3 Lessons Learned from Cesar Millan The Dog Whisperer That Have Nothing To Do With My Dog

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

We’ve got this awesome lab/retriever mix named Bella. She’s a couple years old now, and all this time I’ve been trying to find a way to watch the Dog Whisperer. I knew Cesar Millan would be able to help me figure out how to get her to take a nice walk without yanking my arm off.

Well, this weekend I noticed, finally, The Dog Whisperer was live streaming on Netflix! YAY. I plunked down… prepared to learn how to walk my dog and you can imagine my surprise, when I started learning things that really had NOTHING to do with my dog.

1. Energy is everything. 

I knew this, in my head, but being able to see the immediate change in a dog depending on the person who was around it… and their energy really hit home.

It’s funny… I started thinking about the facebook marketing I have been doing the last couple weeks. We just merged with the Prosperity Team, and they have a ton of tools and training and I have been going through and implementing them. However… while I was doing it, I was working with this whole energy, of “following the rules, doing what I’m told, doing exactly what they tell me to do… aka follow the system”. While it’s great to follow the system, that energy… is not very calm. It’s not an energy people like to connect with…

And it showed.

My Facebook marketing was completely ineffectual while I was in that energy. Once I watched the show and started doing some of the SAME things… with different ENERGY… things started moving again. People were connecting, responding, and joining again!

Energy… is everything.

2. Anger doesn’t get you anywhere. 

This goes along with the whole energy thing… but it’s about the kind of energy you go into your interactions with. If you are angry, or frustrated, or overwhelmed, you are not going to be in control of the situation.

Creating a calm assertive energy in YOURSELF, allows others to calm down and be open to what you’re doing.

I started taking notice of when things “worked” with my kiddo, my husband, and yes, my dog. I started observing when they listened, when they worked with me without effort, when they did what I asked, when they had respect for me.

Every single time… it was when I was in a calm assertive state.

So… that makes me really aware now… that it’s not them… it’s me. I have to control MY emotions, and my energy… which is awesome, because really that’s all I CAN control.

This environment practices relaxation more than excitement and tension.

It may seem good to have excitement and really high energy in your environment, however… this kind of energy easily gets out of control, and turns into tension and anxiety. To create an environment where everyone feels comfortable, and able to be themselves, and calm… you have to create an environment that is relaxed, calm, and assertive.

3. Before all else… manage the energy

My dog is a little nuts when it comes to going outside. For that matter… so is my kid. They get wound up, they run in circles, they try to push their way out the door before you’re ready.

What ends up happening is that someone gets pushed down, scratched, or worse.

What I realize now that I haven’t been doing is controlling the energy BEFORE all else. I am frequently more focused on getting something done… taking action than I am on the energy with which we take those actions.

Since watching this show, I’ve been really on purpose about how we start new things, getting our energy in a calm assertive or calm submissive state before we start taking action. Funny thing is… everything goes smoother, faster, easier, and we get a lot more done… and without injury.

so… it may seem that all three of my things I’ve learned from Cesar Millan The Dog Whisperer are all the same… and maybe they are, but they are lessons that have completely changed my life… and FAST!

When it’s time to get things done, to make shifts, to do business, I am able to be productive, effective, and most of all… without all the chaos I’m actually able to enjoy myself!

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