For those who don't watch the National Geographic channel, his name might be a mystery. To those who do watch, you might recognize him as "The Dog Whisperer".
My family is weary of hearing me extol his virtues, but when someone has had a positive effect on your life, you should bear witness. Toby (7-year-old Lab/Weimaraner mix) & I can now take walks in town together - something impossible for most of Toby's life due to his enormous strength and insatiable curiosity (coupled with my lack of strength and/or patience).
Now he will walk beside me with a slack lead. Now he is willing to suspend his lifetime agenda of saying 'hello' to every person/dog/animal on the planet one being at a time. Now he doesn't strain and cough and choke. How is such a miracle possible?
- Exercise
- Discipline
- Affection
IN THAT ORDER.
He points out over and over that American dogs get plenty of affection, but their main needs are for Exercise & Discipline (knowing who the "pack leader" is [me] and who the pack leader is not [him]). You can check out Cesar at http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/.
Not a bad approach to life in general. My kids can laugh at me all they want. Since I've been able to walk Toby more easily (without the need to head for the woods), I've been able to increase my own excercise & discipline.
Toby is irresistible - he will always get tons of affection. It is not true affection, though, to let dogs think they are in charge - they're not really up to it. My fond hope is that America (and the world) will discover the Dog Whisperer and apply his tenets to life in general.
It could result in much better kids.
[As always, if this is your first visit to "Leaving Nadderby", I suggest that you click on February 2008 and go down to "Looking Back" as an introduction to the site. I hope soon to figure out the intricacies of RSS & to again let the world know that this is online. ALSO, stay tuned for more wisdom from Cesar in future posts (I'll go ahead & apologize to my family in advance - sorry guys).
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