What My Dog Taught Me Today

So I had some fried chicken last night and of course the dogs watched me eat every bite. I generally pull off the soft parts, that won’t hurt them and give it to them, but when I was finished the bones were still on the plate that I sat behind me on the couch table. Frankie, as usual, climbed up and approached the plate, so I said, “No,” and he sheepishly backed off. That was all I needed. He got the message, as did the other dogs, the contents of the plate, while smelling delicious was off limits. Later I went to refill my mug with another can of pop…

At one point in each of their lives, all of our dogs chewed shoes. They didn’t just chew the shoe. They would often drag it outside, in the middle of the night, so that if they didn’t manage to totally destroy the shoe, they forced the owner of the shoe to hunt it down and if they found it, wear a dew sodden shoe. By repetition our dogs eventually learn that the word, “NO!” meant they were either doing something wrong, or about to. And by observation I learned that if I didn’t tell then during or before they did the deed, they wouldn’t associate it with the deed. So,…

I never liked carrying big Bibles. Something small that could fit into my pocket always worked fine. I found a nice one that had the whole Bible and was shaped tall and thin to fit perfectly in my pocket. I used it for quite a while until one day I found it on the floor, chewed badly by Casey (our border collie we had back then). Sam was somewhere around 10 or 11, I believe, and asked why God would allow the Bible to be destroyed by a dog. I told him I didn’t know, but I was sure God had a good reason for doing it. I gave him…

I can understand their point. It’s water. It’s hardly as nasty a most stuff dogs put in their mouth. Most of the time it’s clean water. It’s the perfect position for medium to large dogs to drink from. And they’re obviously thinking, “If you don’t want me to drink from it, why do you let me lick your face right after I do it?” But, from our viewpoint…ieeoouuuuu! So, what is it that we do, that to God is the same a drinking from the toilet? What are the things that would seem perfectly harmless and normal to us, but disgusting and nasty to God? I would imagine that it…

There’s this social rule with dogs that you don’t display aggression, even subtle aggression, toward the pack leaders, and humans are the pack leaders. Pointing your ears at someone, for a dog, is a subtle form of aggression; and pulling your ears back is a sign of submission. So we’ll often have fun with our dogs when they are focused on one of us (humans) with their ears back. If I look away, they’ll raise their ears toward me, but as I turn back, they’ll lower their ears. It can be a fun game. I see the same thing in my life and in other people’s lives when we do…

Sandy, our chocolate lab, is now mature enough that we can trust her not only with an open door, but with an open gate. She wasn’t always that way. When she was younger she was like our smaller dogs and leapt at the chance to run out into forbidden territory. We take them on walks, so it’s not like they don’t get to see the neighborhood. They just want to see it free and unfettered, and have no idea how dangerous that can be. I let it remind me how boundaries and limits God sets up for me, that I may not understand, are there to protect me. We’ve had…

With our younger dogs there’s this rule we have to remind ourselves that they believe. If it’s on the floor, it’s a chew toy. We didn’t make the rule, they did, but we have to work to get them to understand it’s not a rule. They don’t seem to comprehend the importance of any object, whether it’s a pair of flip-flops, earphones, an electric cord, a crucial computer component that’s expensive and very hard to replace or a leg chair. If it’s on the floor, then it’s a chew toy. My wife and I were at WalMart a while back and she suggested we buy some chew toys for the…

One very frustrating thing about dogs is when they get out, they don’t want to come back. What makes it worse is if they can tell you’re angry, then they really don’t want to come back. So, in order to not have to chase them all over creation, you have to make them think you are happy. Dogs like it when you are happy. The easiest way I’ve found to not have to chase them is to sit down and call them. If you are sitting, it doesn’t look you are angry at them and they’ll more likely want you to pet them. When they come to be petted, you…

If you have a dog, then you know how they act when you are eating. Mine will stare at me, eyeballing each bite as it moves from the plate to my mouth. If I’m at the table, then seeing the food puts them out of a quick grab at anything that’s dropped, so they’ll wait under the table, rubbing my legs to let me know they are there. If I’m eating at the couch I’ll lay my plate down when I’m finished and one will head for it, offering to help clean it (for some reason Linda doesn’t want their help with this) and all I need to say is,…

Occasionally, depending on the dog, the weather, how interesting things are inside the house and some other criteria one or more of our dogs will find their way out of our fence. We will repair whatever hole they’ve discovered or created, but it will only be a matter of time before they do it again. Chloe is generally the main culprit and she almost always recruits one of the other small dogs to help her. They will get out, run around the neighborhood and if we aren’t home to gather them up we’ll get a call from a neighbor. There’s no way for us to explain to them how dangerous…