I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.

5 Natural Dog Laws

"If you are going to be the Pack Leader to your dogs, you must understand who they are and what they need as dogs." - Cesar Millan

Natural Dog Law 1: Dogs are instinctual

One of the biggest mistakes that dog owners can make is assuming that their dogs feel and think like people do. This can lead us to humanize our dogs by attributing our own needs and motivations to their behavior. As a consequence, we can become reluctant to discipline or correct our dogs, because we're afraid of hurting their feelings or creating resentment.

This Natural Dog Law teaches us that canines do not work that way. Yes, they do have emotions, but they differ from ours. Dogs' emotions are rooted in the moment and are an immediate reaction to what's happening right now. Dogs don't regret the past or worry about the future. They're only thinking about the present: Is this thing in my environment friendly or a threat? Should I fight, flee, or avoid?

That's the biggest difference between humans and dogs. We're constantly shifting between our intellectual, emotional and spiritual dimensions. But dogs live solely in an instinctual world, and it is up to us as Pack Leaders to meet them there.

Honor instinct

As dogs react instinctually to the things around them, they're also aware of our emotions, by reading our energy. When we're calm, they're calm. When we aren't calm, they sense our unbalanced energy and will naturally avoid us or become unsettled themselves.

In a dog pack, unbalanced dogs are quickly corrected or, if they don't become balanced, rejected. Our dogs can't exactly reject us, but they can do everything possible to avoid us when we aren't calm ' or to act out their discomfort. Behavior problems arise.

Because dogs are instinctual and live in the moment, we can't correct their behavior like we can with children or even adults. Because dogs are instinctually attracted to calm and assertive leaders, whether human or canine, we must get in touch with our own instinctual side and become calm and assertive. That's much more effective than trying to 'reason' with your dog or making emotional appeals.

Follow the First Law by honoring your dog's instincts. Let your dog be a dog, and learn to follow your instincts instead of your intellect.

Natural Dog Law 2: To dogs, energy is everything

Dogs follow balanced energy because it's what their instincts tell them to do. It's up to us to provide that calm, assertive balance

Because humans are intellectual beings, we communicate mostly with words. This makes it easy for us to fall into the trap of thinking that dogs also communicate with spoken language.

While it may seem like our dogs understand specific words and associate them with specific actions, they're mostly responding to the intent that we have associated with the word. If you tell your dog to sit without intention behind it, your dog won't sit. Conversely, you can approach your dog with the intent to get her to sit and say the word 'toaster' or 'lamp' ' or nothing at all ' and she will sit.

Dogs pay less attention to our words because they are really focusing on our energy, expressed through our intention and emotions, the latter through our tone of voice and body language. Energy is how dogs communicate with each other, and you can see it in any dog park. A dog will indicate submission by lowering parts of its body, particularly its head and ears; show dominance by raising its head, ears, or tail; and show aggression by pinning its ears back and stiffening its body.

The word energy can sometimes be confusing. Cesar explains it this way: 'Energy is how any being presents itself to the world. Think of it as your personality, disposition, temperament, or whatever word makes sense to you.' For humans, energy is what we get when our intentions meet our emotions. Cesar expresses it as a formula:

Intention × Emotion = Energy.

This formula explains why calm and assertive energy works so well with dogs. When we are calm and assertive, our emotions are balanced and our intent is clear. Dogs understand this. On the other hand, negative emotions and lack of firm intent presents weak energy and confuses our dogs.

This is why you can't stop a barking dog by angrily yelling. The dog doesn't hear you commanding it 'No!' He hears you joining in the barking, so his excitement increases. That's also why baby talk confuses dogs ' they read it as submissive and weak energy. Depending on their natural position in the pack, they may become anxious or very dominant in response.

Dogs follow balanced energy because it's what their instincts tell them to do. It's up to us to provide that calm, assertive balance.

I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.

Natural Dog Law 3: Dogs are animal, species, breed and name

We humans think of ourselves in a way that dogs would see as exactly backwards. To us, the most important thing is our name. To dogs, name is the least important.

We humans think of ourselves in a way that dogs would see as exactly backwards. To us, the most important thing is our name. It's how we sign documents, how we introduce ourselves, and how we know other people.

Next, we focus on 'breed,' which for humans is a group identifier like race, religion, or nationality. Way down our list is our species, Homo sapiens, and we often forget that we are ultimately animals.

