God's Teachers

One thing that I've learned from training dogs and working with animals in general is that animals are amazing teachers.  I used to joke that Harley, my first dog I trained, taught me how to speak.  I was incredibly shy as a teenager and I was thrown into a beginner basic obedience class with a 6 month old puppy.  I had planned to take an advanced obedience class and stop there unless I could get into an off-leash class.  After Harley and I had finished the basic class, we asked to be put into the advanced class but there wasn't any room.  We were suggested to take a Rally Obedience class instead.  I started to really love training and we kept taking classes after classes.  I began to feel more confident and my self esteem finally reached a normal point.  I often wonder what would have happened if there was space in that advanced obedience class.  Would we have went on to other classes anyway?  Or would we have stopped because we had completed our goal?  

Either way, Harley had helped me gain so much that I was missing.  As the years went by, I started competing in different events.  He helped give me the confidence to go up in front of people in competing and other endeavors.  As a 10th grader in high school, I had to take a class on public speaking.  I was still shy but did every single speech on something to do with dogs.  By the end of class, I was considered one of the better public speakers even though I was also thought of as the crazy dog girl.  During my high school years, he also was my partner in a regional contest with FFA  (an organization to help teach high school kids about agriculture and animals as well as providing constructive activities and contests for them to be involved in) where myself and two other people presented a lecture on animal first aid.  Each time I was in front of people with him, I was just experiencing something with my best friend.

Eventually, I wanted another dog.  Liam came into my life in December of 2007.  Again, he has provided me with knowledge that I could never learn from any human.  He helped me in finding a love for animal behavior.  His issues were extreme but we worked through them.  As we did, I became more and more familiar with a training theory that has shaped my ideas and beliefs on interacting with animals as a whole.  I had to listen to him and was not able to use any punishment/corrective based training with him.  He did not trust people at first and I could have easily lost that trust if I had used corrections.  I remember when my friend was showing me a shaping exercise.  He wouldn't even look her in the eye.  Now, he has worked very hard and gives me the most beautiful eye contact.  I will always treasure the moments when he looks me straight in the eyes with a look full of affection and trust.

Both Liam and Harley have taught me valuable lessons.  I could go on and on about what I've learned.  Everything from training methods to experiencing energy to self-confidence to respect would be included in that list.  I lost Harley not too long ago.  Even through his passing, I have learned so much.  I continue to learn from his life.  I've made a lot of mistakes but my dogs have helped me learn from them.

I have even learned from animals who are not my own.  Stray cats and some chickens in Italy helped me stay sane when I wasn't able to live among animals as I wanted.  Birillo, an Italian mutt, helped share a bond with me that I will never forget.  He helped me through a time in which I had become deeply depressed from missing my own dogs.  My friend's dogs have comforted me when I've needed it most.  They also have provided me with great teachings.  One of my best friends will always be a little lab mix.  She will forever be in my heart.  She helped me learn how to handle a dog in agility and provided me with a strong and powerful relationship like no other.  Just like with my own dogs, when I worked with her, the world would disappeared.  My best agility run is still a CPE jumpers run that her and I ran together.  I will always consider animals a wonderful blessing in my life, especially such special animals that I have had the pleasure to know.

They have also given me support in a way that I could never have expected.  My cats have provided me with companionship during a very lonely time in my life.  They show me love and affection while also giving me some good laughs daily.  Liam has accompanied me on some hard journeys.  He even came with me and sat next to me as I awaited my fiance' to get off his flight.  He calmed me in that moment while the plane was delayed.  Harley had always been sensitive towards emotions and feelings.  He was very good at understanding.  I hadn't realized this until the end of his life.  Near the end, he had to have surgery.  I sat in my parent's living room with him while I was talking to my fiance' on the phone.  I was on the couch as he laid on his dog bed on the floor.  I started crying as I told my fiance' about the surgery.  Harley stood up, came over to the couch, jumped up next to me even though he was full of stitches and gave me his paw as he licked my face.  I gave him a big hug and cried even more.  He stayed with me until I stopped crying.  Then he went back to his bed and laid down to rest. 

I truly believe that God gave us animals to learn from.  All we need to do is listen.  I believe that they are God's teachers.  They provide us with love and support when we are in need.  Some credit the animals themselves saying that they teach us and even talk to us beyond the grave.  But I cannot help but give credit to God.  He has blessed me with these animals and has given me the opportunity to learn from them.  Any inspiration I get from them comes from God.  I believe that He uses them to help us and to teach us.  I do thank the animals that have helped me.  But the true credit goes to the Lord who has made it possible for me to experience what animals have to offer.

My friend and I often speak of a sign we saw that read "You get the dog you deserve".  Both of us disagree with this saying.  There are a few reasons I disagree with this.  One is from an instructor standpoint.  It can make a student feel very negative.  But my main reason is that I don't know how I could ever deserve such a wonderful gift.  I did nothing special to deserve such an amazing relationship with the animals who have blessed my life.  Yes, some moments were very difficult.  It was hard to deal with a very reactive border collie when I had no clue what I was doing.  But that border collie never gave up.  He pushed forward and helped me do the same.  It was hard as a shy girl to take Harley to training classes.  But he pushed me to do so.  It has also been hard to accept some of my mistakes.  I didn't always listen to the dogs the way I should have.  But the same dogs who I didn't listen to, helped me learn from those mistakes.  

I don't feel like I've deserved any of the gifts that God has given me.  I wish I could go on TV as if I had won a Grammy and thank each and every one of the animals who I have been blessed with knowing.   But I certainly should credit God first for such wonderful relationships and teachings.  He has used animals as well as my beloved family to help me grow in a way that I could have never imagined.  Without Him, I wouldn't have had such a wonderful opportunity.