Book: Cesar’s Way
It started out innocently enough.
Hoping for some bounce-off gems*, I went to the library and checked out Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan‘s book, Cesar’s Way.
*bounce-off gems = ideas sparked by someone else’s work or creativity. In this case, the thought that drove me to the library was something like, “Cesar works to control unruly dogs. Natural Professionals work to control unruly minds. In reading about his philosophy and strategies in dealing with dogs, maybe some ideas will spark for dealing with minds.”
Wow and how! What ended up happening was that I became totally fascinated by his approach to dog psychology. (I mentioned this to my mom and she asked, “Are you getting a dog?” “No,” I replied. LOL.)
His two big concepts really stood out for me:
- “Most of the cases I handle involve dogs who simply need stronger leadership from their owners plus rules, boundaries, limitations, and consistency. . .”
- Introducing a troubled dog into a healthy pack will help it heal faster.
I know he’s talking about dogs, but he may as well be talking about an undisciplined human mind.
OK, maybe I have a somewhat pessimistic view of the unruly mind. It’ll probably mellow out once I get my own under regular control.

But check it out—when the mind is going off and spinning in circles, you get it to settle down by applying firm leadership and pulling in the boundaries. We essentially say, “you do not have free rein to go anywhere you please. Come back here and focus on one thing at a time.”
And when feeling out of sorts or stressed out, you just can’t help being lifted up when being around positive and good-natured friends.
So then what about the corrective action? The trick (again, what a great parallel!) is catching behavior before it becomes a big issue. He points out that you correct a dog as his attention starts to stray toward unruly behavior. Once the dog has hit the “red zone” (bonkers and spastic or even aggressive and dangerous), it’s very difficult to get results.
Now think about getting all stressed out. While it may have felt like it happened suddenly, the truth is there were probably numerous opportunities where you made a decision to continue on the current trajectory. You actually had several chances where you could have altered your attitude toward a more peaceful course.
We don’t have anyone (I assume) standing at our side yanking a leash to keep our attention focused on peaceful and productive thoughts. It’s up to us to monitor ourselves. It’s our job to remain mindful, to keep that observers view of ourselves that can say, “Hold on! That train of thought can only go in one direction—down. Take a breath, reconsider, and choose differently.”
Ahhh, and here’s what separates us from the dogs: self-awareness and choice. We got it. Let’s use it!
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Photo credits:
Running Dogs by TheGiantVermin











