Welcome - it is now!

We had some human visitors, My mum and Dad visited from the West Coast (OK Wales), with their old car for us to use with the dogs (Simon getting edgy about his “posh” company car being used to ferry around Terriers!) Actually the car’s for me….but I have to learn to drive first…Can I be Pack Leader of a car?! So it is now called the “Terrier Mobile” and we went for a drive with 3 Jack Russells sitting on the back parcel shelf…true nodding dogs!

So how can we have visitors now? - by using the “No Touch No Talk No Eye Contact” rule. On arrival I dealt with any barking first and put the dogs outside to wait. Humans can understand they need to wait while I mange the dogs. Then it’s their turn to wait while I manage the humans! Mum and Dad entered…sat down….chatted…..without being hassled by 13 dogs! I let them back in gradually, blocked their attempts to gain attention by nudging them away or “psshting” them - Mickey being the most insistent with his sit and wave paws act! Once calm and submissive, they could stroke and greet the dogs…Max during this time, who knows the routine so well, had fallen asleep on the daybed!

So if the door bell rings, and your dog is barking and charging the door, take control of your dog first - do not open the door with your dog excitedly in front of you. Calm yet in control ”thank the dog” for the alert, as Pack Leader you must go see to take over. Then claim the door - create a boundary away from the door, behind you and make sure your dog is calm. Just let the person on the other side of the door know to simply wait a while! The dog must not cross the boundary - invisible line as you open the door, I use a walking stick to help me identify the boundary to my pack, I use it as an arm extension! Then in come the guests, keep on blocking any dog approach until you invite your dog to join you ensuring the greeting is “dog being calm and respectful” (no jumping, pawing, submissive body language)

If you let the dog go in front of you to greet visitors - it’s as if you are saying “it’s OK - the dog’s in charge here“, with the dog believing “you just have to follow“, he’s saying to your guests “look how these humans follow me you must do same”!! So hey - who owns your house?!

Other dogs and humans are welcomed now by the pack politely- I imagine how I want it to be, then we live it that way. What a very different story from this time a year ago…the power of Cesar’s Way….“Dog Whispering” in all its glory…I must say “Hail Cesar”!!

What have my dogs taught me? That they need to work for me, not the other way round, I used to think I was only here to serve them, so that is how it was. Redraw the picture, “look how my dogs follow Human Pack Leader“!