This works for us because it's part of our psychology, but it's not the way dogs approach the world. To a dog, its name is the least important thing about it.

Animal, species, breed, name

Dogs see themselves first as animals. This means that they live instinctually and their goal is survival. They are in tune with nature. Like all animals, they live in the moment and communicate with energy. That's why two animals of very different species can have a 'conversation' and get along with each other.

Next is species, which is where a dog's need to be part of a pack kicks in. Species is about finding a place in the pack, and working with the pack for survival. This is also where Cesar's 'fulfillment formula' comes into play. It is the species part of a dog that needs exercise, discipline and affection.

Humans created breeds by controlling which dogs mated, selecting particular traits to allow to continue. To some degree, certain breeds do have certain behavioral traits ' huskies like to pull sleds, collies like to herd, and spaniels like to hunt. However, the dog psychology behind every breed is the same because it comes from the species level. To a dog, its breed is thus unimportant.

Finally, a name doesn't mean a lot to a dog. It's a sound they hear when you want their attention, but your dog will never think, 'I am Fido.' They'll associate the name with the energy (emotion x intent) you express when saying it. That's why you shouldn't use a dog's name when disciplining it, because the dog will make a negative association until its name means 'Something bad is going to happen.'

Animal, species, breed, name. This is how your dog sees itself.

"Work with instincts, not against them." - Cesar Millan

Natural Dog Law 4: A dog's senses form his reality.

A dog can smell who or what has been where, how long ago they were there, how close they are now, and which way they went. It's a world that's mostly invisible to us, but it is the place your dog lives every day.

Humans and dogs experience the world through a very different combination of senses. To most humans, sight is the most important sense, followed by touch, sound, and smell. For dogs, the order is smell, sight, sound, and then touch, with a dog's sense of smell being by far the most important.

The easy way to remember it is: Nose, eyes, ears, in that order.

When you approach a dog, the dog has already investigated you by scent, from as far as fifty yards away. To a dog, our scent and energy are our "names," and the dog will have figured out quite a lot about you just through smell alone. This is also why your dog will sometimes start barking at something long before you can see or hear it. It's not psychic powers. It's sense of smell.

Principle 6 for Achieving Balance: Nose, eyes, ears

This nose-eyes-ears priority of senses to a dog follows the pattern in their development as a puppy. Dogs are born blind and deaf and rely on their sense of smell in order to find their mothers and nurse, so their first association with survival is scent. This connection lasts for the rest of a dog's life, which is why they are constantly sniffing, especially in strange or new environments.

When you're out on the walk, you might be able to detect the scent of the grass nearby, but to a dog that grass really is a record of what's been going on - and the information in it is more than just which other dogs have peed there.

Living things constantly give off aromas. We don't do it just by sweating. Every time we exhale, we send scent information out into the world. We also constantly shed skin cells and hair, which get carried off into the wind and eventually settle on the ground. Where our shoes or feet touch the ground, they also leave scent information.

A dog can smell all of these molecules and learn a lot from them: who or what has been there, how long ago they were there, how close they are now, and which way they went. It's a world that's mostly invisible to us, but it is the place your dog lives every day.

S

Natural Dog Law 5: Dogs are social pack animals.

By bringing dogs into our lives, we make the promise to fulfill their needs, and having a strong Pack Leader meets a dog's most important psychological and instinctual need.

As descendants of wolves, dogs are instinctual pack animals. They instinctually seek to join whatever pack is nearby. This explains why dogs can get along so well with so many other animals, especially other pack or herd animals like horses, cows, and sheep. There's even at least one case of a dog and elephant becoming best friends.

It's also why dogs have bonded so well with humans. We too are social creatures and dogs instinctually sense that and seek to join our pack. We humans have become ' or should be ' their Pack Leaders now.

In a dog pack, there are three positions: front, middle, and rear. The dogs in front lead the pack in search of what they need to survive: food, water, and shelter. They both direct and protect. The dogs in the back are the most sensitive, and their job is to alert the pack to danger.

Why socialization is important:

The dogs in the middle are happy-go-luck mediators. It's their job to maintain stable energy between the front and the back of the pack ' and to settle down packmates that start to show unstable energy, You can easily spot middle of the pack dogs in a dog park ' they're the ones that rush over and break it up when two or more dogs start to play a little too rough or get into a fight.

