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Lessons from a Pup

August 7, 2023 at 9:19 PM 4 comments

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Anyone who has been reading my blog for a bit knows that I love dogs. I can put up with cats, but I love dogs. I get them and the more intelligent the dog, the more I get them. In a previous post, I talked about our newly adopted dog, Scooby Doo. [1] If you haven’t read that and are so inclined, feel free to get you up to speed on this article.

I personally believe God created animals that humans ultimately domesticated and became pets to enhance our lives. I know some folks are not animal lovers. To each their own, but I believe they’re missing some wonderful blessings. Since adopting Scooby, we’ve learned a lot about him as he’s acclimating himself to us and us to him. I’m not sure what he went through for the first five months of his life before we adopted him, but I’m thinking not much of it was good at all except for the boy in his life and possibly the grandmother.

Imagine being dumped on a dirt road as a two or three month old puppy. You’re scared and in a strange place. Your mom, siblings and birth place are no longer around. You don’t know what to expect. You see a young boy and you run over to him. Fortunately, the boy takes you in, but his father is not enamored with the idea and sees you as a problem he didn’t want.

Even though the boy likes Scooby (and named him), the dad makes sure Scooby stays outside. This was during the cold, wet winter months when Scooby was apparently made to sleep outside, under the open patio cover, behind the barn. All day long, Scooby, the puppy wandered around waiting for his boy to return home. As puppies will do, his curiosity tended to get him into things and that resulted in him being pelted with sticks by Dad. So Scooby developed a healthy fear of Dad and strange men in general.

One of Scooby’s favorite spots.

The very first time I saw Scooby, I marveled at what an intelligent pup he appeared to be. I’d never seen a dog with the depth of expressions Scooby had on his face. It really struck me. We ultimately adopted him and he became part of our family and then, Scooby adopted me. He loves to lay near me or under my desk while I write blogs. Scooby always touches the person he is near. It seems like a must, often using our feet as his pillow. He is very affectionate, even with our other dog, Buster.

Not long ago, we went on vacation and we took both dogs. We always take our dogs because we just don’t like to leave them in a kennel. As we got ready to leave, we remembered Scooby had a fear of stairs. Oh he’d walk up a few porch steps, but when we took him to other people’s homes (with their invitation), and they had stairs that had walls on both sides going to a second story, he simply would not go up those stairs. Even though he saw his “brother” Buster go up those same stairs, he’d instead sit nervously at the bottom. You could see he wanted to go up but could not master the fear. Where did that come from? We have no idea. We can guess, but cannot know.

The problem was that on vacation, we had rented a house in PA, not far from where my wife’s sister lives (she is highly allergic to dogs and cats). The house is a two-story house with enclosed stairs. When we arrived, sure enough, Scooby would not go up the stairs to the bedrooms after entering through the kitchen downstairs. The only solution was to exit through the downstairs kitchen, go around to the exterior entrance on the second floor, where the ground and road was even with it (the driveway slanted down at a steep angle to the kitchen door). It was an old house, built in the early 1900’s into the side of a hill, but of course, updated and renovated nicely. It was comfortable.

It was a bit comical to end each day going out the downstairs kitchen door to walk Scooby up the steep drive to the second story back door, but we did it. In the morning, we would do the reverse to get Scooby down to the kitchen and living room.

On the way home from PA, we stayed with my nephew and his wife and kids in North Carolina. They also have a two-story house and we stayed in the basement area that had been converted into a very nice apartment. There was a walled in stairway that went up to the main part of the house from there and as you can guess, Scooby would not use it. So once again, we went out the back door into their back yard, walked up the long rock stairs to the upper area and then back into the house. It was interesting that Scooby only had a fear of an enclosed staircase. The outside patio rock stairs did not impact him one bit.

Over the time we were there, Scooby began to relax about the stairs inside the house from the basement to the upper area and he was finally able to go up the stairs, but not down. I can only guess that enclosed stairs were a bad memory for him. But we gave Scooby the accommodations and space he needed and he eventually got to the point of mastering stairs. We didn’t get angry or push him. We tried to cajole him with treats, but that didn’t work so we figured he’d get there when he got there and didn’t push.

