Sometimes it is Good to Stay in the Box

One of the first things you teach in tracking is to get the dog to have a positive human scent. This is done with food. You want the dog to think, “Ah, I smell human scent, that means I get food.” There are different ways to teach this, but we used scent boxes. To create a scent box, you pace out an approximately one yard square in nice lush grass and mark it with surveyor flags. Then, drag your feet from side to side until all the grass in the square has come in contact with your feet. Then, use some really tasty treats randomly spread through the square. You create three scent boxes for each training session.

Once you have waited about 10 minutes for your scent that is lingering in the air to settle, you lead the dog to the square and give him the command to search. “Such” pronounced “Sook”. The dog will smell the food and happily run around the square eating. If the dog strays out, you wait patiently for him to find his way back, but if he strays too far you need to pull him back in and give him the search command again. Just before he gets bored with the square, you move him on to the next one. Repeat with the remaining two and finish for the day. You continue to work in scent boxes until the dog realizes that he only gets the reward of food where your scent is on the ground. He will sniff the ground up to the edge of the scent box then stop and turn around. He knows that it is futile to step outside the box because there is no reward there.

It occurs to me that this is much like being “in God’s will”. God has a plan set out for each of our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” And Hebrews 13:21 says “Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” He lays out our scent box for us. Through the practice of daily Bible reading and prayer, we understand what that plan is. We learn that when we stay in that plan there is the reward of peace and contentment. When we wonder out, our master is patient but sometimes allows circumstances to bring us back on track. It has also been my experience that just before I get board with what I am doing, God provides a new “scent box” challenge for me to learn and to grow.