Every dog has it's day.....

After reading the article "What The Dog Saw" I felt an extreme sense of relief that it was not another shelley Jackson article. This article was coherent and kept its focus. Granted at some points it did tail off, but only to talk about material which was related to the subject at hand. This article was about Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer. It focused on his connection with both dogs and humans as well. It began by telling us different stories of the various dogs which he has encountered and trained. He is able to do this by using his body language to keep the animals in check. His main focus is all about how he presents himself. There are also some professionals mentioned in this article who interpret his body language and how he acts with the animals. At one point it is even mentioned that he is dancing with them. I do not agree with this, I think that his body language is very strong but no where near dancing. He is not literally dancing with the animals, that's a little absurd. His relationship with the animals is all conveyed through his body, otherwise he has no way of communicating with them. Dogs do not speak english. It is all about how he positions himself in front of the animals and in his chair when he sits down, the way that he situates his body forward show that he is in charge and is not backing off. Even when he does sit back, he places his hands in front of him to still keep the same authority in himself. He is a master of body language and is able to convey it nearly perfectly with the dogs.

Cesar also uses three other components which he uses to train the dogs are exercise, discipline and affection. He is able to combine all of these so that the animals become well trained. He takes the dogs on hikes when they stay at his program, he keeps his authority, and he also shows compassion for them as well. When all of these are put together it is almost how we would raise a child. We must show authority and show them who is the boss, but it is also necessary to show them compassion and to be affectionate towards them, because without this we would be overly demanding and controlling and would therefore receive no affection back. This is all necessary to develop a healthy relationship.

Also mentioned in this article is Cesar's relationship with his wife. He does not see marriage as a two way street, he views it as his wife is there to tend to his every wish. His wife does not feel this way and wants him to go therapy where he discovers that he must all make connections with people as well as the dogs.

The last piece that this article leaves you with is when it talk about the 3 year old who is autistic and his care giver. The woman who works with him is also excellent in what she does. She uses music to try and control the child. But more importantly she mimics his own motions and then tries to establish connections with the child through the music being played. By this I mean that she moves the childs legs to the beat of the music in order to try and calm the child down. I personally do not understand how this helps the child that much. I see that she got the child to relax somewhat, but I do not understand how.

This article was overall very well written, but it did lose me at some points. I was partially confused about the part with the baby and his therapist when she begins to work with him. This article also seemed like a hypertext, since it was written online, but more so that it connected other stories as well, all referring back to the original idea about the connections and relationships with people and dogs and people and other people based on the ideas of authority and compassion.