I just finished reading his book, Cesar's Way and I thought it was terrific. Certainly helped me understand dogs and their behaviour a lot better.
The bad thing I came to realize after reading this book is my 7 lb Yorkie has been the leader of my household for almost 13 years! I always thought it was "cute" when Cidney would yap at me to take him for a walk or to give him his treat - what he was really doing was bossing me around becaue he was the pack leader and I was his follower. I have to admit, Cidney is a very bossy dog.
After the book, I decided to be the pack leader. I picked up Cidney and told him I was the leader now and that his packleader duties were over, he could sit back and relax because I was taking over from now on. I swear he looked at me different all that evening but he is back to trying to boss me around and I am holding my ground - I take him for a walk when I want not when he wants and I give him a treat once he calms down and stops yapping at me for it. This works well with "calm assertive energy" very simple if you stick to it every single day. If you are not the pack leader, it is very natural for one of your dogs to assume that role. In a dogs world, its about the leader and the follower, and they live in the now, not the past or the future like we humans do. We make mistakes with dogs when we try to humanize them and assume they think like we do - ha, actally I think they are smarter in many ways, haha. Sorry if I just got too preachy. |