Calm, Assertive Pack Leader

(Laugh)

You know I've been thinking alot about pack leadership. (LoL with my vast two days of pet ownership) And I've come to some big thoughts. Come, take a trip down crazy lane with me.

As most of you know, I'm a HUGE Cesar Millan fan. I've watched the show as soon as I had cable again. And I was eager to try my "skills" out on Pugly right away. ("Start as you wish to continue...")

Well, one of Cesar's thoughts is that YOU need to be the pack leader for your house. Dogs are not people....they're dogs. And their thought process is different. If you only give love, you're not fulfilling all of his needs. So the trick is to figure out how to be pack leader.

Now in real life, I'm kind of a passive person. I will take charge if nobody else steps up, but mostly I don't mind having someone else in charge. So being a calm/assertive leader is somewhat hard for me. I'm continually checking my energy. Am I wound up and freaking out? Am I inwardly stressing about a situation to the point where I create a stressed outcome?

Yes, I usually do.

That got me thinking about how I deal with Littlebear. Do I just freak out and react to him, or do I calmly let him know how things are going to be? I've been using the DW (Dog Whisperer) techniques on him. And guess what?!?! I'm getting ALOT less flack from him. His respect level is elevating. The fights about piddly stuff are evaporating. And I'm alot happier. And I think they are too. They know what to expect.

Then THAT led me to: What happens when I get in my blue funks? Does LB sense my mental instablity and then challenge me? I think he does! He's always a handful whenever I REALLY can't deal with him. So I'll have to watch that and make sure I'm in the right state of mind.

Fascinating....

So....what do you think? Crazy?! Make sense?!? Offended that I'm comparing my beloved son to a dog? Let me know.

Love, Ang