Follow the Leader leader leader :)

In my search for tips to train our little Chloe, I came upon several articles about how all dogs live in a social order, needing to feel like they're following their 'Alpha'. Failure to provide this type of environment leads your dog to feeling 'stressed' and destructive behaviour such as biting, digging, defiantly doing their business inside your home, etc as they attempt to make up for the lack in leadership.

We, as humans were created to be leaders in our own 'world'. There aren't just a few of us who are superior and destined  for it, but rather only those who recognize and act on the God-given ability to lead within them!

“Great leaders are also Great Followers.”

Like Chloe, we are all influenced by someone or something. We are not only leaders, but as this quote says, we are followers as well. 

Great leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Abraham Lincoln are all admired for their courage and boldness to stand and fight for what they believed in. However, they were all great followers of a Great Leader as well! In fact, the Greatest that ever lived and continues to live today!

But Jesus Himself, also was a Great Follower when He walked this earth. He was obedient all the way to His death and only did what His Heavenly Father told him to, despite His divinity.

We see His success as His legacy lives on over 2,000 years later today, He continues to replicate Himself, and His work continues to advance all over the world!

So as I am Chloe's 'Alpha', I along with you must ask myself 'Who' is mine? Do I recognize that I was created to Lead? But most of all,  Am I too a Great Follower?"

God speaks through puppies: "Get that out of your mouth!"

God speaks through puppies: "Get that out of your mouth!": "My new little vacuum cleaner walks around with her nose glued to the floor! She is really like a baby, every little thing that is on the fl..."

"Get that out of your mouth!"

My new little vacuum cleaner walks around with her nose glued to the floor! She is really like a baby, every little thing that is on the floor ends up in her mouth, and we have found that we have to be extra careful with things that are dropped or left around.

A little while ago, Chloe was doing her regular 'let's eat everything' thing and ended up chewing on a small open safety pin. I had never seen this pin before, and had no idea how she found it! But clearly Chloe didn't realize that the safety pin could hurt her, and that other things could be poisonous or fatal. All she knows is she wants to eat them.

How often do we take a similar approach to life? Swallowing everything we find thinking that it must be good for us. How often have we wished or prayed for things that we think would be very beneficial to us?

How many times have we thought that our seemingly unanswered prayers mean that God is just ignoring us? or that we are maybe not worth listening to? Perhaps some have been led to the conclusion that perhaps He does not exist.

What if the answer was sometimes simply 'No, that's not good for you', or 'Wait till you can handle it?' Our Creator knows us better than we know ourselves! He knows what we can handle, and furthermore, what is good for us, and what simply isn't!

Why is this important?

Because lots of the time, we don't know what we really need. 

Because more often than not, we think that we need what we really just want.

And mostly, because what we want can often destroy us and hurt others.

Chloe's First Night Home

So I can still remember Chloe's first night. Why? Because like a baby, she cried pretty much all through it!!

I remember John saying, "I didn't know that all this would be involved in having a puppy!"

However, he was very gracious and I marvelled at how he took charge and looked after starting that night!

She came home with just a blanket and some kibble & bits, and we weren't quite sure where to put her until we could get out the next day and find a crate. So, for the night a fairly deep box with a blanket would do. Or would it? Somehow, she figured out how to climb right out of it, and onto our bed!!

Then, we decided to put in a 3 foot tall laundry basket thinking, 'Surely, she can't get out of this, it's about 7 times her size in height!' And somehow, her fear I suppose gave her the courage or smarts, to figure out that she could claw and climb her way right out of it! And continue crying till we came for her!

At last, we discovered that anything lined in fabric would be too easy for her to work with, and we ended up taping up the flaps of the box to create higher walls to contain her for the night. And she was then forced to sleep alone. It sounds cruel to have left her all alone on her first night. It felt worse to have to listen to her cry all through it, but it had to be done so that she would learn to be stronger and get over her fear.

The reality was, there really was nothing around her that could hurt her, and we were very close still protecting her and loving her.

I thought of all the times that I, and others have shared of times we've all felt that we were going through some kind of pain alone. And how often God had seemed so quiet -  I thought He was far away.

And then I realize that He was always there, loving and patiently waiting for us to grow up :)

Chloe's first day Home

We (my husband, John & I) had been discussing getting a puppy for the past few years, but our busy schedules and past few moves had not made this the best decision for us at the time.

However, 5 years into our marriage, we are now at a place in our lives where we would have the privilege of working from home the majority of the time, and be able to devote the time needed to nurture and train a puppy. No, we do not have children yet, but Chloe has been good training so to speak.

She arrived a few days earlier than my birthday from John, and was sitting at my doorstep with a card around her neck! It was the cutest thing ever, and her stillness made me believe she was a little stuffed animal, until she moved ever so slightly, and I shrieked! I imagine, she must have been as startled as I was! I didn't suspect this surprise at all, despite all our talks about it in the past!

It was December 3rd, and she was 9 weeks old, and all she wanted to do was stay near us and cuddle and sleep. While this still remains one of her favourite things to do, a lot has changed! I decided that it would be a good idea to keep a record about these changes to help us remember, but more so because I didn't want to forget the simple lessons that God has been teaching me through the process.

I hope that these short stories equipped with a simple lesson will help you ponder life & learn along with me :)

Cheers,

Dona