As of now, three months later, parts of the island are still without power, there are outbreaks of disease due to insects and standing water, and over two hundred thousand Puerto Ricans have fled to the U.S. (Remember, Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.)

Because of this, I’m in Puerto Rico now, where I’ve come with a team of trainers as part of my PACK Project in order to help a group of victims who are often forgotten in natural disasters.

Dogs in Natural Disasters

Yes, I’m talking about dogs, of course, but their plight has been even more difficult in Puerto Rico because, like my native Mexico, bringing dogs into the home as pets is a fairly recent phenomenon. Otherwise, many dogs are strays, or they wind up abandoned when the family can’t take care of them.

Currently, life is very difficult not only for all of the stray dogs in Puerto Rico, but for the people trying to help and rescue them, which is why we’re down here. Shelters are not immune to natural disasters, and many of them were hit hard by the storm, suffering physical damage. But, since everyone down here was affected, local fundraising is very difficult.

One of the things you can do to help right now is give to the Cesar Millan PACK Project, where all donations collected from now until December 31 will go to the reconstruction and relief of Puerto Rico’s animal shelters damaged by Hurricane Maria.

Despite losing all power on the island for weeks, having landscapes changed or erased, and entire neighborhoods destroyed, the spirit and will of the people of Puerto Rico have not been broken. They will do what they have to in order to come through this.

The human pack comes together.

Wildfires

I got to see this last week in California during the wildfires, and I’m seeing it right now in Puerto Rico. When push comes to shove, more of us are inclined to help than not, and that is truly inspiring. It can be easy to give in to cynicism if all we do is watch the news, but if we watch what our fellow humans actually do, then we see a completely different story.

Despite reports to the contrary, the true human spirit seems to be more inclined to help than to harm. We really are more a pack than we aren’t, but that’s maybe the biggest lesson we can learn from dogs.

Every dog sees themselves in this order: Animal, species, breed, name. We tend to see ourselves in the opposite order, but all that does is divide us. Once we realize that we are all one species, then we can learn how to help each other without having to experience a disaster in order to do it.

Stay calm, and please give whatever you can to help us rebuild the shelters in Puerto Rico,

With Cesar in Puerto Rico this will be his last Sunday message until next year. Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones — Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, Habari Gani, Good Yule and Happy New Year to all. Cesar will be back in 2018!

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In Mexico, like a lot of Catholic countries, it’s a big deal, but it’s not really observed that much in the U.S. However, English speakers probably have heard of “Twelfth Night,” which is a Shakespeare play that debuted around 1602 and premiered in connection with Epiphany.

The title itself doesn’t seem to have a whole lot to do with the play — but the story of the play can teach us a lot about our dogs and dealing with them.

If you don’t know much about Shakespeare, you probably at least know that he often had one gender pretending to be the other, which is interesting when you remember that in theater of the time, all of the female characters were played by young men. At the most extreme, that meant a young man playing a woman who disguises herself as a man who winds up pretending to be a woman again. Luckily, it’s simpler in “Twelfth Night,” where shipwrecked Viola pretends to be a man and, as they say, “hilarity ensues,” especially when Viola’s presumably lost twin brother actually shows up.

As with most mistaken identity comedies, the whole story would be over in thirty seconds if anybody saw through the disguise, but nobody ever does. And this is exactly the issue that we often face when it comes to dealing with dogs — both our own, and dogs in general.

People wind up looking at the “disguise” and not the dog. I’ve talked about this a lot in the past, particularly when I remind people of the difference in how we see dogs and how they see themselves. Humans tend to focus on name, breed, species, and animal, in that order, when they are reacting with a dog. Dogs, however, see themselves in the order animal, species, breed, and name.

We get into trouble when we focus on what we think each of those attributes means instead of on what we’re actually looking at. Imagine meeting two dogs named “Kitten” and “Stalin.” You’ve already made assumptions about their personalities based on their names. Now what if one of them is a bull mastiff and the other is a teacup terrier — but the huge dog is Kitten and the tiny dog is Stalin? In that situation, it could be very easy to take the big dog less seriously, while being leery of the small dog. They got those names somehow, right?

The name example may be a bit exaggerated, but we do this all the time with breed. I’m going to make you walk six dogs now, but you have a choice: You get six pit bulls or six corgis. I’ll even let you see the dogs first, before you decide.

What I didn’t mention is that the pit bulls are incredibly well-behaved on the leash, while the corgis are a nightmare. But if you don’t know that beforehand and only look at the breed, you might end up picking the dogs that are harder to handle. This can also make you misinterpret the causes of a dog’s behavior — for example, not seeing aggression because a dog is little or assuming it’s aggression because a dog is big.