Every dog can't be a leader of the pack. Most dog packs have very few leaders, meaning the rest of the dogs are followers. That's the model for us we bring a dog into our human packs. It's essential that the humans be Pack Leaders, with the dog following.

If a dog does not have strong pack leadership from its humans, it may become unbalanced, which can lead to confusion, anxiety, or aggression and behavior problems in the dog. A dog can only be balanced and secure when it knows what its humans want and receives very clear and consistent direction.

By bringing dogs into our lives, we make the promise to fulfill their needs, and having a strong Pack Leader meets a dog's most important psychological and instinctual need.

Canine PsychologyPage Title

5 Pack Leadership Techniques

"These techniques are powerful tools; their use will result in a much more rewarding relationship between you and your dog." - Cesar Millan

It’s important to give a dog rules, boundaries, and limitations. In other words, our dogs need to know what they can do, where they can do it, and for how long. In this article, we’re going to focus on boundaries: teaching your dog where they are and are not allowed to go.

Establishing boundaries can solve canine behavior problems like getting on the furniture, begging at the table, or bolting when a door is opened. In effect, when you create a boundary you’re building an invisible barrier and teaching your dog not to cross it.

So how do you create that barrier? Here are five tips.

Pack Leadership Technique 1: Establish rules, boundaries and limitations.

Claim your space.
If you’ve observed dogs interacting, then you’ve probably noticed how they claim their own space. They do it physically, with body language and energy, and can get across the message “this is mine” without resorting to barking or showing their teeth.

A dog claiming a food bowl or toy will stand above it, often leaning its head down protectively. A dog that wants to claim physical space from another dog will just walk right into her and push her away.

To claim your space, you have to do the same thing, by controlling access to it with your body. If you don’t want your dog to walk through a doorway, stand in it. If you don’t want them on the couch, stand over it.

Take the lead

To help give your dog boundaries, you need to emphasize that you are the leader, and a great way to do this is by creating the rule that you always go through a door first. You may need to start teaching your dog this with him on-leash, making him stop and wait at each threshold. After you go through, then you invite him to follow.

Of course, the best way to be a Pack Leader is to give your dog exercise through the walk several times every single day, and teaching your dog to wait at doorways is a great way to help him learn how to follow you on the walk.

Teach your dog to wait

If you’ve taught your dog a trick like “shake,” then you’ve probably experienced this: once your dog has mastered the trick, she might start doing it as soon as you reach for the treats. In this case, you need to retrain your dog to not do the trick until you ask, even if you’re holding the treat right in front of her.

When a dog starts to anticipate, it means that they think doing the trick makes you give them the treat, so you need to teach them again that it’s the other way around: you offering the treat makes them do the trick. To retrain them, whenever they start to do the trick before you’ve said okay, pull back the treat, and only offer it when the dog doesn’t show any sign of anticipation until you give the signal.

This will also teach your dog to look to you for the signal that it’s okay to do something instead of just acting on her own, building her trust and respect for you. This in turn will help her learn how to respect the boundaries you set.

Correct at the right time.
As with all other dog behaviors, the key to creating the boundary is proper timing in correcting your dog when he crosses it. If you’re trying to teach your dog to stay off of the sofa, it doesn’t do any good to come in and correct him while he’s on it.

He won’t connect the correction to being on the sofa. Instead, he’ll connect it to whatever state of mind he’s in at the moment. If you correct him when he’s calm, you’ll just create a nervous or excited dog.

The time to “Tsch!” or give whatever signal you use is right as the dog is about to commit the improper behavior. In the case of the sofa, it’s the instant he starts to jump on it. This will connect the correction to the action and firmly establish in your dog’s mind what he’s doing wrong.

Be consistent.
Once you determine where your dog is and isn’t allowed, you need to be consistent in two things: one is maintaining the boundary. The other is being consistent in exceptions. If you decide that your dog can get on the sofa this time, it clearly has to be at your invitation — this is similar to teaching the dog to wait, in that it reminds her that you decide when to invite her into the territory but she is not allowed to invade it.

Also, every human in the household has to enforce the same boundaries. If anyone doesn’t do this, it will just confuse the dog. Or, worse, it will make the dog think that the person who isn’t enforcing the boundaries is subservient to her.

