Let it Go

Author’s Note: In the last entry I talked about Bison having a great attitude, but lest anyone think he is perfect, today’s entry is about one of Bison’s challenges.

In SchH obedience and protection, dogs are trained in an excited state called drive. There are many methods, but a widely used and excepted method is “the game”, taught by world champion Ivan Balabanov. (See links list for more information) It would take several paragraphs to explain this method. In summary, the handler uses a toy like a ball or a tug to engage with the dog. The handler elevates the dog’s level of excitement by animating the toy, but not allowing the dog to capture it. The dog is then rewarded for correct behavior by allowing him/her to tug for, or win the toy.

I have to use a modified version of this method because, once in drive, Bison absolutely refuses to let go of the tug. When he latches on, all training has to stop until I can convince him to let go. I also have to spend hours training him to release the tug. Ultimately he has to learn that to get what he really wants, the opportunity to do more commands and to receive the reward of interacting with me, he has to let go.

Bison isn’t the only one with this problem. Many people are similar in that they are latched on to their past. They hold on so tightly that they can’t move forward. The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:12 – 16, “12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” If anyone had a reason to feel guilty and to hold on to the past, it was Paul. Prior to his conversion, he dedicated his life to persecuting Christians, causing many to be put to death. In this passage, he admits that he is not perfect but he has to forget the past and look toward the future. He urges other Christians to do the same.

Are you like Bison? Are you latching on so hard to the mistakes of the past that you can't receive the blessings of the future? Let it go.