13.05.2012 Start of Dog Walking CLASSES

Dog walking CLASSES

Since 1995 I have been teaching dog lovers on the Costa Blanca how to behave correctly with their pets.
Classes sometimes took place in my own training grounds but also in a bull ring, on a football field, in the garden of friends or on a cricket field.
During all those years I had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of dogs and showing their carers how to behave as pack leaders.
On Sunday 13.05.2012 I start with a new combination of dog walking and dog training CLASSES. Price per CLASS/walk will only be the modest sum of 5 €. You will be able to learn how to clearly communicate with your pet and at the same time discover how to walk with a pack of dogs.
I am looking forward to meet dog lovers who are hungry to learn more about their dogs than they ever thought was possible. While learning how to observe your dog, you will discover what this beautiful animal is really telling you with her/his body language.
Starting on 13.05.2012 we will meet every Sunday morning at 10.00 on the parking lot behind the library/social centre in Xaló/Jalón. The library is the smaller building adjacent to the much bigger complex of the sports centre, located at the entrance of the village arriving from Lliber. As both are located alongside the river Xaló/Jalón we can easily combine exercising with walking in a traffic free area.

See you there.

Kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener.
Listen. Learn. Lead
http://www.brunodogs.co.za
brunoswalkscaminatas.blogspot.com
690 19 29 76

Is your dog bouncing off the walls?

For many years I have been reading the newsletters written by the American vet Dr.Becker.
The newsletter I read today dealt with what dog carers call "symptoms of hyperactivity" of their pets. However, upon closer inspection most of these symptoms are the result of breed characteristics, conditioned behavior, lack of appropriate physical and mental stimulation, or a combination.

I invite you to read the article on:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/03/14/clinical-hyperactivity-in-pet-canines.aspx

Enjoy.

Kindest regards from Bruno

Ego in black and white

In the Goju Ryu - dojo of Lilian and Elias Kattan in Durbanville I had a very interesting experience.
I sent the following email about my experience to Sensei Lilian.

Dear Lilian,

Not only the kobudo class but also the karate class of last Monday was
very interesting for me.
For the first time I was allowed to participate in a kumite exercise
in your class.
The first part was with two kyu's and the last part was with a dan.
I remember how you explained we were only to go for that part of the
body situated between the neck and the belt.
Standing in front of the dan, I looked into his eyes.
In the dojos of Miguel Gomez/Antonio Escoda/Paco Feliu, but also
during all the processes in the ManKindProject I have been trained to
do that.
In the Spanish dojos I was told to hold the stare of the other student
and read the person standing in front of me.
Maestro Miguel Gomez told me that what we are aiming for is that in
the end we will be able to read the other person by simply looking at
her/his feet.
In the ManKindProject we learn how to read our own reflections and
projections in the eyes of the other man.
Looking into someone's eyes is of course something we are not taught to do in our Western society as many people consider it to be a threat.

Standing in front of the dan I immediately picked up a mixture of
defiance and insecurity.
That is of course only my personal perception and my personal interpretation.
When we started the exercise I was amazed to notice that I could touch
the chest of the dan who was my sparring partner.
Until all of a sudden he knocked me down, touching me with his foot on my chin.
Doing that he ignored what you had asked us to do, i.e. only touch the
area between our neck and our belt.
In Spain I liked to do kumite with men who are younger, faster,
stronger and more agile that I am, because that offered me the perfect
opportunity to learn.
That is exactly what the dan in your class has offered me.
I was not experienced enough nor fast enough to see his foot coming.
Following the kick and falling down I have not felt any pain nor discomfort.
It was a great lesson for me and a very interesting experience.

(The lesson for me was that I had been carried away by my Ego as I wanted to make it clear to the black belt that I was more than a white belt. He from his side decided to ignore the instructions of the Sensei and show the white belt who could touch him that he was better than me. Both black belt and white belt came under the influence of our Ego. I still have to learn that I have to be in control of my Ego under all circumstances.)

Herunder you can read the letter I received from Sensei Lilian.

Bruno hi,

People come and go and enrich our lives in many ways.
It has been good to know you for the short time.
What you see here with us is what we are.

We try to pass on our philosophy, not easy for every one to accept in
practice. What always encourages us is that we know people come here for us,
not so much for our system. I suppose it is a package deal! We very rarely
experience any intentional disruption of "harmony" amongst our members.
Always so important to keep in mind is what internal problems people carry with
themselves into the dojo ~ many come here for the chance to let go.

It is a great pity that you will miss the opportunity to practice with our
guest Kobudo instructor in April. He will be here weekend 14/15 April.
If you need to adjust your travel plans, keep this in mind.

Of course we will keep in touch, no matter where you travel.

Regards,
Lilian and Elias

Thich Nat Hanh

Remember how many times I spoke to you about walking with dogs?
Remember how many times I wrote and spoke about walking with dogs while being silent?
Over the years walking with dogs became for me a sacred activity.
They do not speak with words but I fully understand them.
Walking silently offers me, without effort, the possibility to get in touch with my inner self, with the dogs and with the whole universe.

