. She starts chasing the cat. That is her instinct calling her. Can you control her now? Can you block that behaviour? Or, without the ball outside, can you control your dog during a walk? You can’t block her from chasing a squirrel or cat with a ball, but you can control those behaviours with leadership.
In my centre with 30-40 dogs, I have to constantly monitor and block instinctive behaviours. It is natural for dogs to smell and mount each other but if that behaviour gets too intense, it could escalate into a fight. Therefore I have to block that behaviour. No aggression is tolerated. However, when I block any instinctual behaviour, I must replace it with another activity to redirect the energy. You can’t just take something away and give nothing in return. You must replace the undesirable behaviour with a desirable one. I use obstacle courses, swimming pools, treadmills, tennis balls and other distractions for the dogs. They spend 5-8 hours a day in exercise that is psychologically stimulating to them. They must drain their energy and exercise their minds. A good pack leader will provide structure for the dogs life but also plenty of outlets for her natural energy as well.
3. AFFECTION
When is the right time to share affection? When the dog has been exercised and eaten. After the dog has changed his unwanted behaviour. After a dog has responded to a rule or command. Always when they are calm and submissive. The wrong time to give affection is when your dog is fearful, anxious, barking, possessive, dominant, aggressive, whining, begging or breaking any of the household rules.
Everytime you give affection, you are reinforcing the behaviour immediately preceding your affection.
An excellent example of the proper way to give affection is to observe dogs with jobs. Handicapped people with service dogs understand that the dog isn’t there just to be their friend. They must play the leadership role before the dog will turn on lights, lead across streets etc. These dogs even wear a sign so that people will not distract them by giving affection and create excitement in the dog so that they can’t perform their job. Police dogs and drug enforcement dogs only get affection after their day of work is completed. To hve to work for affection is a very natural thing for a dog. It is just humans who believe we must always give affection to a dog or else we are depriving it of something.
A dog is living a fulfilled life when he is living each day to the fullest, to his potential, he is exercising all his talents and abilities, is comfortable in a pack, gets regular exercise and feels he is working for food and water. Not dissimilar from us and our expectations of a fulfilled life. A dog is fulfilled when it trusts its pack leader to set consistent rules and boundaries for it to live by. Dogs love routine, ritual, and consistency. They also love new experiences and the chance to explore-especially when they feel they have a reliable bond with their pack leader.
A GUIDE TO RULES FOR THE HOUSE
1, Wake up on your terms, not his. Train him to wait calmly for you to get up and start the structure of his day.
2. Start the day with very little touch or talk, saving affection for after the walk. The walk is your bonding time together.
3. Feed your dog calmly and quietly, never giving him food when he is jumping up and down. He gets fed only when he is sitting down, calm-submissive. He never gets food in response to a bark.
4. When the pack leader is eating, you, no one interrupts your meal. Don’t buy your dog’s pleading looks
5. After exercise and food comes affection time. Instruct your dog to be in a calm submissive position, and then love him till it is time to go to work.
6. Never make a big deal about leaving the house or coming home. If you have properly exercised your dog and not nurtured his fear or anxiety, his natural body clock will tell him this is time for him to rest and be quiet for a while.
7. Once you return home, hold back as much affection as you can at first. Do not encourage overexcitement. Change your clothes, grab a snack to tide you over, and take your dog out again. After the walk, once again reinforce your mealtime rules, and then allow your calm submissive dog to be your best friend after dinner.
8. Sleeping arrangements for a dog should be clear and unambiguous. A dog should have a regular place to sleep and not randomly chose his own. Don’t let the dog take over your bed. You go to bed and settle first, then invite your dog in.
9. Every human in the household needs to be a pack leader. Everyone must live by the same set of rules, boundaries, and limitations. Intermittent reinforcement creates an unpredictable dog that is much harder to condition in the long run. Inconsistent leadership leads to an inconsistently obedient dog.
10. Schedule playtime with your dog every week. Playtime is not a substitute for walks! Always make sure you dog has had his exercise before initiating play so that he is relaxed and calm with his energy.
11. Don’t avoid or postpone bathing your dog because he hates it. Monitor the temp of the water as a cool bath in the summer can be appreciated after a hot brisk walk or play just as a warm bath in winter can be a great relaxing activity after a brisk cool walk outside.
12. Don’t allow out-of-control barking. Often this behaviour is a sign of physical and psychological frustration. This is a dog desperate for more physical activity and a more proactive pack leader.
13. Don’t allow possessiveness over toys and food. Make sure he knows that his toys are your toys first: make sure his is calm-submissive or active-submissive before you feed him and that he doesn’t growl if you come near him when feeding.
