Sunday, February 21, 2010

In case you live under a rock...

and my blog is the only link you have to the outside world, I'm sorry to inform you that Cesar Millan's pitbull Daddy died of cancer on Friday. He was 16 years old, which is a lot for a pitbull.

Now you know. I'll keep you posted if, say, a black man gets elected president of the United States, or something.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine





The weather's almost always fugly in Yellowknife, plus there is nowhere really good to walk the dog... But her smile makes me happy.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Home sweet home

The Scottish dog

Give a dog a bone... preferrably not on the carpet


Yes, that is a huge bloodstain from her dragging the bone on the carpet on the right of the photo. I've gotten quite good at getting blood out of carpets, I can tell you. But when (if) funds allow, I'm going to tear up that carpet and put in laminate. The building is 37 years old anyway and I'm not sure that's not the original carpet... it's disgusting at the best of times.

Lightning dog!



It's a long exposure because I hate flash photo, hence why the bone is sharp and the dog is blurry. Kind of a neat effect, if you ask me.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

And if you don't belive me

Terrierman says the same thing too. And who doesn't agree with Terrierman?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Reader question: is it really "Cesar's" way?

No.

I don't think he makes that claim, either. Yes that's the title of the book, but if you look inside the book he does say that it's just the dogs' way.

There are many Dog Whisperers and they all do the same thing: the dogs' way. Cesar is just way sexier than the rest.

Likewise there are many Horse Whisperers and they all do the same thing: the horses' way.

And the horses' way is the same as the dogs' way.

It's not anyone's way or any species' way. It's The Way. The Tao.

And this is why you can't really learn "Cesar's way" by reading his books or watching TV. Because the Tao that can be taught is not the real Tao. If you know the Tao, you can see that Cesar is right. If you don't know the Tao, you can imitate Cesar, but it's not the same.

Like I keep saying, leadership is a way to be, not something to do. Maybe all there is to leadership is knowing The Way.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Things I love about my shiba

Tinky-Winky is scared of cats.

Why do I love that? I don't know. Because she's such a badass mofo with everyone else, I guess. She can fight any size dog. She can kill varmints by the score. She doesn't mind porcupine quills one bit. She has a lifelong dream of fighting a beaver. She's even chased foxes before.

And she's scared of cats.

Last Sunday our locks were being changed, so she was watching the guy do that, when a neighbour let two pugs out into the hallway. Tinky-Winky is cool with the pugs, but she still had to put on her big-dog face. I held her, just in case, until the pugs were gone, and then she went and inspected the hallway to make sure they didn't mess with her territory.

Then, another neighbour let out a tiny little cat. It scampered up and down the hallway, not paying attention to anyone.

Tinky-Winky trotted back to me as fast as she could, hugging the wall and looking over her shoulder every few steps to see if the cat was after her.

It was a tiny cat.

It's just cute that she can put the fear of God into a doberman but she's scared of a tiny cat.

Just because you can't...

Another thing everyone who can't handle their dog has to say sooner or later: "Cesar is full of hot air, I tried his way and it didn't work."

Hmmmmmm...

You know something, I tried calculus for about eight years and it never worked for me. That Leibnitz guy had a good press but he was mostly just full of hot air.

I'm sorry, did that just sound retarded?

Of course it did. Calculus is awesome. No, I can't do it. That doesn't mean it doesn't work. Likewise with Cesar. You can't do Cesar's way? That's about you. It's in no way a sign that Cesar's way doesn't work.

You know why you're not succeeding at Cesar's way?

Two things. One, you're not projecting the right energy. How can I tell? Because everyone can tell. Everyone who feels energy. Me, your dog, everyone's dog. I can tell if you're fat or thin by looking at you, and I can tell your energy by... looking at you, pretty much. Or listening to you. Or reading your blog. It's not difficult. If you want to put it in "rational" terms, maybe it's because I'm an "N", as in "iNtuiting", as in the opposite of "Sensing." If you know your Myers-Briggs type, this makes perfect sense, if not, well, maybe you can file it under the things that "don't work" because you don't know how to do them.

You know what else you don't know how to do? I bet you've never tried SMAW either. Do you even know what SMAW is? It's a welding technique. It's not at all easy. Can I do it? Not well at all. Is it stupid and a bunch of hot air? Not at all. You should see my ex, his welds look like machine welds.

Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean it doesn't work.

The second reason why you're not succeeding with Cesar's way is, you're still looking for something to do. Like I keep saying, it's not something you do, it's something you are. And leadership is like that whether it's about dogs or about people. The more you're trying to do something to make others do your bidding, the less you have leadership. Leadership is wu wei. You do the right action at the right time, and everyone follows you. When you're always doing busy stuff to control others, no one's going to follow you.

If Cesar's way is not working for you, it's because you're doing it wrong. And if you think Cesar told you to do alpha rolls, I really doubt it. I certainly never read or heard anything from Cesar saying you should do alpha rolls. They're counterproductive at the best of times, and often dangerous. Alpha rolls are only good to put a belligerent dog in his place, not to establish peaceful leadership within the pack. It's like a fist fight. You go to the bar and have a fist fight, you establish who's the bigger man out of you and an enemy. When you're with your buddies, you don't have fist fights to decide who's the ringleader in your group. There's a guy in your group who's most influential, who makes the decisions the most, who's looked up to the most. And he didn't get there by fist fights, but by being who he is. (Unless you're in a gang, but I don't want to know that much about your life.)

Anyway, I'm a' walk my dog.