Dogs look to their Pack Leaders for protection and direction. Giving them boundaries is a great way to provide the latter by letting them know where they can and cannot go.

Pack Leadership Technique 2: Project calm, assertive energy

Projecting calm, assertive energy isn't a new skill to be learned. It's a natural human trait to be remembered, and mastering it will bring your relationship with your dog to a whole new level.

To dogs, 'energy is everything.'

Because dogs communicate with energy, our personal energy plays a central role in our relationship with them. Dogs are our mirrors, reflecting back in their behavior the energy we express. If we are hyperactive and over-excited, our dogs will be the same; if we are tense and angry, our dogs will be anxious.

Unlike humans, dogs will not follow unstable energy. They instinctually seek and follow pack leaders who exhibit calm and assertive energy. When dogs live with a human who does not fill this role, they will attempt to correct the pack balance by filling what they see as a vacant pack leader role. This is how behavior problems develop.

How to be calm and assertive.

To establish yourself as the pack leader, you must project calm, assertive energy. Think of it as a perfectly balanced set of scales. On one side is your calm and assertive leadership; on the other is your dog's calm and submissive behavior. This balance nurtures stability and creates a centered and happy dog.

We can learn and practice projecting calm and assertive energy by using a natural ability that dogs don't have ' our imaginations. Think of someone who inspires confidence in you ' a parent or mentor; a famous leader or hero; even a fictional character. How do they carry themselves, and what in them inspires confidence in you? Now imagine that you are this character. Stand like they would stand. Move like they would move. Take slow, deep breaths. Relax your body, but keep your head up, shoulders back and chest out.

Note how you're feeling. Then practice capturing this state during the day with your dog. Don't be surprised if your dog spontaneously sits next to or follows behind you wherever you go. It's because you're communicating with your dog using only your energy and body language. Now you're ready to continue the 'conversation' with your dog in a balanced way.

Projecting calm, assertive energy isn't a new skill to be learned. It's a natural human trait to be remembered, and mastering it will bring your relationship with your dog to a whole new level.

Pack Leadership Technique 3: Provide exercise, discipline, affection

It is only when we start living more instinctually that we learn one of the most important things we need to have a balanced dog: Our goal is not to make our dogs trust, respect, and love us ' it is to make ourselves trustworthy, respectable, and loveable.

A balanced dog is one that is fulfilled in all three aspects of its being: body, mind, and heart. In nature, dogs instinctively find that balance. When dogs live in the human world, however, it's up to us to ensure that they get that balance.

Humans and dogs both have instinctual, intellectual and emotional dimensions. We humans live in a world where intellect and emotions are primary, while our instinctual side is less important. For dogs, it's the other way around. They live in an instinctual world where their intellect and emotions are secondary.

When we relate to our dogs in a human way, emphasizing the intellect and emotions over the instinctual, they can lose touch with their own instincts and nature. Meanwhile, we don't recognize our dog's instinctual behavior and what it's telling us. Our dogs thus develop behavior issues.

That's why exercise, discipline and affection must be given to our dogs, in that order. We first exercise the instinctual, then we discipline the intellect and express affection to the emotions. In this way, we fulfill the dog's needs and promote balanced behavior. That's why Cesar calls this the Fulfillment Formula:

Exercise is for the Body = Fulfilling Instinct = Creating Trust

Discipline is for the Mind = Fulfilling Intellect = Creating Respect

Affection is for the Heart = Fulfilling Emotion = Creating Love

It is only when we, as humans, stop acting intellectually and emotionally with our dogs and start living more instinctually that we learn one of the most important things we need to have a balanced dog: Our goal is not to make our dogs trust, respect, and love us ' it is to make ourselves trustworthy, respectable, and loveable.

Exercise: Challenge your dog physically

All dogs require exercise to lead balanced, healthy lives.

Just because a dog is small doesn't mean he needs less exercise, and, although breed can give an indication of the dog's energy level, the final judgment must be made on the individual dog's needs.

As your dog's pack leader, you must help her to expend her energy in a productive way. For all dogs, this means a daily walk. Some dogs may require additional activities, such as running, Frisbee, or swimming, in addition to, but never replacing, the walk.