One thing I’ve noticed about Scooby is that he is extremely intelligent and very sensitive. I’ve honestly never seen a dog this quick to learn and this attentive to people. He has gone from growling at people he doesn’t know (especially men), to wagging his tail when he sees strangers. He actually wants to go up to them but knowing that some folks don’t like dogs, we keep him at bay unless they ask us if they can pet him.

“Come on, let’s drive!”

Like our dog Buster, we’ve used the same trainer for Scooby. What was remarkable about Scooby is how quickly he learned. His recall is very good, his obedience is great and he instinctively seems to know what we mean when we tell him something as we point to the subject. For instance, when we say we are going for a drive, he immediately goes to one of our cars, looks at the door, jumps up a bit toward the handle and then looks back at us. If we are using the other car, we’ll say, “No, it’s the other car” and he will run to that car doing the same thing.

When we finally start our trip, Scooby has to be up toward the front checking out everything he can see, whereas Buster, an old hand at riding in the car makes himself comfortable curled up on the back seat.

So, what’s the point of all this? Is it simply to share or brag about Scooby, the dog the Lord clearly brought to us? Not really. The point is that as I watch and interact with Scooby, I’m reminded of our relationship with God. I mean that sincerely, not disrespectfully. There are lessons to be learned here.

Even when Scooby killed five of our chickens the first week we had him, though I was angry with him, I didn’t abuse him. I didn’t yell at him and I certainly didn’t hit him or throw him out of the house. I was not happy but I understood he was merely a puppy and to him, those chickens were little more than toys to be chased and played with. It was his nature and we’ve worked diligently to correct it, just as God works diligently with us to correct our problem areas, without castigating or berating us.

The other night, my wife and I took our dogs on our regular evening walk along our dirt road. As we walked, passing cows in fenced pastures on the left, I noticed two fawns up ahead to the right in an open field without a fence. I also noticed Scooby had not yet seen them. A few seconds later, he did see them and started to do what all dogs will do – he began moving quickly toward the two deer. I didn’t get angry at him. Instead I uttered the sound he learned from our trainer that tells him it is a no-no; “Uh uh!” It is loud enough for him to hear but it is not an angry noise. It simply tells him that he should stop what he’s doing.

I was struck by the struggle in him in this instance. He wanted to obey but he also wanted to chase those two fawns. He did stop moving forward and then stared at them. When I called him (with the “here!” command), he continued staring longingly at the two fawns, which by now, had disappeared into the woods. I said, “Scooby…here!” and he ultimately decided that it was more important to obey my command than run off and chase two fawns. He turned to me with almost a smile, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he literally bounded back toward my wife and me. He had decided it was better and more rewarding to obey and did that. He literally let go of the idea to chase those deer.

Scooby is ready at a moment’s notice to leave what he’s doing and follow me.

When I saw the struggle he went through and ultimately overcame, it reminded me that my relationship with God is often like that. There are times when I will be at a crossroads and I am simply to obey, choosing the direction He wants me to go in instead of what I might want. I might stare longingly for a brief moment as I consider my options, but in the end, I always need to do what He wants, so that I do not stray.

That night, Scooby proved he prefers doing what I want him to do rather than what he might want to do. When he comes to that fork in the road, he is willing to do what I tell him to do rather than follow his own animal instincts. That is an absolutely amazing dog, who clearly sees me as the Alpha Male and someone worthy of obeying. Is it because I have taken the time to love Scooby in how I treat him? He certainly doesn’t obey out of fear but out of desire. He continues to want to show me that he trusts my commands by doing what I ask him to do.

My goal as a Christian is to emulate that very same attitude where God is concerned. I want God to know that I know He literally owns me, that I am so grateful He gave His life for me and calls me His own. In return for that, though I may hesitate here and there, I need to ultimately obey Him, doing what He wants me to do at every turn and doing so with absolute gusto, bounding to Him with a smile on my face and love in my heart for Him.

[1] https://studygrowknowblog.com/2022/12/04/love-loyalty-and-perseverance/

Entry filed under: christianity, eternity, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation, second coming.