How to Walk Your Dog | Cesar Millan & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Mastering The Dog Walk

00:00Many people listening don't know how to walk their dog. Yeah. I'll ask a very simple question first. Should the dog always be next to you or behind you? Uh is there ever an instance where the dog should walk out in front of you? And as I say this, we both realize many people walk with their dog in front of them.

00:16So uh could you tell us about the concept of where the dog is relative to Well, think about it. Look at it this way. So people uh can can uh uh adopt the the concept quicker because the if you learn how to walk a dog um it would eliminate 90% of the problems.

00:33The other 10% will be rules bound limitations right that's it. Um so when a dog is a pup he follows his parents right and then he plays then he explore but the first activity he learns is to follow play play explore. So play and explore becomes like a reward activities.

00:52That's the Chuck-e-Cheese time. Right. Right. And and so the follow is the one they learn, you know, the rules, boundaries, limitations. They learn to to stay focused and not get distracted. So naturally dogs they need to learn to follow. When they go in front of you, they are in the mind of a player explorer.

01:13But at the same time, if you do this every day, the dog learn that you he has to lead you two places. And is that stressful for the dog? If a dog is middle of the pack and back of the pack, yes. If a dog is front of the pack, no. You see it?

01:27And so very important. In order for people to have a front of the pack dog, they need a lot of knowledge. And so most dogs are perfect uh middles or back. The back should be the easiest one. But when people don't do the right thing with the back, he becomes fearful.

01:43Uh the middle of the pack should be the one for the families because they're naturally happy golucky. But if you do too much excitement, they become hyper. You see it? And this is across breeds. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is doesn't matter if it's a bulldog or a, you know, and every litter is front of the pack, middle of the pack, back of the pack.

02:00But it's more back of the packs being born like followers than it's only one per litter, a litter of the pack. So that's what they call in the in the breeder world pick of the litter. See it? So in a litter of German shepherds, only one it can be a police officers.

02:16The other one is pet quality or they call him the run of the litter. Back of the pack sensitive middle of the pack happy golucky is the HR of the fam of the pack. The middle of the pack, right? And then the front of the pack is the one that gives direction protection.

02:29Should you wait for your dog to get up? What if you have to go to work? Should you force your dog to wake up and walk?

Draining Energy Through Routine

02:34I certainly would. They're they're daytime animals. So the biologist definitely as soon as the sun comes up, they they should go, you know, they should go. This is what we do with strummer. Even though bulldog I mean they'll sleep till 10:00 a.m.

02:46but um we we have to work so we take them no take care of it. It's easier. It's actually better, right? Cuz he's like I got to but then you drain the energy quicker. Yeah. It's way better because you want them to stay waiting for you in a resting state.

03:00So it's five body motions the animals do. They stretch as soon as they wake up, right? Walk, run, rest, sleep. So a lot of times when you don't walk the dog or run the dog and you want the dog to wait for you, he can't go into a resting state.

03:14You see it? So it's very important that we follow the the five body motions because every single animal as soon as they wake up, they stretch. The bird flies, right? And the the dog walks and and and the rest of the animals, the the the water animals, they swim, right?

03:28So there is a um a a formula that they have. So if we want them to wait for us, we have to leave them in a resting state and they just that's the meaning of waiting state. That's it, right? But they can't wait or rest if the body and the mind has not been drained.

03:47And another another reason why the walk is so important because the walk is is the only activity from play and explore that gives them calm surrender. Play and explore gives them an excited energy. Do you recommend walking them on the same path, novel path?

04:01um giving them new in the beginning. Yes. Then the the the same path is important. They create you know trust to the environment but once they they they know it very well you have to change it. Mhm. Yeah. And and you don't have to change like even going on in a different direction you can just come outside and put food in the floor and tempt the dog to want to smell and correct them.

04:22So that creates a challenge. You see? So you learn to ignore food in the floor and you see it. So you start creating your own Universal Studios. So your whole house or your whole environment becomes your own dog psychology center where you're challenging your dog, you know, to uh to not get bored because they learn a pattern really fast and once they learn it, there is no growth.

04:43So then then the mind gets also frustrated, bore or confused because there's no growth. I love it. I train stmer to run on the

Treadmill Training Techniques

04:53treadmill. Yeah. For little rewards here and there, intermittent reinforcement. And he loves it. He runs now. He jumps on. He gets on that thing. Uh, it never occurred to me to do this, but I realized that we're in California, it doesn't rain too often, but even when it rains, I want to have something where I can get his energy out.

