In case you don’t know yet, that’s my doggy, Moon Pie.
Let’s geek out for a bit, shall we? I filmed the above video today. Moo Moo is three months into her training. She is doing better with action words than nominals. Her repertoire of action words includes: Sit, Down, Off, Come here, Get, Outside, Touch, Drop it, No, and Listen. She’s currently working on Stay. Her nominals include: Ball, Panda, Yip, Nickel, Kitty, and Squirrel.
Due of my own training, my approach with Moo Moo relies heavily on behaviorial theory with a linguistic spin. Recently though, I’ve been learning about “dog psychology” from Cesar Millan. Skattur has been telling me to check out this guy for awhile. She watched his show religiously, despite the fact she doesn’t have a dog. I finally broke down and got his book, Cesar’s Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems
. It was fabulously undogtrainingguidebookish.
I abandoned most of the dog training books in my gianormous stack within a few chapters (and sometimes within a few pages) because they were horribly boring or just too campy. But Cesar Millan’s book was different. First off, he does not consider himself a dog trainer. He describes himself as a “dog psychologist,” which for me instantly brought up a mental image of a dog reposed on Freud’s couch. Based on that image alone I was prepared to not like this book. Then there’s the fact that he works with all these celebrity people and he frequently uses the word “energy.” Psychology, celebrity, and energy — the combination of the three made me roll my eyes in self-righteous derision. So, I surprised myself when I stayed with this book until the end. I was even more surprised when I realized I like him and his book. Millan is a ballsy guy who bootstrapped his way to success. His insights on dogs are based on sound experience.
The only other book I’ve found about dogs recently that I liked was a work of fiction — Nora Robert’s The Search. The blogger behind roughwighting.net recommended it. I haven’t read Nora Roberts in years, so I was due for one. The woman has written about a bajillion books and her writing style has definitely evolved since the last one I read. Romance isn’t my usual reading fare, nor is it my go-to genre for dog information, but I felt strangely compelled. This was no ordinary romance novel. There were serial killers, murders, a bit of mystery, and lots of dog training tid-bits. The romance seemed ancillary, though there were steamy parts. Table sex was involved. It was a good read on all counts.
Back to Moo Moo. More videos of Moo-Moo’s genius may be found in the following posts. I highly recommend viewing them at work due to their Power of Kawaii (Nittono, Fukushima, Yano, & Moriya, 2012), which improves your productivity. More information on that following the reference. 🙂
This Week on the Farm:Dreams, Rescues, Attacks
This Week on the Farm: Project Moon Pie
Just Another Day at the Office
Reference
10 comments
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April 27, 2013 at 2:49 am
skatturcast
Moo Moo is so smart! Glad ya liked Cesar! I think he knows what he’s talking about. I’m sure one day, we’ll have a dog again and I want to be prepared! :p
April 27, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Lunar Euphoria
!!
Please get a dog!
April 27, 2013 at 6:55 am
Dana
Our good friend is wholly obsessed with Cesar, too. She buys tickets to see him live, even though she hasn’t had a dog in years. Makes me want to see if I can take one of his books out of the library…
April 27, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Lunar Euphoria
He is an intriguing fella. I think I fell in love with him a little when he described how he told Oprah Winfrey that she has a problem with leadership.
April 28, 2013 at 8:21 pm
Kathy
I am so impressed! Good job, Moo Moo. I loved looking at the video.
April 30, 2013 at 12:03 am
Lunar Euphoria
She makes me so happy with all her goodgirlness. Thanks for watching!
April 30, 2013 at 9:56 pm
petspeopleandlife
You’ve a smart dog here lady Luna. Springers are one of my favorite dog breeds. My daighter grew up with Roscoe wh only lived to about 10 years. That was a sad day but he was a rescue and there have been no further opportunites to take one in. But we have had and still have a small herd of dogs- all rescues.
And Cesar is one smart guy. I see nothing wrong with his methofs although he has been raled/railed ? by jealous dog trainers and by people who lack assertive skills.
April 30, 2013 at 11:09 pm
Lunar Euphoria
She’s a good girl. My husband and I have been looking to join a Springer rescue group, but MooMoo needs to get a little older before we bring in a new friend.
Cesar is certainly assertive – not afraid to be pack leader.
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