As we’ve nursed Sadie through healing from her unnessesary spay procedure (a whole huge big can of worms, that has nothing to do with what I want to talk about...) we had the opportunity to watch re-runs of Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, on the National Geographic Channel.  We’ve watched a number of episodes thanks to buying a dog just before NGC decides to run a week worth of Dog Whisperer programs, and so we’ve seen a variety of cases, and become fans of Cesar.

His mantra, if a dog pyschologist can have one, is for the owner to project a ‘calm and assertive’ attitude to the dog.  That the dog must understand his place in the ‘pack’, and that dogs are dogs and humans are humans.  All good advice.  He has a great charisma, and a strong confident air about him.  The tag-line before the show Cesar says, “I rehabilitate dogs, and trraaain people.” (Emphasis in his voice) He figures most of the behavioral problems with dogs stem from people’s attitudes and habits they’ve formed around a dog. 

I figure there are principles of dog behavior that are good metaphors for people behavior, and even more dog training done right has some good principles in living a life submitted to God and in relationship to God.

For instance, last night there was an owner of a Chiuauah that initially bought the dog for her son, and the dog had become a very dominant, protective dog, that bit her son, and barked and tried to attack anyone that came close to him or his owner.  In the preview interview, she admitted that she couldn’t give up the dog, she loved it that much.  The problem was, she engaged in absolutely zero discipline of the dog, allowing and by ommission, encouraging his misbehavior.  Cesar came into the house and was shocked and floored when the owner admitted to loving the dog more than her own child, and allowed the dog to bite him, and terrorize him.  When Cesar was introduced to the dog, the dog immediately tried to attack him, and when Cesar tried to discipline the owner freaked out (not eyes blaring, but was very disturbed by Cesar trying to correct the obviously bad behavior by touching the dog and making a fist (not a cocked fist, just a fist in the face of the barking and biting dog).

This was the first time I’d seen Cesar admit that his technique wasn’t going to work.  And he was right, if the owner wouldn’t allow discipline, that case would fail.  Unless the owner was committed to discipline, the dog would continue to misbehave.  Cesar (as impatient as I’ve seen him) patiently tried to explain this to the mother, and determined that because the dog was so small, she was afraid that she might hurt the dog, or cause the dog to break a leg or something.  Cesar finally got her to see that by harboring this fear of hurting the dog, she was enabling other people to get injured, including her own son.

Hebrews 12:5-6 explains that God will discipline his sons.  That the discipline is described as suffering, but in the end it is for our own good.  I can see an image of that in how Cesar disciplines his cases, he brings them into submission with his calm, assertive approach, and doesn’t allow a difference of opinion when he is training his dogs.  The dogs at first flail at this, being used to having no boundries in their behavior, the shiver, yelp, shake, bark, and their posture is stiff and uncomfortable.  Cesar knows this, expects this, knowing that this outward expression only means they are ‘releasing their energy’.  As the dogs relent into submission, they physically relax, being on their back, and become calm, beginning to understand that no harm will come to them, as they begin to walk ‘with’ their calm and assertive master.

We are beginning to use this technique with Sadie, she must accept her position in our ‘pack’, our family.  We must remain vigilant, and interrupt her behavior patterns, before they become out of control. 

With dogs this is easy.  With people, a bit more difficult.  But we know that we live under a calm and assertive God, who is infinitely patient with us, graceful, and full of mercy.

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  commented  on  08/08  at  11:05 AM:

  
  

  Man, this blog is going to the dogs....