Smart Dog, Dumb Dog

Smart Dog, Dumb Dog

They say you should always let the dog choose you.  We didn't.  We chose our dog.  She is the strangest most stubborn animal I have ever come across. We got our dog from a rescue agency.  I felt nervous because the agency even did a house visit to make sure we were fit to be dog owners.  I cleaned the fish tank and watered the plants the day before.

We passed the agency test and the next weekend we had a new dog.  Enter Hubble.  

From the beginning Hubble hated being alone.  When we left she found her way out of the cage by propping it up on the coffee table, sliding the bottom tray out, and maneuvering out of the holes that the bottom tray had previously covered.   Despite the dumbbell weights we put around the base of the cage,  we would often come home to find she had moved the cage (with her still in it) into other rooms of the house.  She shredded shoes, clothes, and paper.  She hunted and swallowed 3 mice whole from our backyard.  She pulled our entire king size duvet through a tiny hole in her cage only to perch on top of it as if to show us she was king of the mountain.   

We talked to dog experts, watched The Dog Whisperer religiously, read books, and enrolled ourselves in dog school.  After instigating fights with other dogs, barely listening, and at times completely turning her back to me as we were working through the 'sit/stay' routine, it was declared that Hubble was last in class. One teacher in her most annoyed to be working with Hubble voice said something that has stuck with me: 

"That dog is very smart.  I'd take a dumb dog over a smart dog anytime, any day. Smart dogs think for themselves, they don't listen as well, and they challenge.  Dumb dogs accept you as alpha and listen."

Hmmm... 

Maybe that's true for people too.  God didn't make us dumb.  Maybe part of being human is struggle because we have thoughts and don't always listen well.  We have our own way.  Sometimes I just turn my back on God even when God's giving me direction.  And sometimes that direction feels hard.  There are days that I just want a treat and to roll in the grass.  But I guess that's the struggle: the decision to listen when you feel differently.  This process is like a 12-step plan and I'm taking it one day at a time.  So I'm working on more listening and less grass rolling for today.