I have followed the dog trainer Cesar Millan, better known as the “Dog Whisperer”, ever since our dog Leah was a puppy. He has some great books on dog training, the one I read and applied was Cesear’s Way. Milan believes dog owners must act like dominant pack leaders. He simplifies situations that are often complicated by not understanding the animal and their needs. He strives to achieve balance with some amazing tips and techniques. Millan’s methods use minimum force necessary to prevent or correct a problem. One of his techniques is to redirects the undesired behavior of the animal into something that the animal can do rather than just telling the animal no.

I’ve actually borrowed this technique with my son Jason. Rather than simply telling him no, I show him what he can do. It gives Jason a chance to channel his energy into something positive rather than to dwell on his “error”. It’s one thing to correct Jason while I sip my coffee in the morning on the porch and let him figure it out on his own, its another to get on his playing field and show him how things are and should be done. Cesar has some me some pretty powerful simple concepts, another one of my favorite is the idea that exercise, discipline and affection equals happiness. This idea can certainly be applied to children and even adults.

Brenna Hicks, a child therapist in Palm Harbor, Florida, has a fantastic blog: The Kid Counselor. She has parenting articles and tips, play therapy topics as well as discipline topics. Her blog topics have adopted Millan’s main concept, that dogs take their cues from their masters, and misbehave only when the masters fail to carry themselves, in body language and tone of voice, like pack leaders. In a post, “Raising Kids: Wisdom From the Dog Whisperer,” she wrote, “When we present nervous, angry or scared energy in front of our kids, they pick up on those emotions.” I agree with Brenna, that love, respect, and communication are the keys to any relationship…animal or human.