AT THE DOG PARK
Always, exercise your dog before taking to the dog park The dog park can be used to help your dog increase or maintain his social skills and perhaps give him some fun running and playing with members of his own kind. But, that is all you should expect from a dog park. It is never a place for your dog to work off his excess energy, it is never a substitute for a walk.
If after a long day of work, you throw your dog in the car, your dog is overexcited. You say we are going to the park. The dog picks up on your energy and signals. He gets excited and jumps around, that is not happiness. That is unexpressed, frustrated energy and creates and overexcited dog that does not behave well at the park. Other dogs will sense his unbalanced energy and he may sense others the same and they will all play off each other to create a very unstable situation with dogs attacking, growling, biting and aggressively chasing each other.
Remember, he is suppose to use the dog park as a place to practice social skills, not as a substitute for regular exercise. Drain as much of his excited energy as you can, then take him to the dog park when his energy level is close to zero. That way, when he gets to the dog park, he’ll be relaxed but will still move forward and engage with other dogs. This will encourage more healthy social interaction.
Also, don’t “punch out” at the park. Regardless of how tired you are, being a pack leader is a 24/7 job. Your dog still needs guidance from his pack leader. Be on alert, moving around the park area and constantly connecting with your dog through calm-assertive voice, eye contact, and energy. You must read your dog’s body language and how to snap him out of it if an interaction seems to be turning into a confrontation. If a dog does misbehave or is challenged or bullied by another dog, don’t react with soft energy. Don’t nurture dominant, fearful or aggressive behaviour by comforting the dog or petting him. Don’t let your dog hide or cower between your legs. Always clean up after your dog and never leave him unsupervised.. Your dog will be looking to your for his cues as how to behave. Don’t let him down!
Remember, your dog has 4 choices when interacting with other dogs- fight, flight, avoid, or submit. If your dog ignores or avoids other dogs at the park that is fine, so do we avoid people often. A healthy balanced dog knows how to avoid others as a way of preventing conflict and keeping his disposition stable.
Because of the inherent randomness of dog park experiences, there are other safer alternatives for socializing. Find dog-walking friends and walk your dogs together, slowly letting them get to know each other as a pack. Get together with others from a dog training group. Take your dog to family outings, functions where you are familiar with the other dog that may be there. Stay involved and correct your dog as necessary, encouraging your human companions to do the same. Remember, a wolf pack usually consists of only five to eight dogs at a time. You don’t need to be around ten to twenty dogs for your dog to benefit from and enjoy the company of his own kind.
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Book Report: "Be the Pack Leader" by Cesar Millan
BE THE PACK LEADER
Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer
Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer
1. Dogs come into the world using their noses first, then their eyes, then their ears. Don’t bother yelling at them, it’s the energy and scent they pay attention to.
2. Dogs communicate with each other using their scent, body language and energy. You cannot lie to a dog, they always know how you are feeling.
3. Dogs are pack animals. If you are not the pack leader you create feelings of instability and the dog will compensate by dominant unstable behaviour.
4. Dogs live in the moment. Their past is past. They connect with the “now”. If we let them, they will let go of their unstable past and become “balanced” members of the pack.
5. A dog’s natural “goal” is to be connected, to live harmoniously, grounded, and balanced, in tune with Mother Nature.
6. Dogs don’t care about degrees, money or social status. Dogs DO care about how unstable you are, because, being pack-oriented, it directly affects them. How comfortable are you with yourself? Are you happy? Our dogs are our mirrors and in order for them to have a balanced life, we need to address our own issues as well as theirs.
When you interact with your dog-especially when you’re trying to correct out-of-control behavior- you must train your mind to relate to him in this order:
1. Animal
2. Species: dog
3. Breed (Pit Bull)
4. Name (Bella)
Animal:
We have that in common, we are both animals. All animals work for food and water and they all communicate with other animals using energy.
Dog:
Your dog is a dog, not a baby. All dogs have certain traits in common and certain ingrained ways of behaving. Learning to recognize what is a “dog” and what is “Bella” is the key in distinguishing unstable behavior from normal behavior. All dogs want to be part of a pack. Dogs strive to see the world in a very orderly fashion, with clearly defined rules to live by and a defined hierarchy of jobs and status.
Breed:
Recognizing breed is especially important if you have a purebred animal. The genes that make him “pure” also give him special needs that you must know how to fulfill in order to ensure his happiness and balance. However, the “breed’ part of your dog is far less primal than the dog or animal part of her. You block the brain from listening to the breed by draining energy. Exercise, physical activity and psychological challenge are the three ways to drain energy in any dog. Nothing triumphs the vigorous walk. Dogs walk with powerful intention, not just to pee. They feel in a primal way they are using their skills to survive. Respond to the dogs breed by structuring the walk to address the specific needs of the breed i.e. hunting dogs a high energy group need high energy walks; hike, use a backpack on the dog, run, rollerblade etc. Hide items in the yard and have the dog search for them. Hike, jog, agility games, flyball, walk briskly until the energy displayed becomes calm and relaxed.
