by Lee Charles Kelley

Created on: January 28, 2009

How to Manage Your Dog's Energy

The body of any animal has two basic energy systems. The nervous system (which includes the brain, the spinal cord, and all the neurons, axons, and dendrites), and the emotional system (limbic system, endocrine glands, sexual and sensory organs). Both types of energy are necessary. For instance you can obtain a great deal of knowledge about a person's internal organs through an MRI machine: a magnetic resonance imaging. But it doesn't work unless you plug it into the wall first.

So it turns out that most dogs who act out, bark too much, get into the garbage, don't get along with other dogs, or just generally "have too much energy," actually DO. They actually have too much electrical energy running through their bodies. And it seems to me that there are four basic ways to use, manage, control, and modulate your dog's natural energy in training.

First let's talk about the differences between electrical energy (neediness) and magnetism (desire).

We all have survival needs, and the survival instinct exists to ensure that we act to protect ourselves from danger, drink when we're thirsty, eat when we're hungry, etc., etc. Sometimes, however, we attach survival feelings to something unrelated to our actual survival needs. How many times do we tell ourselves that we "need" to get to work on time, or that we "need" a raise or a new car. Another example is the kid, like Ralphie in The Christmas Story, who thinks he'll die if he doesn't get the air rifle he wants for Christmas. When we attach needinesssurvival energyto non-essential things it screws us up, it puts stress on our bodies and actually makes us less efficient at getting what we really need. It also makes us feel unconnected from our co-workers, whocome onaren't going to kill us if we're late to work, or our bosses, who are not going to kill us, and it makes us feel like our parents "don't understand" us when they say it won't kill us to not get exactly what we want for Christmas.

But what do we say? "You don't understand! If I don't get it I'll die!"

Yet, here we are. We're all still alive.

On the other hand, when you have a strong desire for somethingand I mean pure desire, without any neediness attachedyou often feel a sense of steadiness and calm as if your desire has created a direct link between you and whatever it is you want so deeply. You are connected.

Desire is governed by the sex instinct; never mind the actual act of mating, the sex instinct governs the creative aspects

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