A Buddhist monk called Thich Nat Hahn has discovered the same. It is not the first time I am writing about him. Thousands of people are walking with him in silence. This turns the walk into a meditation.
If you do that, your dogs will immediately pick up the difference in your energy.

MKP-brother Simon Winkle sent me the following quote:

“There is no walk for peace. Peace is the walk.
By walking,we generate peace within our body, our consciousness.
We embrace and heal the pain, the sorrow, the fear in us,
and that is the ground for helping peace to be a reality in
the world.” -

Thich Nhat Hanh

Baboons

A rather "normal" traffic sign on the Cape Peninsula.
I took the picture after an early morning walk with Lupa in Tokai, a wealthy Southern Suburb of Cape Town alongside Orpen Road, close to the Steenberg Golf Estate. Do not think this is something like the open plains of the wilderness where wild animals live. It is a very affluent area full of palatial houses of wild Capetonians, golf estates, shopping centres and parking lots with very expensive cars.
For the baboons, life is becoming less and less easy as humans are encroaching more and more on their habitat. I read in a local paper that there are plans to "protect" the palatial villas against the baboons by means of a multi-million Rand fence, separating animals and "civilisation".
On the Groot Constantia wine estate I have met Baboons several times. From a distance of about 5 m I could see how they were eating the grains of the wheat, planted on an area where old vines had been oprooted. Neither Lupa nor me felt that the baboons were dangerous.
I rather found it a privilege that I was able to meet and observe wild animals.
I loved it.

Dog Running Zone

Dog Running Zone
Having finished my class at DARG I drove to the beach in Hout Bay. I had never walked there and wanted to put my feet in the cold water of the ocean, before heading for Dario’s coffee shop. Although it was a Saturday morning, the beach was almost empty. Enjoying the cool water around my ankles, the warmth of the sun, the light breeze and the view of the mountains all around me, I arrived at a spot where I saw a sign on my left hand side. I’m always interested in the information written on these signs. Coming closer I saw the text: Dog Running Zone.
Shaking my head I thought about how completely different this was from Spain. Over there sharks called “developers” have poured concrete over every Spanish beach and a bit later came laws prohibiting everyone to walk with dogs on the sandy leftovers. Over here I have never seen a beach full of high rise buildings, tourist trap restaurants, bars and shops selling Chinese junk. And now I had discovered the Hout Bay beach with a “Dog Running Zone”. In Muizenberg, on the other side of the mountains, there is a sign on the beach inviting people walking with dogs to do it before 9 a.m. or after 6 p.m. What a difference with Spain!
Teaching in DARG has offered me the opportunity to clearly experience the distance between two totally different kinds of dog loving people. In the many green belts where the wealthy Capetonians walk with their dogs I meet many confident, fast walking, friendly, assertive people with up to 8 (eight) dogs off leash. They do not wait for their dogs. They seldom call them. They walk and the clear message for the dogs is “Hey, pay attention to me”. The dogs understand that clear message and follow the leaders. In these surroundings of the green belts I have never witnessed a fight between dogs. For that reason I started calling the Alphen Trail the “Alpha Trail” as all the walkers I meet there walk like Alpha leaders of their pack. They certainly do not need someone like me to teach them how to walk their dogs.
The other category of dog lovers are the many female volunteers who walk the dogs on the DARG estate. I see how the dogs of the charity pull them along all over the grounds. When the dogs stop, they stop and wait too. When the dogs jump up, they praise them by stroking them and speaking to them with baby talk. In these female volunteers I see no confidence, no calm assertive energy. In their faces, voices and in their body language I clearly see how they want to give love. Why? Because they themselves need love.
During the meetings with DARG’s president, she had asked me if I would admit her volunteers for free in my classes. I agreed. But both the president and I had made an assumption. The assumption was that the volunteers would be interested in learning how to walk a dog properly. What happened when I started teaching? Only a few of the volunteers attended my classes once or twice and then disappeared. Walking over the DARG estate I had distributed business cards, inviting the female volunteers who did not attend my classes to send me an e-mail message, enabling me to send them my free weekly letters. Not one of them sent me an e-mail. The message was clear for me: They do not want to learn how to walk a dog. They only want to love the dogs. I suppose that loving the dogs the way they do it has a therapeutic effect on them, which of course is very good. Making the assumption that they also want to learn something in my classes was my mistake.

Black Belt Chances of Success

Dear Friends,

Being a student of martial arts is constantly offering me important tools for my personal development. To give you one example: Moving to Cape Town I became a student in the school for martial arts in Kenilworth. Having already obtained 11 different belts in other "dojos" I was nevertheless invited to start here as a white belt. This was (and is) for me quite a lesson in humility. During the ritual that precedes every training we all say together:

"I will be humble, peaceful and honourable. I will strive to be a better person. I will respect all human beings. I will not injure or harm others. I will not be too proud or modest. I will practice with earnest and patience and apply these principles in my daily life."

Today the sensei sent me the picture you can see above about the chances of success.
If you read the text and think about it, you will see how these "chances of success" are not only applicable for those who are striving to become a black belt. They are true for everything we do in our daily life.
Also in our daily life with our beloved pets.

Love and blessings from Brunothedoglistener