Viva Cesar Millan!

I have recently discovered The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan.  I know he has been on the air for several years, but we recently upgraded our TV programming.  So that we can receive certain college football games and as a result, we now get The Dog Whisperer.

Cesar is awesome!  Love him!  I like how he is straightforward and tells people how it is.  He doesn’t beat around the bush.  He kind of reminds me of me J.  But I’m not nearly as personable as he is, nor as talented with dogs.  He is amazing how he reads dogs and can tell what they’re going to do before they do it. He truly has a remarkable gift.

Cesar says dogs are predictable, humans aren’t.  When someone tells him their dog is not predictable, he politely disagrees.

He has so many great quotes – which I tried to find to put on this blog, but none of the really great quotes were online.  Cesar has said some very wise things.

I like how he tries to relate people’s personal experiences to their dogs.  He’s really good at that.

Some things I’ve learned from Cesar:

To be a good pack leader, you must be calm and assertive.

A good balanced dog is calm and submissive.

Dogs read humans energy and will mirror it.  If you’re anxious, they will become anxious.

Dogs will not follow an unstable pack leader.  If you are not calm and assertive the dog will assume pack leader position.

Dogs do not follow weak energy and will attack weak energy.  That’s nature.

A balanced dog will correct an unbalanced dog.  Usually through biting or touching with their mouth.

A balanced dog must have exercise, discipline, affection.  In that order.

Never give affection to a dog who is not calm and submissive.  Whatever state the dog is in – excited, anxious, aggressive, fearful, dominant, etc. will be exacerbated by giving affection in that state.  This creates an unbalanced dog.  No dog wants to be unbalanced – humans create unbalanced dogs by humanizing them  And by giving affection at the wrong time.

Do not humanize your dog!  Dogs are not humans.  They are animals first, then dogs, then breed, and lastly personality (individual, name)

Dogs don’t rationalize, like humans. They don’t understand when they are scared, for example, and you say, “It’s okay, you’re okay” and give affection – all they know is you are reinforcing their behavior (fear).  And their brain becomes more unstable and not balanced.

Dogs need rules, boundaries, and limitations to be balanced.

Claim your space.  Claim the door, claim the couch, claim your human, etc.  Do not let the dog come into your space, i.e. jump on your lap, without being invited.

When you first greet a dog – no touch, no talk, no eye contact! Let the dog smell you first.  When the dog walks away after smelling you, then you can greet the dog.

 In the dog world it is polite to smell first.  So when a dog smells you, they are being polite.  Dogs do not want to be greeted until they have had a chance to introduce themselves through smell. Especially don’t pat the dog on the top of his head until he smells you. That shows dominance over him.  If it is a fearful dog pet him under the chin first.

Dogs sense first smell, then sight, then hearing.  Nose, eyes, ears.

Cesar says dogs are like men, they can only do one thing at a time.  This is why walking is important in creating balance. If you walk the dog properly, they will only focus on following the pack leader.

Never let the dog walk in front of you.  Pack leader is always first.  Never leave the house with the dog, unless he is in a calm submissive state.  If you leave the house for a walk with an excited dog, he will never reach a calm submissive state during the walk.

Dogs live in the present.  Whatever bad things have happened to them in the past is behind them.  So don’t feel sorry for what has happened to them in the past.  That just portrays weak energy and will not only not help the dog, but will create unbalance. 

I’m sure there are more things I’ve forgotten but that’s a good start.  I think a lot of what Cesar says is applicable to humans as well.  Since humans are also pack animals.

In rehabilitating dogs and training people Cesar has done much good, not only for dogs, but also for the humans.  It is really the humans who must change if they want to change their dog’s behavior. An unstable dog is really a reflection of an unstable human. So, in reality, I think Cesar is more of a human psychologist as he practices dog psychology.

Cesar is remarkable man, and I would like to think that we would be good friends.  If he doesn’t receive the gospel in this life, I want to be one of the missionaries to teach him in the next life!