Remember that dogs are animals, and animals need to travel and discover the world. A big back yard is no substitute for a good walk. Master the walk and your dog will relate to you on a deeper level.

Pack Leadership Technique 4: Master the walk

The walk is the perfect way to give your dog exercise, discipline, and some affection, as well as to establish rules. When you master it, you will have discovered the most rewarding and productive way to improve your relationship with your dog.

Pack Leadership Technique 3 reminds us to provide exercise, discipline, and affection in that order. And the absolute best way to provide exercise and discipline for your dog is through the walk.

To make the walk productive and bonding, you have to be the leader. This means that you're in front, not your dog. It helps to use a short leash with the collar up at the top of the dog's neck, where you have the most control. Keep your leash arm down and relaxed, with the leash loose. Don't grip tightly because that sends tense energy down the leash to your dog.

Avoid harnesses for the walk, because they tend to encourage dogs to pull. And take a pass on any kind of variable-length lead, as these put your dog, not you, in control.

The most important tool for the walk, though, is your calm, assertive energy. It's a transformative attitude that actually encourages your dog to follow you. This means being fully present for your dog. The walk isn't a time for texting or chatting on your phone.

Your dog must also be present for you. Sniffing and peeing are rewards your dog needs to earn ' so during first part of the walk, keep in constant motion, mimicking the forward movement of the pack in search of food. After establishing a good balance of leadership (you) and calm, submissive walking (your dog), you can relax a bit and let your dog sniff or mark the landscape.

Another skill for mastering the walk is reading other dog walkers from a distance. If their dog is out in front and pulling, and the person's energy seems anxious with weak and uncertain body language, it's possible their dog could exhibit some undesired behavior should you meet. It's better for you and your dog to avoid such encounters.

A dog's mother begins training puppies from birth. She makes them wait for food; she controls when they play and how far they travel. Adult dogs need these same rules, boundaries, and limitations from you, their pack leader when dog training.

Calm and assertive
A pack leader doesn't project emotional or nervous energy, so neither should you. In the wild, the pack leader uses calm-assertive energy to influence how the dog interacts with his surroundings. She enforces these laws in a quiet way, as is the case when a mother picks up a puppy by the scruff of the neck if he strays outside the den.

Setting boundaries
Ownership of territory is very important. Dogs in the wild claim space by first asserting themselves in a calm and confident way, and then communicating this ownership through clear body language signals and eye contact. A dog who understands that you, as the pack leader, own the space in which he lives will respect your asserted authority while dog training.

Right timing
Waiting is another way that pack leaders assert their position. Puppies wait to eat, and adult dogs wait until the pack leader wants them to travel. Waiting is a form of psychological work for the dog. Domestication means dogs don’t need to hunt for food, but they can still work for it.

Pack leadership
Establish your position as pack leader by asking your dog to work. Take him on a walk before you feed him. And just as you don't give affection unless your dog is in a calm-submissive state, don’t give food until your dog acts calm and submissive. Exercise will help the dog, especially a high-energy one, to achieve this state.

Know your pack
The true test of leadership is knowing your pack. I want to know my pack and what fulfills them. This is what creates balance. Then formulating a dog training plan, setting an intention, and following through is what creates even more strength in your relationship, bond, and its depth. To me, that’s respect, both of the needs of your dog and yourself.

This is what distinguishes the true pack leader from the rest. They are honest. They are real. They accept. They are in touch. They are present. They are respectful. They are balanced. And they know their pack.

In all of these ways, the pack leader in nature sets rules, boundaries, and limitations for her pack, and in doing so, nurtures her dog's healthy state of mind.

Dogs use constant energy to communicate. Energy is what I call beingness; it is who and what you are in every moment. Dogs don’t know each other by name, but by the energy they project and the activities they share. They know humans in the same way.

As humans, we too are communicating with energy – whether we realize it or not. And, though we may attempt to persuade, explain, and rationalize all day long, these energy signals are the only messages getting across to our dogs.

The first energy that a puppy experiences after birth is mom’s calm, assertive energy. Later, the puppy will follow a pack leader who projects the same calm, assertive energy out of association. As pack followers, dogs return a calm, submissive energy that completes the pack balance. It is important to understand that most dogs are born to be submissive, because there can only be so many pack leaders.

When a naturally submissive dogs lives with a human that does not lead, he or she will attempt to right the pack balance by filling what they see as a vacant pack leader role. This is how behavior problems develop.

