Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Dog Whisperer

I've been reading Cesar Millan's, Cesar's Way, a short biography and explanation of his philosophy on handling dogs, and I've been watching a DVD of his television show, "The Dog Whisperer."

Basically, he teaches that dogs are pack animals, with a pack leader and the rest followers. A good pack leader exhibits calm, assertive authority, and good followers exhibit calm submissiveness. The correct way, then, to be a good dog owner is to be a calm, assertive leader, which will result in the dog being a calm, submissive pet. When the owner fails to be calm, or assertive, or a leader, then the dog tries to become the pack leader, and all sorts of problems develop. Cesar has thirty or so rescued dogs of his own, where he demonstrates that his philosophy actually works on a large scale. He is the calm, assertive pack leader, and consequently all of the dogs are calm and submissive and get along with each other just fine. Of course, Cesar is a good owner, who always looks out for the well-being of his dogs.

While reading his book and watching the DVD, it occurred to me that Jesus is my calm, assertive pack leader, who looks out for my well-being. Therefore, I should be the calm, submissive follower, who doesn't try to become the leader, and who gets along fine with everybody else, realizing that my pack leader has everything under control. I've been trying to put that thought into practice the past few days. Easier said than done, I'm afraid.

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