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Today I want to talk to you about karatedogs.

Five years ago I started practicing karate. Very soon I discovered it was one of the most difficult techniques I had ever practiced. The literal translation of Kara Te is Empty Hand. Our master at the local school of martial arts belongs to the Shito Ryu tradition. He constantly reminds us that traditional karate is not to be confused with sports like football, track and field or cycling. He likes to stress that karate is an art; a martila art. A student of traditional karate learns to use her/his body and mind as an artist. The masterpiece of this karate student is her/his life. If you are a football player, you very often have to retire as a pro, as soon as you reach 35 years of age. As a student in martial arts you can continue to practice until you die. If you are 8 or even 80 years old, you can without any problem start studying as a student of traditional karate.

Under the influence of westernized karate, many schools in the U.S. and in Europe have developed other trends than Shito Ryu  whereby competitions, championships and titles became important. As a martial art the traditional Shito Ryu karate has been developed by the people of the island of Okinawa. As soon as their island was conquered and occupied by Japan they were not allowed to carry or even own weapons. No wonder they invented ways of defending themselves with empty hands. As discovery by the occupational forces had to be avoided they kept these techniques secret until after World War II.

The basic rules of the traditional Shito Ryu karate are as follows.

- Whenever you can, avoid to be in a dangerous situation.

- If you are in a dangerous situation look for a possibility to avoid confrontation.

- Only if you are being attacked, you can defend yourself.

- When you defend yourself, do it in such a way that you do not needlessly harm your opponent.

- The best way to win a fight is not to fight.

A student of martial arts has to study the forms that are called kata’s. The student will start to understand the real meaning of a kata as soon as (s)he has repeated all its movements at least 10.000 times. It is important to know that a kata always begins with a defensive movement. It never starts with a punch. The punch always comes after you have defended yourself against an attack.

As a student of martial arts I start to see similarities between what I practice and the way dogs behave.

What I see is of course my own personal interpretation converted into my own personal opinion. In comparison to the average dog owner I do not deal with a few dogs in my life. Every week I am doing one-to-ones with several clients and every Sunday I have the privilege of walking with a large pack.

The more I observe dogs and the more I study traditional karate the more I am seeing dogs behaving like students of traditional karate.

Let’s make the comparison with the five basic above mentioned rules.

-Whenever they can, dogs will avoid a dangerous situation. Their ancestors do the same in the wild. Hunting or travelling wolves will notice they are approaching the territory of another pack.  Having sensed the presence of the other pack they will then avoid contact by leaving the area.

- On my walks in the wooded mountains I very often meet abandoned dogs. It goes without saying that I walk my dogs off leash. Whenever I see an abandoned dog (s)he will disappear as soon as I come too close. My dogs will not chase these semi-wild dogs and so they’ll avoid confrontation.

- When do dogs come too close to other dogs? Of course when they are on the leash. Thousands of dog owners have told me their dogs are aggressive. I tend to disagree. It is my opinion that these dogs on the leash are not aggressive but DEFENSIVE. According to me they will pull on the leash, bark, jump and lash out in order to make something clear to approaching dogs: do not come too close because my owner leaves me in charge of the situation. Many dog owners tell me that their dogs ATTACK other dogs. When I ask for details of the attack these owners have to admit their dogs did not bite the approaching dogs and that there were no injuries on both sides. I make the comparison with the FIGHTS I have with my fellow students. We are being trained to block, kick, punch and lash out without hurting each other. I am asking myself: Are we fighting like dogs or are dogs fighting like karate students?

- If a dog is off leash it has a free choice to take an adequate decision in every dangerous situation. (S)he can for instance freeze, fight or flee. If a dog is driven into a corner it will lash out, bite and possibly run off. Certainly when it is an anxious dog or a dog on a chain. As a professional doglistener I know that a dog will behave differently if an anxious, nervous, crying, shouting owner is present or not. You might have seen the episode wherein my famous colleague Cesar Milan deals with a so called aggressive dog. He was only willing to work with the dog on condition that the anxious owner left the room. The influence of the behaviour of the owner is of the utmost importance as far as the behaviour of her/his dog is concerned. Wolves will have skirmishes in a pack but they will avoid hurting each other. If they would not do that, the pack would soon not be able to hunt successfully as all its members would be wounded.

- In the walking pack I can see every Sunday how dogs treat a newcomer. Using their body language they will test the new dog and make it clear where their and her/his positions are in the pack. Talking (without words) with their tails, ears, eyes, noses, hairs and paws they will avoid fights. Certainly when there are enough stable dogs and stable owners in the pack whose strong energy will create good vibes. This morning we had more than 30 dogs in the walking pack. A lady joined us for the first time and she was afraid to let her young dog run off leash. I talked to her and she was brave enough to take off the extended lead she was using for her dog. At the end of the two hour walk she was very glad to have taken my advice.

Yes, I really do think that dogs are superior students in traditional karate.

One day I want to be as good as a dog.

Kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener.

Stable dogs have stable owners.

Unstable dogs have unstable owners.

Stable dogs are happy dogs.

Happy dogs have happy owners.

www.brunodogs.com

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