Introducing OSCAR!!

The pack have a new member - 10 month old Oscar, A black Lab mix with a little Springer Spaniel!

Oscar, re-homed to us here at CrystalDogs, has bonded well with most of the pack...Monty the Gt Dane is still a little unsure as Oscar loves to try to play with him - fascinated by his sheer size and slobbery chops!

It took a few hours to get PeterPan to accept Oscar into the pack, we have not had a male younger than PeterP here for a couple of years as PeterP was so aggressive to other younger males. Well PeterP was muzzled to begin with as he relapsed into red zone, I had to step-up my Pack Leader energy and followed Cesar's Way to introduce a new dog to PeterP and then later to the rest of the pack.

We began with much walking exercise - just PeterP and Oscar together, then some supervised discipline time around the home, PeterP relaxed and peace was restored. Now PeterP, I am sure, thinks Oscar is "so cool" as Oscar is a young, high energy dog - he needs more exercise than the rest of the pack and PeterP gets to go along too!!

Oscar did not react to PeterP's aggression in any way - he was not aggressive in response to PeterP's lunging attacks .... I think I have the dog I need now - as Cesar talks of too - we get the dogs we need not necessarily the ones we want! I need a dog to work with me to help balance other dogs - welcome Oscar my "Rehab Assistant"!

Oscar has settled into our routine very well, from day one he began to learn how to rest from the pack! It is strange though having a pup around the place again ..... things go missing .... socks and the empty dog food cans in the trash bin are favourites!

More on Oscar coming soon as we are now a pack of 14 dogs!

Pack Member helps dog with shorter legs!

This week at the seaside the tide is quite high, there is just enough beach to walk along! While out on our pack walk we had to climb over a few rocks to get to a stretch of sand, once across I realised Sadie, the tiniest of the Jack Russels, was stuck on the other side - too short to jump over!

Just as I was thinking "oh no, I shall have to climb back over the rocks to lift her over" ......... Max the Dobey ran off, jumped the rocks and caught up with Sadie, he did not stop he kept on running with Sadie now following him. He found a way round the rocks and led her safely back onto the beach where we all were waiting and watching in amazement!

Way to go Max - he went and rescued his little pack mate and showed her the way. Max completely lived up to his rank of "would-be-alpha" dog - leading the way!! The amazing part is how all this was communicated between the dogs and I in "energy" alone - no vocal from the dogs or me, pure energy told Max to run to help Sadie join us - now that is true pack team work.

Remember our dogs are reading us all the time - they know what we are doing through our energy and body language! Energy truly is the inter-species language as Cesar Millan tells us.

Just as well Max accepts me as his Pack Leader .... else I'm not sure what he would have the rest of the pack doing all day - or maybe I do .... I think they would be running the beaches chasing sea birds all day, stopping occasionally to eat fresh fish washed up on the beach!

It's a Dog's Life at the beach!

Happy "Cesar" Christmas!!

Finally a chance for everyone including us "Brits" to learn from Cesar Millan, without having to live in the USA and be on The Dog Whisperer!






I highly recommend this for all owners and handlers... Cesar trains humans...us the people!

Extra News below so make sure you read on to the end of this post!

It's Christmas so treat yourself or friends and family this holiday to some Unique Coaching and Get Results from Cesar Millan

It's Sessions With Cesar, the interactive online coaching course available from Cesar Millan for the first time, ever. Inspirational, Motivational, Full of Cesar's Way Insight = WOW!

Sessions With Cesar. Login, enroll (for a low monthly fee), choose your dog's behavior problem or ownership situation, and you're ready to go. The course consists of tutorials, audio clips from Cesar, and video clips where you can see exactly how Cesar works his magic with dogs and learn his Fulfillment formula.

