Who’s in Control?

I recently had the opportunity to attend the regional SchH competition for our area. It was a really neat experience to see so many great dog and handler teams. As I watched the dogs perform, I was struck with the idea that most of these dogs were no better than mine as far as their capabilities. Bison could run as fast, jump as high, and obey as well. The main difference is that these dogs had better handlers. People with years and years of experience who had trained them from the time they were 8 weeks old or even earlier. The handlers are the ones who made the dogs as spectacular and as useful as they were. The best dogs on the field were the ones that were the most yielded to their handler. The worst dogs were the ones who tried to do their own thing. One dog was even disqualified for being “disobedient”.

It is the same way with the Christian life. We all have potential, but what makes us useful is our “handler”, God. The more we are yielded to him the better off we are. It is when we try to do our own thing, when we are disobedient, then we lose.

Romans 6:16- “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

1 Corinthians 6:20- “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

2 Timothy 2:20 – 21 “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.“

Change the Message

I recently received some feedback on my handling and it was difficult to hear. I was told that I was not clearly communicating and was inconsistent. My first reaction was “no I’m not”, but I really respect the person who gave the feedback and decided that even though it was disconcerting, I needed to take it to heart. About the same time, someone else suggested that I video tape my training sessions in order to get a better understanding of what was happening.

My husband taped Bison and I and it was pretty telling to watch. It was exactly as my friend described, my tone was not clear and consistent. From an observer’s viewpoint, it was easy for me to see how this affected Bison negatively. I realized that I was so focused on what was going on with me, how I was holding the leash, how fast I was walking, and what I was going to do next that I didn’t concentrate on the viewpoint that Bison was seeing. What he saw was the leash fidgeting, the poorly executed commands, the unsure posture... all things that send a mixed message to him. I am determined to change the message.

It is easy to draw a parallel to another area in my life that I am also working on. That is the message that I am sending with my life. Being a caregiver for an ill spouse, it is easy to focus on the doctor appointments, the set backs, the grind of trying to put in a honest day at work while wanting to be home, fretting about the housework piling up and the dismay at how tired out I feel. What I realized though is that I still need to concentrate on the viewpoint that the outside world is seeing. In my heart, I want so badly to be a good testimony. I want others to see how good God is even in the midst of a trial. How He gives me strength when I think I can’t go on any more, and how He sends so many blessings through it all. When I focus on self, the Savior can not show through. I am sending a mixed message. Just like watching the video, I have started to really see myself and not liking what I see. I am determined to change the message.

As a first step in changing my focus, my husband, Lester, and I have taken on a challenge. We determined that every morning, afternoon, and evening we will each think of something for which we are thankful. This activity is based on Psalm 92:1 – 2, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,” and Psalm 55:16 - 17 “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud : and he shall hear my voice.”

Reader, won’t you join us in this challenge?

Getting the Junk Out

We had an “incident” at agility class recently. About half way through the class, Bison became very distracted. He wasn’t listening to my commands, was pacing, and just generally not acting normal. The instructor and I both thought that it might be the heat. I also thought that maybe he wasn’t feeling well since he refused food that morning.

We always end class with a mini run of the obstacles with which we worked that that class. When it was Bison’s turn, he ran the first half, but when it was time to go over the A-frame, he refused. This was rather puzzling. This is normally his best obstacle because it is also used in Schutzhund. I gave him the command at least three times and tried to run up to the frame with him. He just kept pacing, then all the sudden he stopped and pooped right there on the course. I probably don’t need to explain what a huge “no, no” this is. Done in competition, it will disqualify the dog completely. I was very embarrassed. The piles left by a large GSD (German Shepherd Dog) are serious stuff. It pretty much ended the class.

As I drove home, absolutely mortified, I was reminded of a portion of a recent sermon. The preacher talked about all the junk that we put in our lives and how that can prevents us from serving God. The things that we watch, listen to, and read that are dishonoring to God and His principles cause our hearts to be distracted from the tasks that we need to accomplish for Him. I actually chuckled out loud at the similarity. Just like Bison needing to get the (Ahem) “junk” out of him to be able to focus, we need to get the junk out of our lives too.