To establish yourself as the pack leader, you must always project a calm, assertive energy. This natural balance (calm, assertive leadership with calm, submissive behavior) nurtures stability and creates a balanced, centered, and happy dog.

“So how do I learn to project calm, assertive energy?” This is where a very powerful human ability comes in handy: Imagination. Imagine someone who inspires confidence in you – a parental figure or mentor; a famous leader or hero; even a fictional character. How do they carry themselves, and what in them inspires confidence in you? Now, imagine that you are this character, real or fictional. Stand like they would stand. Move like they would move. Take long, deep breaths. Relax your body, but keep your head up, shoulders back and chest out.

5 steps to becoming calm.

When you become comfortable with the feeling of being calm and assertive, communicate with your dog with your energy and body language only. Don’t be surprised, once you’re projecting the right energy, if your dog spontaneously sits next to or follows behind you wherever you go. Now you’re ready to continue the conversation in a balanced way.

Through all of my interactions with people and dogs, one thing I know for certain. The world is an animal-loving, dog-loving place. The balance is what’s thrown off. So I have made it my mission to continue spreading this message of balance around the world. If we can do this with one dog, and one human at a time, maybe we can eventually bring that into entire communities and countries, so we can all live as my greatest teachers (dogs) do – mindfully aware, and emotionally in tune.

One of the most important things I teach people to do is always exhibit calm, assertive energy around their dogs — and it’s a good way to approach life in general. But I’m frequently asked, “How do I do that?”

The good news is that once you’ve figured out how to achieve that state of calm, it becomes more instinctual and easier to do. The better news is that anyone can learn how to emit calm, assertive energy. Here are five tips to help you achieve it.

Relax. Your dog is not misbehaving on purpose
No matter what it seems like, your dog is not peeing on the floor or tearing up your favorite shoes to get back at you. When dogs do things like this, it is because you are not fulfilling their needs — but they don’t know that.

Bored dogs can become destructive and insecure dogs may urinate if they become fearful. It’s your job, as the pack leader, to make sure that their excess energy is drained through exercise, that their lives have structure through rules, boundaries, and limitations, and that you leave them with something intellectually stimulating — like a toy stuffed with treats — at those times when you have to leave them alone.

Remember, unlike children, you can’t rationalize with dogs and you cannot explain why something they did when you weren’t there is wrong. Don’t take their behavior personally and don’t get upset about it. Take it as their way of telling you what’s missing in their life.
Your dog’s energy is a reflection of your own
The quickest way to figure out what energy you’re projecting to the world is to look at your dog, especially on the walk. If your dog is not calm and happy-go-lucky, then neither are you.

Does your dog go crazy at the sight of any other dog? Then you’re probably nervous or tense about a possible dog encounter as well.

Is your dog hesitant about going on the walk, refusing to follow you and trying to pull you back home? Ask yourself how you’re feeling in that moment. You may be angry or insecure.

How does your dog act at home? Is she bouncing off the walls or is she resting calmly? Again, this is all a reflection of the energy you’re exhibiting to your dog. What’s great about it is that you can use your dog as an emotional thermostat to check and adjust your own emotional “temperature."
Try living in the moment
There’s a saying (incorrectly attributed to Lao Tzu) that goes, “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

So many of our negative emotions and unstable energy states come from not living in the present moment. The past gives us regret over things that we did or did not do, while the future gives us worries over things that may or may not happen.

We can’t change the past and we can’t live in the future until it becomes the present. Focusing on what’s happening right now will help us find that place of calmness. It’s what our dogs do naturally, and it’s one of the greatest lessons we can learn from them.
Reconnect with nature
Take the time regularly to go someplace where nature surrounds you. It can be a park, the beach, the mountains, or the desert — whatever appeals to you. Leave your cell phone behind (or turn it off), take a walk with your dog, and just observe and enjoy what’s around you.

Learn to listen to nature and observe the interactions of the land, plants, and animals — wild birds have fascinating conversations with each other all the time. Stop thinking about what’s going on in your day-to-day human world and focus on the sensations; what you see, hear, smell, and feel. Breathe deeply and maybe even meditate.