After completing each section of the course work (at your own pace), you take a brief quiz. It's that easy, and it's fun! As a special added feature, Cesar's Pack is an online community forum where you can ask questions and communicate with other dog lovers and Pack Leaders. Cesar's Ambassadors are also there to help guide you through the course and try to answer your dog behavior questions.
For more information, go to http://www.sessionswithcesar.com/

Sessions With Cesar makes a great holiday gift for that "dog person" in your life!

And I am A "Sessions With Cesar" Ambassador as well so I can support you too - as well as great wisdom and experience from all the Ambassadors and course members internationally through the forums!

And there is even more....Cesar has live Q and A forums where all course members get to post a question and are selected at random by the SWC Team, then the lucky selected members can interact on-line with Cesar!

Finally, if you enter this promotion code 18689FB1 you get a chance to win a special Cesar prize pack!

Join In...Join The Pack...Be The Pack Leader!

Bringing home a puppy...but not a "dog"?

Hello Jen and Welcome - a reply to comment question:

My first question would have to be "why would one not want to treat a dog as a dog"? Even my smallest Chihuahua mix Jack is proud to be "dog", dogs love to be dogs they are not fulfilled being surrogate humans! You should see little Jack running the countryside covered in mud with a feather in his mouth - his entire body language says “proud dog” - he would not want to be “carried around” and “pampered”...he is a dog!

Dogs are pack animals it's in their DNA, so why not be their leader this is nature's way? Being the Pack Leader does not mean we cannot have our dogs as companions or have to change everything - actually it is a very straight forward philosophy and I get to share affection - my pack get loads of affection, but it comes as a reward for being my followers and this makes it even more special to my dogs - they have earned their place in the pack, this is the ultimate reward for any dog!

So what is it about the pack leader way that you do not like or want to follow? What is your dog if not a dog?
Brining a powerful breed such as a Rottweiller into a family ....pack....without following exercise and discipline is a risky method, if the dog is naturally lower ranked "happy go lucky" then with training alone you may have a great family dog BUT if the dog is a social climber then behaviour may become a problem which later requires rehab!

Anyone can become their dog's Pack Leader - anytime - any dog age - this is because dogs live in the now and always prefer to live in the most natural of environments which is a pack.

I know if I was going to bring in a puppy to this pack I would follow Cesar's ways in his book "A Member of the Family" - a friend of mine Greet, in the Netherlands, has just followed this book to bring a Chihuahua pup at 7 wks old into her pack of 14 dogs with great success.

So the only other advice I could give you would be to have one dog as the higher ranked member of the pack - the "alpha", though please note this may well inspire fighting between them as the pup matures! I would also protect the smaller dog from puppy play in case of injury from a heavier boned puppy.

Train the pup from day one with other dogs, socialization is key in as many different environments/contexts as you possibly can. Try to avoid any bad habits developing by having at least some rules from day one. Walking both dogs together would help to create a bond, as would feeding them near each other but not allowing them to go to each other's bowls and balancing your attention between both dogs!

If you can manage to follow a little dog psychology it may well help you raise your pup without him suffering fears and obsessions - don’t reinforce fearful instinct/mind with affection, redirect him if he is becoming fixated on something - prevention is far better than cure!

If you are not following any discipline then you are likely to get more primal behaviour - behaviour which can carry risks and become unwanted later when it is no longer cute! If your current dog is a balanced dog then the positive power of the pack may well transfer to the puppy, if not then behaviour problems can double!

Not everyone wants to be or can be the pack leader , there is always room for compromise but personally I just love the calm energy of my pack now, you can see the contented dogs at walk, rest and play - it's a dog's life. If I cannot convince you to see you dogs as dogs, then all I can do is wish you luck with your new puppy and hope all goes well for you and that you go on to control your Rottie pup through obedience training.

I love to be my pack's Dog Whisperer! I still humanize my dogs for fun between humans only, they are all still my "babies" - my family, but never directly with/to them or in any emotional interaction as I respect their right to be my pack ... my dogs first.

Balance means I can be a dog lover and a Pack Leader.