Achieving A Balanced Dog

Cesar Millan was in Louisville about a month ago, and I was lucky enough to score some tickets to see this dog legend. As the owner of a 3 year old lab, I was very eager to have him tell me how to get my lovable and energetic pup to stop jumping up on people. Hoping that he would allow ample time for Q & A, I had my question all planned out: “Cesar, my dog is great, he sits, listens, heals, comes, all of it. It is just that he gets so excited about people and loves them so much, that he tends to jump up when others go to pet him, or enter our home. How do I get him to stop this behavior?” I patiently awaited my chance.

Sadly I did not get the opportunity to ask such a specific training item. Instead, Cesar is all about teaching you an overall strategy for training your furry friend, and it is all about Balance. Balance Is achieved through three fundamentals, inorder of importance:

1. Exercise
2. Discipline
3. Affection

Interesting. I tend to start with affection, give him some exercise, and when I feel like my husband is watching I use some good ol’ discipline. I thought it was working fairly well, I mean my dog loves me! But this is Cesar, and the book Cesar’s Way seems to have sold quite a few copies, he might know better than I do.

So, I started with exercise. I am a runner, and I take my dog on about 2 runs each week. I decided to up that to 4 days and see what happened. It has been about 2 months of this little experiment and overall, he is getting about 20 miles in each week.

Well folks, its official, I have a changed dog! Frankly I think he is just too tired to do much else than eat, sleep, and give some love to everyone he meets. He is thrilled to get outside, stretch his legs, and hang with his momma. Not only that, but I am becoming a much faster runner considering his superior speed. The best part is that I have a happier and healthier dog who is attentive, while a little bit thinner and happier myself.

He still has his moments, and jumping still occurs whenever I get out the running shoes. Training takes time and patience after all. I also have to keep working on that discipline over affection thing. With such a cute face, this is going to be the hardest of the steps! So if you have a furry friend with a little too much energy to spare, get outside and exercise. You just might achieve a little balance yourself.