I’ve written about our dogs a few times. I can’t remember what I’ve said about how Sasha, our old, blind dog, was getting

along with Sadie, our new young, energetic dog. Some of you know that initially it wasn’t going well. Sasha’s inability to give or respond to the appropriate dominance cues meant that Sadie was confused and frustrated. Attempts to play were seen as threatening actions, which garnered snaps and snarls. Once there were a few spats we had months of vigilance to ensure that they didn’t fight. When they did fight, the large, young, sighted, strong dog would always win. Sasha lived in fear and for awhile we weren’t sure what we would do.

But, with consistent training for Sadie, things like time-outs in her crate when she got aggressive, or being very clear that Sasha was dominant in terms of eating and being allowed free roam, Sadie finally got it. (We tried to wear her out, but she has A LOT of energy. I have run her for four miles and she only really relaxes for about 30 minutes when we get home – then it’s back to high energy Sadie!) Sometime about a month ago we realized Sadie wasn’t trying to attack Sasha anymore. Instead she has learned that Sasha is no threat at all. She will try to play with her, and even with Sasha doesn’t respond playfully, Sadie restrains herself from attacking. It’s a nice change. Now, however, we’re thinking of a third younger dog to keep the second dog happy – the dog we got to keep the first dog happy. In theory, it could work. We’ve heard from a couple of folks in the same boat with the same challenge, and both of them had a good outcome.

Sadie has turned out to be a good dog after all, although she still has a few habits that have been hard to break. One of them is counter surfing. On one occasion she managed to jump completely up onto the counter in her search for food. We couldn’t figure out how to break her of the habit until we decided to purchase a training collar. While this collar can deliver a static shock, we keep the rubber covers on the posts and only use the vibration setting. It has worked wonders in a very short period of time.

Sometimes I wish I had a vibrating collar with someone besides me holding the remote (don’t get any ideas, Donna…).

It’s clear reminder, without being painful, that I’m doing or about to do something I really don’t want or shouldn’t do. BUZZZZZ. You don’t really want to finish that pizza. You’ll regret it in a few hours. BUZZZZZ. You don’t really want to do that workout routine – you’ll hurt for a week. BUZZZZZ. You really don’t want to answer that rhetorical question Donna just asked you. It really would be nice to have that little external reinforcement from time to time. I can actually manage to give myself timeouts, but the collar could have other uses.

I think a lot of us could use such devices, as long as we trusted the person on the other end of the button. I recently saw a graphic on Facebook that said, “You don’t have to accept every invitation to a fight.” Somewhere we have a book called, “Eat This, Not That.” Sometimes the grocery store has a sign, “Did you forget your bags,” as you enter the store. There are all sorts of preventative ways of doing the things we want to do, or not doing the things we don’t want to do, and yet we still struggle. We don’t have the little buzzing collars to help keep us in line. It’s actually a divine gift.

In this season of Lent we get to acknowledge all the times we fight with people we shouldn’t; all the times we counter surf the world we live in to get what we want; all the times we forget things we know we don’t want to forget. It’s the price we pay for going around collar free. In the end, I definitely think it’s worth it. The freedom is worth the risk we take in making mistakes with it. God thought so too. As you go through this season, remember, you don’t have a collar to zap you into line. And remember that you should be kind to yourself. You’re only human.

I don’t get angry with Sadie when she misbehaves – she’s just being a dog. I’m sure God sees us the same way. God may not like everything we do, but God knows we’re just being who we are. Maybe, eventually, one day we’ll learn. Some days we’re the blind one, stumbling around without the eyes to see the world as God intends it. Other days we’re the boisterous bouncing one, making things happen without really thinking it through. Either way, God loves us. Celebrate that with a special treat…the human kind…and only after your Lenten fast is up…but celebrate it nonetheless!

Tom+

Lord God Almighty, for no merit on our part you have brought us out of death into life, out of sorrow into joy: Put no end to your gifts, fulfill your marvelous acts in us, and grant to us who have been justified by faith the strength to preserver in that faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.