05:09If it there's fires again, I want to be outside of course. Anyway, um, so glad to hear that the treadmill is is okay. You know, the first treadmill I saw, remember the show The Jetsons? Yeah. Without Jetson. Yeah, that was the first dog I ever seen on a treadmill and I was a kid.

05:22Then I come to America and I see a whole bunch of treadmills, [laughter] you know, and in people's garage and I say, "Did you ever put your dog on a treadmill?" I said, "No. Can you put a dog on the treadmill?" I learned that by watching the Jetsons.

05:35Oh, very cool. Then I came and practiced it in America because people just had the treadmill, but they were not using it. Wow. You know, so that's when I started putting dogs on a treadmill and people were just fascinated. But I said, "Listen, this is not for you to stay lazy.

05:48This is just for emergencies, okay? and for you to challenge the mind and and and you know and and that's it. But it's not it's not so you don't walk. Yeah. I do a walk with him then bring him back and then if he still has a lot of energy and I have to go I get him going fast on an incline.

06:06Yep. Get him right to his threshold and then play with it a little bit. We're done. Like we I've been trying to share this thing with him like we this is our thing and now he [clears throat] he loves the treadmill. He we dying to get on the treadmill.

06:16If people become more like personal trainers, they will challenge the dogs a lot more like a personal trainer. You see, so they will be able to, you know, challenge the mind and challenge the body. Challenge the mind, challenge the body. It's a personal trainer, right?

06:29And but but people don't do it, you know, they don't do this other uh titles, right? I'm just want to be a dog lover or the mom of this dog or the father of this dog. Yeah, you can also be a coach. You can also be a religious coach, you know what I mean?

06:43Or spiritual coach, uh intellectual coach. I mean, don't forget that it's four worlds. It's not just the emotional world, and that's the only one you want to practice because that's the easiest one, right? To love a dog is so easy, you know, to challenge him, you know, spiritually and instinctually and and intellectually, that's it requires creativity.

07:05Yeah, that's a great relationship with Yeah, it's awesome. It's good for you. Yeah. Because if the dog is doing great, that means you did great. So, it's a reflection of you, right? The dog is a reflection of you, your energy, your philosophy, your actions.

07:16So every time you work out with a dog, you're working out with yourself. It's just in a natural, simple, profound way. That's it. You know, which is about trust, respect, love, safe, peace, love, body, mind, heart. Just simple stuff, right?

07:30And that creates the off leash. That that [clears throat] is, you know, the ultimate we should all accomplish. And you shouldn't pay for it, right? I'm not trying to get my, you know, colleagues, the dog trainers, uh, not to get jobs, but it's it's um, it's kind of silly that you hire somebody to teach your dog off leash.

07:49You earn that. That's something we have to earn. It's good for us to earn, you know, that that trust, that respect, that love. It's good. It's it's a good exercise, a good workout. That means you use your spirit, your instinct, your heart, and your mind every single day of life.

08:05That's why that dog behaves that way. You see, they keep you on track, just to live a natural, simple, profound life. And when you're having a hard time in life, that's where you want to go. To your natural, simple, profound. You know, never let this one go.

08:18So to have a good relationship with a dog is automatically let you have a good relationship with God. They're together.

Weighted Backpack Recommendations

08:26We're the only one that separates them. What is your recommendation? I realize it varies by breed and by age. two minimum 30 minute walks per day as as much as a couple hours twice a day with a backpack on right obviously the dog is a little older because you know the backpack adds that extra half hour cuz now the dog is carrying something so a weighted backpack yes and how should one assess like percentage of body weight of the dog like in the beginning you can just put a backpack cuz they're psychologically you know they don't want to wear anything you know nothing that we put on them

08:55they want to wear it you know a leash a collar a muzzle a boots doesn't matter doesn't matter soy Psychologically that drains them, right? Because they got to get used to it. So you you walk until the dog comes surrender to it and then you take it off and then the mind will become very drained.

09:11Once the dog gets used to it and then you start putting weight you can start with five pounds. Remember every time you add something you challenge the mind and the goal is simply for the mind to surrender. You see it and and then the body the body is going to become calm because it's wasting energy.

09:26So your job literally every day with a dog is to empty the tank. Empty the tank, you know, cuz a tired dog is never going to give you problems. [music]