It’s this kind of seeing, of being blind to the reality because you’re only paying attention to the “costume,” which can lead to a lot of problems, from individuals completely misdiagnosing a behavioral issue to communities thinking that breed bans are a viable solution to a problem.

In the world of the Shakespeare plays, everything would be resolved if people literally looked beyond the costume and actually saw the person in it. It’s not that different with dogs. We have to look past our assumptions about superficial things like name or breed or size, and pay attention instead to the dog itself.

Luckily, the dog is telling you everything you need to know because, unlike Shakespeare characters, dogs do not lie. And, unlike Shakespeare characters, we need to learn how to look from the beginning beyond the outside to see the truth inside.

Stay calm, and don’t fall for the disguise!

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Breed

Next, we focus on ‘breed,’ which for humans is a group identifier like race, religion, or nationality. Way down our list is our species, Homo sapiens, and we often forget that we are ultimately animals.

This works for us because it’s part of our psychology, but it’s not the way dogs approach the world. To a dog, its name is the least important thing about it.

Dogs see themselves first as animals. This means that they live instinctually and their goal is survival. They are in tune with nature. Like all animals, they live in the moment and communicate with energy. That’s why two animals of very different species can have a ‘conversation’ and get along with each other.

Species

Next is species, which is where a dog’s need to be part of a pack kicks in. Species is about finding a place in the pack, and working with the pack for survival. This is also where Cesar’s ‘fulfillment formula’ comes into play. It is the species part of a dog that needs exercise, discipline and affection.

Humans created breeds by controlling which dogs mated, selecting particular traits to allow to continue. To some degree, certain breeds do have certain behavioral traits ‘ huskies like to pull sleds, collies like to herd, and spaniels like to hunt. However, the dog psychology behind every breed is the same because it comes from the species level. To a dog, its breed is thus unimportant.

Name

Finally, a name doesn’t mean a lot to a dog. It’s a sound they hear when you want their attention, but your dog will never think, ‘I am Fido.’ They’ll associate the name with the energy (emotion x intent) you express when saying it. That’s why you shouldn’t use a dog’s name when disciplining it, because the dog will make a negative association until its name means ‘Something bad is going to happen.’

Animal, species, breed, name. This is how your dog sees itself.

The post Natural Dog Law 3: Dogs Are Animal, Species, Breed And Name appeared first on Cesar's Way.

I’ve talked about this many times. When we relate to our dogs, especially when trying to correct an unwanted behavior or issue, it’s important to think of them first as Animal, then as Species (dog), then as Breed (Shepherd, Beagle, Husky), and last and least important as Name. To have a happy, balanced dog is to respect these qualities about them. What do these words mean to you?

Animal. When I think of “Animal,” I think nature, the wilderness, and freedom. I think of wolf packs and their territories, which extend for miles. Animals live in the present and life is simple. It’s about Instinct and Survival – the basic needs of shelter, food, water, and mating. Humans are animals too, but we are the only species that dwell on the past, worry about the future, and actively fear death.

Species. Dogs as a Species were descended from wolves, and are so similar that their DNA is almost identical. This is why we can learn so much from wolves in the wild, watching their interaction, their communication, and their pack orientation. Species, on a deeper level then, is about Psychology and Pack Orientation, feeling certain about a pack leader, communicating, and experiencing the world through their nose, eyes, and ears. This is also where the fulfillment formula comes into play – dogs need jobs. They need Exercise, Discipline, then Affection. For wolves, their job is the hunt, the search for food and water, expanding their territory, migrating miles and miles every day. Imagine, then, a dog who only gets to walk a couple of blocks around their neighborhood a couple of times a week. Their frustration is innate and they develop behavioral issues to compensate.

Breed. Breed is about Genetics and is a human creation. Over hundreds and maybe thousands of years, wolves were bred and transformed and transformed again to become the variety of breeds we have. In a recent study published in the Public Library of Science-Biology, researchers have found that differences among dog breeds can be defined through only seven genetic regions, making each breed much closer in character that previously thought.

Breed represents the program, or characteristics that we have “trained” them to perform – the human-desired tasks, like sheepdogs herding, bloodhounds searching, and Border Collies stalking. But, we need to keep in mind that even though certain breeds contain these characteristics, the breed is only something to be aware of when considering your dog’s innate needs. More important, is their inborn energy level. This varies within the breed, and even the litter.

Name. Finally, Name. Whether you call your dog Fido, Sam, Fiona, or simply “dog,” they do not know the difference, nor need to. Name is a human creation that we condition the dog to learn. We project personality on the dogs, but what “personality” is to a human doesn’t exist in dog psychology. We interpret behavior as personality. Many humans are disappointed to learn this, but recognizing these four categories is the first step to correcting behavior and having a happy, balanced dog.

What does your dog’s “personality” say about you as a pack leader? Tell us in the comments.

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