Obedience training - not just for dogs

Training has begun. Not for a job, not for a tournament…oddly enough, training has begun for my pups. As it turns out, I think they turned the tables on me this time. Allow me to explain.

I have two dogs – a Border Collie and a German Shepherd Hound Mix. Schafer is 6 and Ava is about 3. I’ve had Schafer since 2007 and he had some obedience training. Ava, on the other hand, has little to no obedience training – she is a good dog though. Lately, I’ve been noticing some idiosyncrasies with the both of them. Schafer isn’t coming when he is supposed to, though after a few calls, he comes. Ava, when off leash, just does her own thing and comes when she wants to. She’s also extremely hyper when we come home, or when we pull out the leash. She gets so excited that her tail moves her whole body. Whenever you go to pet her, she just about dies with excitement and can’t wait to kiss you all over. If you’re petting someone else, she will butt right in for pets. Schafer lately has been growling at dogs when we meet them on the street. He’s not being aggressive, but I realized he’s picking up on me and how I react to dogs. He also gets fixated with toys and sometimes I’m afraid that if a small child were to try and play with him, he would play like normal and be too strong for the child. Since we don’t have kids (yet), I can’t really warm either of them up to kids and have them get used to kids on a regular basis. All of these things got me thinking – I need to start a training program.

So, last night, I started reading Cesar Milan’s book about dogs and it was extremely insightful and helpful. I couldn’t put it down. Yesterday and today, I started implementing some of his tips and tricks. It’s only been a matter of hours, but already, I can see signs of improvement. Here are some of the things I’ve been implementing:

1    -  Feeding time: They already know to wait before diving ino their kibble. I’ve now been running my hand into their kibble, while they’re eating so that they know, that Mom is their Alpha.

2    -   Going outside: Yes, it’s tedious and time consuming, but I have them sit before I even open the door. Once I open it, I step outside first, then they follow. This shows them that they are following me, I’m the pack leader (Not to mention it stops the stampede from the ‘who’s going to get outside first rush’)

3   -  Me. They react to my emotions both good and bad. If I am in a bad mood, they will pick up on it, especially Schafer. So yesterday and today, I’ve really worked at keeping a calm, even mood around them. If Ava gets jumpy, I walk away and ignore her. If I’m petting Schafer as a reward for being calm and she gets pushy, I ignore her until she calms down, then I pet her. But through all if it, I am trying to remain as calm as assertive as possible.

These are only a few things I will be implementing in my dogs’ life and structure. They need it – they’re not humans. We can’t treat them as such, even though I love them dearly.

Another thing this training has brought to mind is perhaps how God deals with us sometimes. You see, when we’re given free reign, no boundaries, we either don’t know what to do and get overwhelmed and get bouncy (like Ava) or, we just go our own way with sometimes no consideration for others (Schafer at times). What I’ve begun to realize is that, perhaps, we are in “in training” as well. I look at some of my behaviors and realize that there are things I should modify. Maybe how I act, or how I speak to a specific person. Then I think that maybe God is training me as well. When Schafer or Ava do something wrong, like kick up grass after relieving themselves, they get a collar correction. It’s a tug on the collar, not enough to hurt, with verbal command they associate with “That was wrong”. Eventually, they get it and they don’t do that behavior anymore.  I wonder sometimes if God has been collar correcting me and I haven’t noticed. There are times when I will tell Ava to sit and she doesn’t. She just looks at me. Then, maybe after the 3^rd time, she will do it. It takes so much effort to not get frustrated, angry and stomp off in a huff. That behavior does me no good and it certainly doesn’t do my animals any good. I can’t imagine what it must be like for us as humans to simply tell God no. I know I’ve done it – when there been that little tug in my spirit to do something and I choose not to. It’s also funny to liken Ava’s behavior with ours sometimes. She can get so impatient for that walk or that affection that she pushes and pushes to get it. When this happens I ignore her – I have to. I can’t praise that behavior because she will continue it and will probably get worse. When she has calmed down, I will then give her the affection she so desires. Maybe that’s how God is with us. When we want something SO badly, we jump up and down, do circles, push our way in, to make sure God knows what we want. But He already knows. Maybe he’s waiting for us to calm down (surrender) before we receive it.  Being a Dog Mom is a 24/7 job. It can be tiring. It is a responsibility and yet I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I set out yesterday to train them, to bring about the good behavior that I know resides somewhere in all that fluff. The funny thing is, I think at the end of it, I will also be receiving training from my Alpha and Omega. 

Moving Right Along

I've realized that a lot of my blog posts are titled with something that reminds me of a time in my childhood. This particular title is from "The Muppet Movie". It's a song Kermit and Fozzy sing as they're in their Studebaker, driving in pursuit of a dream. Not only is the song now stuck in my head, but it represents this particular time of life I am in.
Having grown up in Maryland my entire life, the only time I have ever really been anywhere was when I traveled to Germany for a week. It was, no doubt, one of the best experiences of my life and I can't wait to go back. However, another opportunity awaits on the horizon. Without jumping the gun, I'll put it this way - we are most likely moving to Hawaii.

Hawaii.

A place people wait for years to go see. And I could very well become a resident in 3 month.

The thought is so exciting and yet petrifying as well. I have never lived outside of the state of Maryland and this would definitely be pushing the limits. Heck, it's not even within the continental US! I realize it's not a different country, but my goodness, what an amazing experience. Not to mention, I will (prayerfully!!) be joining my big sister once again. I can only imagine that this is a God thing. And God thing are so cool.