James 4:7-9 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Finding the Right Discipline

I originally learned purely positive dog training. This means that there are never negative consequences for the dog other than withholding reward. Some trainers even shun the idea of a negative verbal response. This strategy works well as you teach new things, but when perfecting a command, a negative consequence is important to help the dog understand where his boundaries are. For many dogs a “NO” command is enough to set a boundary and make it clear. For Bison, when he is in drive, a “NO” is not enough. I struggled with how to communicate a negative consequence to help him understand when he offers behaviors that are unacceptable. Finally a few weeks ago, our club president taught me how to give a correct collar correction using a pinch training collar. I have been using a training collar for years, but didn’t know how to use it properly. It only took a couple of corrections before the boundary was very clear to him and he stopped the undesired behavior. It is amazing what a little correctly administered discipline can do.

I can’t help but compare this to a situation that my friend went through a few years ago with her son. We were talking and she expressed the discipline issues that she was having with him. I said something like, “I don’t have children, but I do know that there is a Biblical plan for discipline.” She tells me now that comment stirred her to find out what the Bible says to do. She got some Godly advice from a pastor who shared with her the correct way to discipline and saw a huge improvement in her son. What she tried for years wasn’t working, but Biblical discipline made the boundaries clear to him.

The following verses refer to discipline.
Proverbs 22:15- Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Proverbs 23:13- Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Proverbs 13:24- He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

True Obedience (Rally Trial- Part 2)

As mentioned in the previous post, we recently entered a Rally Obedience event. In one of the trials, Bison obeyed every command but chewed on his dangling leash through the entire run. It was a way to let off his drive, blow nervous energy. His obedience was only on the outside, it wasn’t in his heart. Though he technically followed the rules, it wasn’t TRUE obedience.

This was the second lesson that I learned from our first Rally experience. Obedience that doesn’t come from the heart is not true obedience. I think of the beginning of Psalm 119 (below) which talks about following God’s law from the heart. Yet, so many times we go through the motions. We go to church, say our prayers, read our token chapters of the Bible, but never let it reach our heart. Like Bison, our efforts to follow the “rules” fall short of TRUE obedience. Instead, as the passage describes, we need to seek him with our whole heart.

Psalm 119:1 – 11“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Going Through Trials (Rally Trial- Part 1)

Bison and I participated in our first UKC Rally Obedience event recently. Some of my club members were going to compete and invited us along. We haven’t trained specifically for Rally, but the commands are very similar to what we are working on for SchH. After looking through the requirements, I decided to give it a try. It looked fun and I figured that it could only help with some of the distraction problems we have been working on.

I went into the event not even ever seeing a Rally course before. I didn’t think we could qualify (receive a passing score without any disqualifying errors), but we qualified for 2 out of 4 trials we entered. Most importantly, going through the trials helped me see what we really need to work on, both with the ones that we passed and the ones that we didn’t pass. I have a list of things to train on before we go to the next trial.

It is the same with trials that we go through in our lives. Psalm 119:71 says “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” When we go through tough times, we learn about ourselves. Even when we fail, we learn what we need to work on and with training in God’s Word, so we can be ready to pass the next trial.

Looking in the Mirror

To work on Bison’s previously mentioned klutziness and jumping problem, we enrolled in an agility class. The class is at a club that we have never trained with before. The first night, Bison was very distracted in general with the new place, new instructor, new dogs... One distraction though became a lesson to me.

The club has a few places where they have placed mirrors on the wall. They are about 18 inches by 4 feet tall. Each time we walked by the mirror, Bison stopped to look at himself in the mirror. The first couple of times he did it, it was cute like he was saying, “Who’s that handsome guy”. But after five or six times, it was annoying. It was to the point that he wasn’t able to do the obstacles because he was so focused on himself.

It hit me that I am like that sometimes too. I focus so much on myself that the obstacles of life trip me up. This concept reminds me of an acrostic for “Joy” that I learned as a child, Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. This is based on Matthew 22:36-40 “ Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Focus on loving God first of all, then others, then yourself. When in times of trouble it is very easy to reverse that and just like Bison, focus so much on myself that the rest of the world just stops. Its time to put away the mirror.