Saturday, February 6, 2010

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.

2 comments:

Megan said...

I had no idea who Cesar was until I bought Malcolm Gladwell's book yesterday as I was heading back home. I've heard of similar methods (or maybe they're really his). It all seems backwards to those of us who are used to doting on human babies, but it makes a lot of sense once you think about it. Of COURSE dogs think they're in packs. What else would they think?

Mongoose said...

Lots of people have similar "methods", and not just with dogs. Then we call them dog whisperers or horse whisperers or "a natural leader of men". But when they sit down and write books, it all tends to fall down. Again, because it's not about "method", the things you do, so much as the way you are.

And for the record, I don't believe in doting on human babies either. Not that I see a lot of them anyway, but once they're no longer babies but children, I find they too respond much better to "calm assertive" than to excited "OMG what a cute little puppy!!!!!!!!!" energy.