This is the world that your dog lives in. It’s also the world that all humans were born into. It’s just very easy for us to lose sight of that.
Rehabilitating your dog is a process
It’s the rare dog that seems to be born perfect — housebroken instantly, never destroys things that aren’t hers, and obeys automatically. If you have one of those dogs, congratulations.

If you don’t, then you’re like most dog owners. And, sometimes, it may seem like you’ll never be able to fix the problem. However, this attitude can become a trap. Remember what I said about living in the future? Well, worrying that you’ll never be able to rehabilitate your dog is living in the future, and if you’re anxious about not getting results, then you won’t get them.

Focus on the small successes on the way, as they happen. Pretty soon, the small successes will become more constant until you’re having medium successes and then big ones. At the same time, you’ll stop worrying about what’s going to happen and learn to enjoy what is happening.

Learning to exhibit calm, assertive energy is not a huge mystery. Humans even know how to do it as babies, sometimes. It isn’t a new skill to be learned. It’s a natural trait to be remembered, and mastering it will bring your relationship with your dog to a whole new level.

Stay calm!

Pack Leadership Technique 5: Read your dog's body language.

Dogs can't tell us in words what they're thinking and feeling because they don't have to. They're expressing themselves constantly through body language. Once we learn how to understand this, a whole world of communication with our dogs opens up.

While humans primarily use words to communicate, dogs use energy to communicate, expressing it through body language. To communicate with our dogs, we need to learn and adopt their 'language' rather than expecting them to learn ours.

One way to decode a dog's language is to remember that Energy = Intention _ Emotion. A dog's energy ' his intention and emotions, working together ' are communicated by his body language.

A dog's play bow to another dog illustrates how this works. The motion is forward, but the front of the dog's body is low to the ground. The intention (the forward movement) is excitement but the emotion (the low body) is friendly, so the energy is playful.

That means that similar behaviors can mean different things. For example, a happily excited dog and an aggressive dog may both move forward toward a person or other animal ' but one of them is playful and the other one is threatening. Likewise, a dog may run away in fear or it may run away to start a game of chase with another dog.

The important parts to watch are the head, ears, tail, and back. The higher these are, the more dominant a dog is feeling, and the lower they are, the more submissive or uncertain her feelings. Look also for tension in the dog's body, particularly in the back and legs. The more tense a dog is, the higher its energy level.

It can be easy to misinterpret a dog's energy, so develop a habit of close observation of their body language. For example, many people are afraid when a dog shows its teeth ' but an astute observer knows that when the teeth are together, with the ears pulled back along the head, eyes squinting, and the body is lowered and leaning away, the dog is actually showing submission. Likewise, a dog may come charging at you, but if its body is relaxed, its tail is level and wagging, and there's no tension in the body, then it is showing excitement, not aggression.

In nature, when a dog in a pack shows excited or unbalanced energy, the entire pack takes it as a warning of impending danger. It's remarkable how quickly a sleeping pack of dogs will go on high alert when one dog barks! And it is just as remarkable how quickly the pack settles down when its leader concludes that there is no threat and returns to a calm, assertive state.

Now imagine how your dog feels when you express unstable energy. It's a signal that something is wrong and so he reacts with anxiety, fear or excitement. If you're not in tune with your own energy, you'll have no idea why your dog is reacting that way. But because dogs communicate primarily with energy, he read you in a second.

That's why it is so important to be aware of and manage your energy when with your dog. Until you can manage your own energy, you cannot manage your dog's.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to recognize and change your energy state from moment to moment. For example, your body language and posture not only reflect your energy, but can also help you alter it.

If you're on the walk with your dog and she's expressing anxiety, take a moment to check your body language. If you're tense and hunched over, you're not expressing calm and assertive energy and your dog is reacting to it.

But you can change this in a matter of moments. Stand straight, with your head up, shoulders back, and chest out. Keep both feet flat on the ground. Relax your arms and keep your hands out of your pockets.

Breathe deeply and exhale slowly. Focus on your breathing while clearing your mind of random thoughts. If it is safe to do so, close your eyes and concentrate on what you can smell and hear. You'll likely feel a sense of relaxation and calm. After a few moments, continue the walk while maintaining that state. Your dog's behavior will tell you when you've achieved calm, assertive energy.

Remember the feeling and the body language, and practice being able to move into this mode of being upon demand. With practice, it can become second nature ' and your dog will thank you!