Project Calm and Assertive Energy Archives

Cesar Millan

Presidential Leadership with Your Dog

In February in the U.S., we have two holidays in a row celebrating presidents’ birthdays — Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. They are two of the country’s most famous and highly regarded presidents. Both of them appear on our money — coins and paper — and they make up one half of Mount Rushmore. Any time there’s a list of “10 Best Presidents,” whether voted on by the public or created by historians, these two are at the top, usually along with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It really says something about their legacy that very few people who were adults when

February 16, 2018 No Comments

Cesar Millan

Your Dog’s Greatest Super Power

Dogs have a lot of admirable traits that humans can learn from. They can be tireless and persistent in pursuit of a goal, and they can work together very well with other dogs whether they’re pulling a sled, herding sheep, or hunting prey. They are incredible listeners, although they listen to a lot more than just words. Every moment, your dog is reading your energy and your body language and reacting appropriately, whether you know it or not. However, there is one trait that is practically synonymous with being a dog, and it’s also one of the greatest abilities they

January 26, 2018 No Comments

Cesar Millan

Calm And Consistent

There’s one thing that’s inevitable in Nature, and that’s change. There are simple and constant changes, like sunrise and sunset, and the turning of seasons. There are unpredictable and enormous changes, like hurricanes and forest fires. A physicist would tell you that change is the only way we can tell which way time is passing. Put an ice cube on the table and you’ll wind up with a puddle of water, but it never works the other way around. Now, since they’re instinctual, you’d think that dogs would be better at adapting to change than humans are — but that

September 15, 2017 No Comments

Audiobook/Audible

A New Fix For An Old Problem

I always like it whenever science backs up something that I’ve known for years, and that was why I was very excited this week to start up a new project with the audiobook company Audible. After a study with a hundred dogs, the findings suggest that leaving a virtual companion behind can help dogs remain calm and prevent separation anxiety. I’ve always known the power of the human voice as a calming influence, especially on our dogs — but that’s because, even as a little kid in Mexico in the 1970s, I had audiobooks around. Of course, those audiobooks didn’t

August 11, 2017 No Comments

Cesar Millan

To Independence

This week, America celebrates the anniversary of declaring independence from England, but what does independence mean? At its simplest, it means freedom from control or support by someone or something else. When children grow up, they become independent from their parents — although it frequently takes longer to give up that support from their parents’ wallets! And that growing-up process involves lots of little independences: learning to ride a bicycle without training wheels or assistance, going to school alone, deciding on your own outfits, people to date, college to go to, etc…. Growing up is all about achieving that independence.

June 30, 2017 No Comments

Be Aware of Your Energy

A Powerful Paradox

In the years that I’ve been working with dogs, I’ve met some pretty powerful people. Not all of them are necessarily famous, but a lot of them have daily lives where they’re in charge of many others, or they run Fortune 500 companies, or they’ve been elected to office. They’re the kind of people who can make things happen with a word, and their subordinates listen to them — sometimes out of fear, but usually out of respect for their knowledge and authority. But there’s a reason that I’ve met these people. They’re very powerful in their daily lives interacting

June 16, 2017 No Comments

Cesar Millan

Our Magic Mirror

Mirrors have long been associated with the truth, whether it’s Harry Potter’s Mirror of Erised showing people who look into it their sincerest wishes, or the magic mirror on the Evil Queen’s wall that tells her Snow White is the fairest of them all, leading to all kinds of trouble. This connection is made clear in the lyrics to a very popular song written by Marco Antonio Solis: “El espejo no miente,” which is Spanish for “the mirror doesn’t lie.” Another way to put it is that a mirror only reflects the truth. Lucky for us, when we have dogs,

June 2, 2017 No Comments

Cesar Millan

Who’s The Boss?

I often say that dogs can be our greatest teachers, with so many lessons for us, but only once we learn how to listen to what they’re telling us. They can teach us how to respect each other, how to accept and forgive, how to bounce back from adversity, and much more. But the most important lesson is also the one that I see people failing to learn all the time. More than anything, your dog wants you to learn how to be a good leader, but you may be letting her down. One of the biggest causes of dog

May 5, 2017 No Comments

A Dog’s Inner Vision

A lot of people are under the impression that dogs can only see in black and white. When it comes to actual vision, this isn’t quite true — dogs have limited color vision, similar to humans with red-green colorblindness. They’re particularly good at seeing shades of blue, although they don’t have the same range when it comes to seeing shades of gray. When it comes to a dog’s metaphorical vision, though, they do live in a world that is entirely black and white. You’ve probably known or met at least one person who seems to be hated by all dogs.

January 27, 2017 No Comments

Dog Psychology

Pack Leadership Technique 1: Project Calm, Assertive Energy

‘To dogs,’ says Cesar, ‘energy is everything.’ Because dogs communicate with energy, our personal energy plays a central role in our relationship with them. Dogs are our mirrors, reflecting back in their behavior the energy we express. If we are hyperactive and over-excited, our dogs will be the same; if we are tense and angry, our dogs will be anxious. Unlike humans, dogs will not follow unstable energy. They instinctually seek and follow pack leaders who exhibit calm and assertive energy. When dogs live with a human who does not fill this role, they will attempt to correct the pack

July 3, 2015 No Comments