That’s my two cents.

Relief Society Lesson -- Be Ye Converted

Be Ye Converted

Bonnie L. Oscarson

Young Women General President

October 2013 General Conference

Conversion to gospel principles comes through righteously living the principles of the gospel and being true to our covenants with the Lord.

We live in perilous times, and the decisions which you are called upon to make on a daily, or even hourly, basis have eternal consequences.

It is possible to have a testimony of the gospel without living it. Being truly converted means we are acting upon what we believe …

Conversion is a process, not an event. It takes time, effort, and work.

“If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”--John 7:17

“I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.”—Ether 12:6

In our world where instant gratification is the expectation, we are often guilty of expecting the reward without having to work for it.

I believe Moroni is telling us that we must do the work first and exercise faith by living the gospel, and then we will receive the witness that it is true.

True conversion occurs as you continue to act upon the doctrines you know are true and keep the commandments, day after day, month after month.

Desire to share the gospel with others and the confidence to testify boldly are natural results of true conversion.

“When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” – Luke 22:32

A person who has experienced true conversion draws upon the power of the Atonement and receives salvation for his or her own soul, then reaches out to exert a powerful influence upon all those who know him or her.

Living the gospel and standing in holy places is not always easy or comfortable, but I testify that it is worth it!

Chicken Canning

We planned on canning chicken on Friday. Mom and Dad left early to go get the chicken which was on sale for $1.39 per pound at cash and carry. It comes in 40 pound boxes for $55.60 per box. Boneless skinless chicken breasts. So they bought two boxes and came home where Lisa and Derrinda were going to do all the work in cutting them up and putting them in jars.

Unfortunately, they were frozen solid. Usually we get them from Zaycon where they are fresh, not frozen. We didn’t know they would be frozen when we planned it. So needless to say they had to thaw first and could not be processed on Friday.

So, Mom ended up doing all 80 pounds of chicken on Saturday. Great job Mom! We yielded 59 pints and the scraps were fried up for the dogs so they have yummy treats and nothing was wasted.

Just a reminder in case anyone wants to can chicken. Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes --place in pint canning jars leaving 1 inch of head space. Top with lids. Pressure cook at 11 pounds for 75 minutes for pints or 90 minutes for quarts.

The chicken is very moist and tender and great for making easy casseroles, chicken salad sandwiches, topping pizza, etc.

Pressure Canned Meatloaf

I have been wanting to try canning meatloaf for a while now. So I finally talked mom into it and we bought two 10 pound chubs of ground beef that was on sale at cash and carry for $19.90 each. We basically just used our own recipe – kind of made it up as we went along. We did get a couple of ideas from others recipes. Which was probably a bad idea.

We were only going to do one batch in the pressure cooker. But we ended up doing two full batches with enough left over for dinner. 16 pints per batch for a total of 32 pints.

We tried one pint for dinner the other night. Mom and Dad both didn’t like it. I thought it was good except a little salty perhaps.

Anyway I’m going to include the recipe we used and a few pictures. I did read that maybe the onions don’t taste well after being pressure cooked. So if you try it, you might want to omit the onions and cut the salt in half from what we used. Also we don’t usually put sage in our meat loaf but thought we would try it. So I would probably omit that also.

Anyway it was a fun experiment. All of the bottles sealed well. Here is the recipe and pictures:

Pressure Canned Meat Loaf

 

Ingredients:

10 pounds ground beef (80/20)

9 eggs

3 cups ketchup

½ loaf French bread crumbed in food processor

¼ cup worcestershire sauce

¼ cup salt

2 tablespoons powdered smoke

2 tablespoons sage

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion salt

1 tablespoon pepper

2 onions diced (red)

1½ cups brown sugar

 

Directions:

Mix together well. Put in wide mouth pint jars, removing air bubbles, leaving 1 inch head space. Pressure can at 11 pounds pressure for 75 minutes. Yields approximately 16 pints.