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Hi my name is Marie, and I am new to Sessions with Cesar and new to this type of "training"...
First a little about us. I am a mother of 4, wife, and animal lover. I grew up having Shih-tzus and rescuing and finding homes for strays. I have always had this bond with animals that just seems right. Dogs have always trusted me and felt very comfortable around me and it has been a great thing having so many in my life growing up.
I currently have 1 seven year old Shih-tzu male, and a 6 month old Italian Cane Corso Mastiff. We got the mastiff pup after we moved into a larger home, and had more room for a bigger animal. I have always wanted a big dog to grow up with my children and to have as an addition to our big happy home.
He is a very well behaved, smart, loving dog and I couldnt have asked for a better dog. It seems after he got used to the leash and collar he had this walking thing down. He always walks next to or behind me and doesnt pull. He gets excited when he sees another dog, but is easily corrected and will just sit or continue when I ask him to.
He has also been a very calm pup when waiting to eat. He sits, and then lays as I prepare his and the shih-tzus food. They eat next to each other, and he always waits for the shih-tzu to finish before he leaves the room.
I want to give him affection constantly. He is such a big lovable dog, and I just love snuggling him. Now going through the Sessions I am realizing I am giving him too much love and not enough discipline. I want to get him involved in agility and see if that helps with the discipline.
I am hoping I can get nipping and barking under control with the sessions. He will look at us and bark for no reason. I always think he wants to play, but I cant let him tell me when he wants to play, right? So I ignore him and when he stops and lays down, I will play with him. Usually that makes him happy and he will get a drink, and relax.
Cesar is more of a dog phsycologist than he is a trainer correct? He helps fix the human and dog so they can exist together without complication. But does he train dogs to do things as well? Tricks and such?
I'm sure that Cesar can very easily train a dog and have them do tricks and such. I don't think that he wants to be known as a trainer but a rehabilitator of dogs and he wants give the human owners the right information that they need in order to live harmoniously with their dog(s). Just what you say and know. I have never taken the sessions so I don't know what is taught, but it has to be good. I have read his books and watched his television show and can put his words into action very well and be like him just by watching him work on t.v. I do realize the show is edited for time so things that seem to take very short times of getting the dog(s) to reform it's way of thinking actually take longer. Except of course when they show the elapsed time it takes. The biggest thing that gets me is enlightening the humans or owners of the dog(s). I think that many people are losing their touch with nature and get dogs and treat them like humans, when they should be treating them as an animal. If I had to take someone in who was sick and crippled and needed help doing things then I would comform to their wishes to make them the most comfortable. If I take in a healthy person and he/she lives at my home I would want the person to live by some rules of the house so that there is no misunderstanding between us. With a dog, the dog cannot talk, so we must understand the animal and their ways of communication. If the dog is going to live in our house we need to establish communication so the dog knows what we expect of it. Giving the dog rules, boundaries and limitations is the best way to have some sort of discipline with your pet. When you give the dog too much affection when the dog does not need it, then you are fulfilling your own needs instead. Dogs are all different from one another and some dogs like the affection and there are those who don't want the extra affection. Giving the dog some respect and dignity of being a mature adult animal is what is needed. With puppies it can be the same way, there are certain times when the pup needs affection and there are times when it does not and may take offense to someone who comes up to it and grabs it and hugs it and squeezes it. There are certain times to do it and certain times not to.
It sounds as though you need to train your dogs some new things? It is a good idea, if you have a super high energy dog who needs to find extra outlets. There are search and rescue games. Hide and seek games. So many different options that you can find if that is what you seek.
For the nipping and barking, the sessions will most likely have those focused on. It is focused on, in his DVD's of mastering leadership series. I only have volume 5, which is the volume that you need to see. It has tips for barking at stimuli, like noises or people and barking when you are away. And has tips for overexcited or hyperactive behavior. The biggest tip that I can give is to just always remain calm and assertive under any circumstance. But realisticly, it is very hard to stay that way, so what I have learned is to change my demeanor or mindset and get out of the negative energy and go into positive. What I do is I stop myself and take deep breaths and think of good, enjoyable things and bring my mind to focus on good outcomes of the situation. It helps me.
It is good to hear that you are here to learn new things and this is the right place because there are very many helpful people out there.
Royce B.