The Sitting Tree

As many of you (what a paradox that is) may know I am a student of Tom Brown Jr’s Tracker School, and I have learned a lot of amazing things there about nature, our role on this Earth and about our spirituality.

Well, Tom Brown III is Tom Brown Jr’s son, and head instructor at the Tracker School, and he recently put out a blog, and even though he is listed as a friend here I wanted to write an entry specifically to tell you guys about the blog. Why? Because well, after reading the second entry I realize how Grandfather’s wisdom is reaching out through so many very different channels. From the music of Joe Paulik to Tommy’s new blog to me expressing in real-time to friends, family and even strangers (in some cases) my continued astonishment at just how relevant Grandfather’s philosophies are to so many different things that have absolutely nothing to do with tracking, survival or awareness.

Definitely worth reading and bookmarking on your RSS reader:

4 Directions ~ 4 Elements

Check it out!

ps: Those two new blogs are still coming. I have a name for the dog community, and possibly for the tracking blog as well, which may end up being a blog about tracking, or a community like the dog one for tracking, or just for dirt time in general. I’m not sure at this point.

I was reading an article stating to avoid Cesar Millan’s techniques called “Cesar Millan - A Quick Fix” and suddenly a light bulb went off. Just like the diet industry does with dieting, they are perpetuating the idea that Cesar’s goal is to provide a quick fix for the behavioral problems.

They are thinking of it in terms of dog training. Where you teach a dog to sit and then the dog knows how to sit for the rest of his life.

Just like a diet, you do not employ Cesar’s methods for one day, it is a lifestyle change, and one that is very beneficial for you and your dog.

Stay tuned here because I’m going to set up a couple blogs soon that will be getting regularly updated. One will be a blog for the rehab of my dog Lady, which will chronicle my daily life with her of being calm and assertive and techniques I use to combat certain behaviors or teach her how to do certain things. I have tried several things and have realized the truth that not all techniques work for all dogs. Hearing this and experiencing it is different, and when you have that experience that you find a technique that works for YOUR dog, it is such a wonderful feeling of empowerment.

The second blog will be dedicated to my tracking adventures. I may make it a community where people can set up blogs to document their tracking adventures as well, and even share track drawings, however, I am not 100% sure how I want to do this or how far I want to go with it.

Please feel free to comment on either of these blog ideas. They are both definitely going to happeand I’d love to hear feedback from anyone who still reads this blog.

I recently have been introduced to Cesar Millan, who is better known as the host of the National Geographic show The Dog Whisperer. At first I was somewhat skeptical mostly because I hadn’t heard of him and it was just a co-worker telling me of his methods, but after reading some web pages about how to take care of your dog, with lessons taken straight from Millan, I decided to order the Mastering Leadership DVD box set.

I didn’t find anything cruel about his methods. None of them actually harm the animals, and if you think that his methods “upset the dogs” then you are also asserting that you have some kind of empathic ability to read the dog’s emotions. After only using his methods on one walk, the change in my dog’s behavior was a night and day difference. Now people will argue and say that the changes are only temporary because it’s an easy rebuttal. See, it’s difficult to see into the future, and thus impossible for anyone to really be able to combat that argument. I’m not saying this is their intention, but it is definitely the outcome.

Cesar Millan says that it’s the people that need the training, not the dogs. He is right on so many levels, except that he is committing a generalization here because not all humans are completely ignorant of Mother Nature, although, regrettably, most are. Let me talk about the different arguments I have seen the past couple days against Mr. Millan’s methods: (more…)

I now (as of yesterday) hold a plane ticket to St. Croix in late March. One of the instructors at the Tracker School is taking ten people in two separate groups on a six-day semi-survival adventure in the wilderness of St. Croix. I am going to be getting lost on an uninhabited part of a not-so-deserted island.

Why do they say getting stranded on a desert(ed) island anyway? How do they know the island was once inhabited? And most of these islands are in no way deserts but tropical paradises. Weird.

So far all I know is that the first three days will be spent on learning about the ecosystem of the island– The plant life, and, of course, the animal life. We will be making fish hooks and fish spears, and also going snorkeling. We will be camped somewhat close to the ocean. The final three days will be spent venturing further out into the wilderness, and doing some caretaking as well as honing our survival skills.

The reference to Lost above are due to my astonishment at their determination to get off the island. (also with Cast Away, etc.) I personally would love to be stranded on an uninhabited island and would never want to return to society.