You and your dog: ‘The Dog Whisperer’ on what you’re doing wrong

Carol RH Malasig

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You and your dog: ‘The Dog Whisperer’ on what you’re doing wrong
Tips from the Dog Whisperer himself on how to train your dog. 'Even people who like dogs don’t treat them right,' Cesar says

Note: The interview with Cesar Millan seen below is from Cesar’s April 2014 visit to the Philippines. Cesar will visit again for a May 25 show at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. See the poster below for details and click here for tickets. 

MANILA, Philippines – We often treat our dogs the way we treat family. We shower them with so much love and attention the way we would normally treat babies or younger members of the clan. 

However, Cesar Millan, world renowned Dog Whisperer, says such treatment may just be the exact thing that you’re doing wrong when it comes to rearing your furry friend.  

But let’s backtrack a little to where it all begins – getting your dog.

Picking the right dog for you

Why did you pick him or her? Was it because he was cute and was so excited when he first saw you? Cesar says that’s not the way to go.

“A lot of people, this is how they rescue a dog: So they come to the [dog] shelter, and they fall in love with a dog that’s jumping. [Then they think] ‘Aww, this dog wants me,’” Cesar says.

However – “That is the wrong dog. Because you only just met him and he is already on top of you. In the dog world, that means disrespect,” he adds.

Cesar says you should always go for the dog that keeps his distance. It means he is respectful to you. 

Instilling discipline

When raising a dog, Cesar says you must remember to give him three things – exercise, discipline, and affection – in that order.

Often in his shows, you would hear Millan telling dog owners that they should be the “pack leader” rather than a dog’s “friend.”

Being the pack leader ensures his respect towards you and that he will follow your commands. To be the pack leader, Millan says you must stop getting too excited in front of your dogs.

This entails a lot of self-restraint, we know. Especially when they’re looking all cute and cuddly.

“Even people who like dogs don’t treat them right,” Cesar says.

Giving them all affection and no discipline is not healthy for them. No, you don’t have to hurt them to make a point, but you have to be as authoritative as possible when teaching them not to do things they shouldn’t be doing. After all, it’s not what you say to your dog. It’s how you say it.

Cesar often makes a “Tsst!” sound to tell a dog that what he or she is doing isn’t cool. It should be short, a bit forceful, and authoritative – the way your mom might do it.

Going solo

Sure, you can’t convince your whole family to be the dog disciplinarian that you want to be. 

INSTANT FRIENDS. Cesar Millan with K9 Francine who he 'borrowed' shortly for the press conference. File photo from his 2014 event provided by Megaworld Lifestyle Malls

Your mother or even your partner may have tendencies to spoil them which you may not be able to change. Cesar admits that he never has a hard time when it comes to dogs. It’s always in changing people’s habits. 

It’s better not to give up, he says, even though you can’t change the way your other family members treat your dog, it is best to keep at being the disciplinarian in the family to keep his respect towards you. He will even be more behaved when you’re around.

Yes, it’s okay to use dogs as practice for future kids

Cesar says it’s highly recommended to have a puppy that will prepare you and your partner if you’re planning to have a baby.

When getting a dog, you and your partner need to do 4 things. You need to sit down and decide what kind of dog you are getting, you both need to commit, there should be a follow-through, and or course, both of you should have lots of patience. 

Laying down these things will reduce the risk of you fighting about how the dog is being raised, which can also happen when you’re raising a child.

As parents, not having a unified position on a matter concerning your child may give him the notion that he can always run to one of you for a favorable response when one of the parents already gave him a ‘no’, branding one of you as the bad guy.

He adds that it is best to practice implementing such discipline before having any kids of your own because – “The thing is, with a dog, you can make mistakes and you can easily change it. With kids, you have to hire psychologists.”

Dogs as helpers

Cesar says that aside from considering dogs as a companion, we should also see them as helpers.

Dogs, when trained, can even be taught to detect stage one cancer whereas machines can detect it when it’s already in stage 3. 

Dogs even make good companions for kids with special needs – you just have to find the right balance for them. It’s ike getting a partner, Cesar says. “Yin and Yang. If you’re very active, get a passive partner.”

Cesar says that children with autism might benefit from dogs with medium energy level while hyperactive kids should be given dogs with low energy levels.

Dogs with low energy levels, meanwhile, will be good for children who suffer from seizures. 

How do you know a puppy’s energy level? Put puppies on one side of a room (but not too far from their mother) and see who reaches their mom first. That’s the dog with the high energy level. The second one who reaches her will have medium energy, and the last one will have the low energy level.

It’s okay to dress up your dog

As long as he doesn’t find anything wrong with it. Dressing up your dog or dyeing their hair is not something your pet craves. But Cesar says we should not deny that kind of entertainment to people who can afford it – but only if your dog is okay with it.

“I think it is good therapy for the human. It’s good for the economy, it does create some kind of happiness for the people because we love to be entertained,” Cesar says. “My thing is how can we blend evolution and primal behavior? If the dog is tense, anxious, fearful, don’t do it. If he’s not, then go for it. A lot of times people put clothes on a dog and he doesn’t move. It means he doesn’t like it. We have to be more caring and understanding on what’s right. It’s only wrong when the dog is unstable.”

On losing your dog

Death is a part of life. Even Cesar lost a beloved dog called Daddy. Daddy was an American Pit Bull Terrier who was important in Cesar’s career as a dog trainer. He’s been with him way back when he was starting out.

He died in 2010 and it hit Cesar pretty badly. “Death is a part of life. I never deny pain. I let myself experience it. But then I give the opportunity to another dog. That’s how I honor Daddy’s death. Because, dogs are not students. They are teachers. So I take what Daddy taught me and bring it to another dog. That’s how I honor Daddy’s death,” he says.

Cesar now has Junior, Daddy’s protege.

But for Cesar, Daddy is never really gone. Because when dogs die, they end up in your heart along with the memories you have of them.

A dog’s brand of love

Cesar’s love for dogs fuels his worldwide mission in helping people understand and love their pets the right way. “We don’t have problems with dogs. we have a problem with our habits. And as soon as we change our habits, we are gonna change the outcome of every single dog. Any kind of breed.”

Ask yourself – do you give your dog as much love as he or she gives you? We choose dogs that are cute or dogs that symbolize status but it’s not all about that. “What I love about a dog is his honesty, integrity, and loyalty. That doesn’t come from the breed. It comes from the dog.”

Cesar adds that people should exercise more compassion and empathy towards man’s best friend as they tend to give us unconditional love – no matter what the breed of your pet is. “A dog will not abandon or neglect a human or dislike him because he looks weird. We talk about the loyalty of a dog, a love of a dog, or how much they unconditionally love you but we don’t do the same. So then we say I will have a dog if he looks like this. That is very selfish of humans.”

Do you have a dog? How do you strike a balance between affection and discipline? Let us know in the comments section below. – Rappler.com

File photo of Cesar Millan via Helga Esteb/Shutterstock 

 

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