THE DOG WHISPERER

I suppose just about everybody has seen this TV show on the National Geographic channel. Cesar Millan, who rehabilitates dogs and trains owners, says that the three things a dog needs are discipline, exercise, and affection. It’s the simplest discussion I’ve ever heard of a dog’s needs and also the most effective one I’ve ever heard. But one day last month, I got to thinking how this simple formula might work for humans, too. People are currently going to Hell in a handbasket, and what’s the major culprit? Why, TV, of course! People are becoming sedentary, gaining weight, getting deeply depressed, and craving more sleep. Could that be because TV does not provide exercise, discipline or affection?

I remember one episode of THE DOG WHISPERER in which a woman was walking her dog that had been out of control, and the dog was doing fine, but the woman was acting as if the dog was about to go back into his negative behavior any second. Cesar told her, "If you live in the past, you get what the past gives you. Live in the now." Dogs are not as complicated as humans. They tend to get screwed up only if humans complicate their lives.

Professional football players know this. You see it every day, when a defensive lineman beats an offensive player off the ball and sacks the quarterback. Then, on the very next play, the defensive player gets "pancaked" by an offensive lineman. Each moment in a good football game is unique. It’s the stuff life is made of. And if you think about it, NOW is all we can change, so, in a sense, it’s all we have. And that mentality is the nutshell of professional sports. Case in point: Mike Singletary, interim coach of the San Francisco Forty-niners, who was asked by reporters about his season, a tough one in which he had to deal with a whole plethora of football woes. He said, "I don’t interpret anything as...really good or really bad. I think the most important thing is that I just continue to stay focused." Evidently, dogs and Mike Singletary understand this living in the now thing better than most of us.

But what is it that goes on in most people’s lives? Instead of focusing on better health, they focus on superficial things. Like losing that weight so you can look good in a swim suit. And, of course, losing the weight in the quickest way possible. It’s no wonder there are so many weight loss fads out there, and people are giving up on weight loss every day. So what’s the alternative? I say it is exercise, discipline and affection, the same as for dogs. It’s a simple formula, but that doesn’t mean it is easy, or that it will happen in the shake of St. Bernard’s tail.

I went to the doctor for semi-annual check-up the other day, and discovered that I lost ten pounds since my last check-up. That satisfies me. But the thing I need most in my efforts to get healthy is positive feedback from other humans. Not quite the "affection" we ascribe to what dogs need, but the communicating together about our successes, minimizing the effect of our failures, and living in the now.

In future blog postings, I will discuss with you the role of failure in an exercise and nutrition program, and I will also share actual conversations from a "today, on the trail to better health" thread on an actual Internet forum. This constant feedback, this "affection" if you will, completes the triad for humans.