Name:
Most of the time, what we think of as a dog’s personaility is in our own heads, the story we made up about the dog. Often it is based on how the dog looks or acts, and what we think of as personality is actually based upon the dog’s own issues of instability. It is important to understand the difference between what might be an “issue” for a dog and what is merely a normal dog trait or personality.
ISSUES:
1. Aggression: Directed toward other dogs and/or people . Includes fear-biting, growling over food, lunging at strangers or strange dogs, aggressive possessiveness.
2. Hyperactive Energy: Includes jumping on people upon meeting them or when they enter the house: compulsively spinning or twitching; destructive activity such as chewing and digging; overexcited panting; etc. Don’t confuse overexcitement with happiness.
3. Anxiety/Separation Anxiety: Includes barking, whining, scratching; etc.- whether you are there or after you leave the house, pacing; destroying things when you’re away.
4. Obsessions/Fixations: Includes an “addiction” or unusual preoccupation with anything from a cat to a tennis ball expressed by tense body language, obliviousness to owner’s commands, food, rewards, even physical pain.
5. Phobias: A fear or traumatic incident that the dog has not been able to move beyond-anything from shinny floors to thunder to the UPS truck.
6. Low Self-esteem/Timidity: Weak energy, irrational fear of anything, total freezing up. An extreme degree of fear.
Personality in a dog’s world is expressed by scent and energy. Dogs seek out ‘friends’ dogs who match their level of play.
Dogs don’t have a “name” within the pack, dogs have a “position”, and all positions are important. Every position serves a purpose, it may not be a democracy, but it is about the “we”.
REMEMBER:
EXERCISE…Then DISCIPLINE (rules, boundaries, limitations)…Then AFFECTION
Normal Dog Traits or Personality Dog Issues or Instability
Active Hyperactive
Playful Jumps on People
Responsive to general commands/signals Disobedient, doesn’t come
Eager to join in Pack activities Runs away
Sometimes cautious Fearful, biting, barking, peeing
Sociable with dogs/people Obsessive barking
Curious Antisocial
Happy-go-lucky Aggressive or predatory
Alert Overly territorial
Exploratory Possessive of toys, food, furniture
Patient-practices waiting Obsessive over object or activity, chewing, tail chasing
Affectionate Shrinks from touch
CREATING CALM ASSERTIVE ENERGY
Dogs often respond better when there’s less sound involved, and you are strengthening your energy by turning your thoughts inward. When claiming a piece of furniture, focus your mind and then tell yourself, “This is my sofa.” Use your body to claim it, repeating that thought in your mind over and over again. It is your energy that speaks to your dog. Talking to yourself is a much faster way to communicate your energy to your dog than trying to use human language to reason with him, no matter how persuasive you are, or how loudly you yell or how nicely you ask.
Techniques For Attaining Calm Assertive Energy:
1. Clear and positive intention
2. Method acting techniques
3. Visualization
4. Self-hypnosis
5. Inner dialogue
6. Motivational recordings
7. Positive affirmations, written or verbal
8. Music
9. Yoga, Tai Chi
10. Martial arts
11. Meditation or prayer
If you can accomplish calm-assertive energy and leadership with your dog, you can accomplish it in any other area of your life. Let your dog be your trusting follower, your mirror—and ultimately, your guide, on your journey to becoming the very best person you can be.
MASTERING THE WALK
- Ideal time is when you are not in a rush. This should be a meaningful, enjoyable experience for both of you
- Daytime is the best time to walk- in synch with dogs biological clocks.
- Don’t create overexcitement . Wait until the dog is in a calm state before attaching the leash and always ensure that the dog comes to you for the leash.
- Remember your inner dialogue of calm, assertive and strong.
- After attaching the leash ensure that your dog is in a calm state and you are leading outside the door before departing. An excited dog must wait till he has calmed down, do not reinforce excited, unbalanced behavior before leaving. Ask your dog to sit, settle, and relax
- Let your dog relieve itself within 5 minutes of being outside and then begin the migration ritual, moving forward together. Don’t let her sniff the ground until she has demonstrated for a number of blocks following your lead.
- Vary your routine as much as possible. Dogs get bored with the same walk, they search out new smells and sounds- it becomes psychologically challenging to them as well as a physical exercise.
- Don’t forget upon returning home, you are still the pack leader and enter the house first.
- In the event the weather is terrible, let you dog see the outside either from a patio or the front door so that they understand why you are not going out for the routine excursion at this moment.
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