So, as of right now, Josh is set to leave in the May time frame and I'm all set to go on June 28th.The reason I can't go until June is because we wanted to get our animals through the prework as it is extensive to get into Hawai'i.

But this changes so much. We leave behind our family, our church, our Judo and Jiu Jistu academies...and so much more. (One of the plus sides is that there's already a "when we are going to visit Catherine Sign-Up Sheet" going around)   :) But I also realize that this is "the norm" for a military family and that's what we will be. I knew what I was signing up for when I said "yes". In a way, I almost feel as if God has prepared me for this. See, Mandy (my big sister) moved to HI in 2009 after we had only been working together about a year. But the bond that grew has stuck and I have missed her greatly. To be able to be close to her again makes my heart leap and sing with happiness. I've also applied to the University of Hawaii and I (think??) I have been accepted. Once there, I will continue my Judo, Jiu Jitsu and my academic pursuit. What I'm most excited about is that I'm not going by myself (although there's absolutely nothing wrong with that). I will be going with my hubby-to-be and I can't think of a better place to begin our married life!

Musings for a Rainy Day

I love my house. I really do. It’s got plenty of space for all of my clutter and square feet upon square feet for my dogs to roughhouse. It sits on a hill in a pretty neighborhood. The neighborhood is still being developed and you can affirm this fact by the sounds of Mack trucks and their diesel engines struggling to drive up that big first hill at 6am on a Saturday morning. But I love my house because it is a safe haven for me. A Place of comfort. A shelter in a storm. I trust that when those winds blow that the engineering that was put into the construction of the house will stand tried and true. And it does.

                How did the construction crew know where to build this house? How did they know that this land was good and solid? Well, someone had to come check it out first. And if you couldn’t tell, I’m taking another ordinary life situation and applying it to the Christian walk. I like to do that, you know, finding parables in this life. I find that it helps me to understand what it means to be a Christian. Anyway, going back to building a house.  I’ve never built one but we did have a project similar to that in Engineering 101. We had to design a laboratory for testing detectors. When I first hear that, I immediately thought “We have to design what to do what??”. Truthfully, the project became clearer as we were halfway through it, but I accomplished the task. We were given a set of requirements and based on those requirements we set out to design this laboratory. We went through different scenarios such as where to build, how far away from the next major city, what kind of land, what kind of materials etc. We had to analyze each part because even in small ways, it could have had a negative effect on our building (hypothetically speaking). What I realized, is that we don’t necessarily realize where we have to put our trust when we become Christians. I may have mentioned this a while back in a post titled “Where is your hope built” but I think it’s good to reinforce this time and time again. As Christians, we realize that our hope and trust needs to be in Jesus. But what does this really mean. You see, when life is good, when things are going our way and it seems like blessings from heaven are just falling like lemon drops and gum drops, it is “easy” to be a Christian. Sure, Trusting Jesus is NO problem if life is like this! But what happens when those lemon drops and gum drops feel like they’ve turned to acid rain? What if it feels like there no escaping the torrent of hail and wind storms that life brings? What happens to your faith then? Does it shake? Does it shatter? This brings me back to the foundation example. Our faith, our trust MUST be rooted in Christ, during good times and bad. When the storms of life strip away our shingles, our sidings, even the contents of ourselves, what is it that will remain standing? The foundation? Or nothing? Sometimes we have to go through trials of fire to reveal our true character. To refine our faith and sharpen our minds.

                When I was in school, one of my subjects was Bible Memory – and I hated that part. Not the Bible, but memorizing bible verses. Let’s face it – I can memorize stupid facts. I can tell you what the gravitational acceleration of a falling body is, I can tell you why oil is liquid at room temperature and why butter is solid at room temperature and so on. What is hard for me to do is memorize stuff that’s really important…like things for school…things that have a grade attached to it. Bible Memory was one. I remember one of my assignments was Proverbs 4. I had some verses memorized and they were completely in the wrong order. See, we memorized 4 verses at a time and recited them at the end of the week. Week 1 was verses 1-4, week 2 was verses 1-8, week 3 was verses 1-12 – you get the idea.then came the week where I had to recite all 28 verses. And it was just. Not. Happening. So my friend who would come over to our house to school while her mom was at work, sat with me and we went through the whole thing verse by verse. Well, I ended up recited it perfectly to my mom and I still remember it today. I guess where I’m going with that is that committing those verses to memory has paid off more than I ever could have imagined. See, when we know stuff, we are able to recall it when we need it (Academic tests are a WAY different story). Same thing with verses. When we are going through a situation, good or bad, we are able to recall verses to mind and hopefully, it helps direct our thoughts. It keeps our minds with a heavenly perspective and doesn't allow the Devil to wear us down. Hebrews 4 says “The Word of God is living and Active, sharper than any double edged sword”

So going back to the house analogy  but where is your foundation built? I know where mine should be but sometimes it takes a few humps along the way to remember that it’s not in my power, strength or self that my foundation is. Being a Christian is a 25/7/365 experience. And I am guilty of making it a “when I need it” experience. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ takes time and commitment just like any other relationship. If there’s one thing God’s been pressing on my heart lately, it’s my lack of being in the Word. I need to be in the Word continually. That way, when my own storms threaten on the horizon, I’m ready.