Further Thoughts About Discipline

I’ve been downloading Cesar Millan’s “Dog Whisperer” shows on Hulu and watching them on my computer. No, I don’t have a dog. But there’s a lot about Cesar’s philosophy that works for all of us.

Yesterday I saw an article about how some educators are applying his philosophy to helping teachers learn to create a calm atmosphere in the classroom.

Notice I did not equate discipline with punishment. Cesar teaches people to maintain a calm assertiveness within themselves, which will in turn allow others to be calm.

It’s interesting to watch people on his show who are having problems with their dogs. In some cases they do well except for one particular problem and just need to learn the right cues. In other cases, the animals are totally out of control. These are people who think discipline is a bad thing and they don’t like to do it because they “love” their dog. They don’t just need cues, they need to see themselves in an entirely different light.

Animals are accustomed to a hierarchy, even the ones who don’t live in herds or packs. If the people in the house don’t accept the role at the top, the animals will (often reluctantly) assume it themselves. Chaos ensues.

One of my favorite shows was about two Great Danes. They snarled and nipped at visitors. The owners said people would not come to their house anymore because of their “vicious” dogs.

Cesar walked into the house by himself. The huge dogs were in the living room, behind a flimsy 3 ft fence. They were barking and snarling, all right, but Cesar said, “They aren’t challenging that fence. They could walk right through it.” They were protecting the house because they thought they had to, and using the fence to keep strangers away from them. They seemed to be nervous that someone would call their bluff. I know the feeling. In 4th Grade, when the teacher went out for a smoke break (as they did in those days) I got left in charge because I was the tallest in the class. I hated it.

I follow the blog of one young lady who has lots of animals. She says it seems like they move in with her and lose their brains. She seems to be totally opposed to discipline, preferring to give the animals free choice in their behavior. Every day when I check her blog, I expect she might be writing from a hospital bed. Some of the animals are big enough to hurt her.

I can imagine what Cesar would say, that by refusing to accept herself as the leader, she has created chaos. The animals aren’t acting the way they want to, but they way they think they have to on a rudderless ship, and this makes them unhappy.

So, back to discipline. Do we hate to enforce it because we hated it when someone else forced it on us? Those were probably times when we didn’t see the big picture. You hated being told to pick up your socks (you’re not the boss of me!), but took for granted that boss would feed you and love you and keep you safe. Maybe animals are smarter than kids, they know and appreciate who supplies the good things, they don’t expect it as their “right.”

Cesar says you have to stop thinking about everything in terms of yourself, and learn what the animal needs. It needs to know you’re in charge so it can relax.

Some of you have dogs AND are teachers. Do you think this might work, teaching teachers how to exude calm assertiveness in the classroom to encourage more disciplined students?