Watching People and Dogs

Growing up I watched Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. While each show featured a dog, a boy, and some adults, the star of each episode was the dog - Rinty (a nickname) and Lassie were always there to save the day. Rinty protected Rusty in the old west while they both lived at Fort Apache. Lassie always knew when Timmy had fallen into a well and needed help.

Well, those two television programs are no longer being shown. Instead, to understand dogs and people better I watch all the dog walkers in our neighborhood. Interestingly, it seems as if the larger the people, the smaller dog or dogs they walk. A very tall man walks a Dachshund that almost has to run to keep up with the tall man's long strides. A short elderly lady has two German Shepherds that she walks together. If they were to start chasing a squirrel, the lady would just be dragged behind. There are two dogs that are walked in our neighborhood that I don't know their breeds. One looks like a large black bear (maybe it is!). The other has very long legs and reminds me of a person walking on stilts.

Why spend the time to write about people and dogs? First, when the dogs are all taken to a dog park, they all seem to enjoy the company of each other as they run and play. Second, at the same dog park, the people visit with each other while the dogs play. But here is the real reason for this article: away from the dog park, some of the dogs bark at and may even attack other dogs that they played with earlier. Also, the people who visited with each other at the dog park may not speak or acknowledge one another back in the neighborhood.

At the dog park or the friendly passing while walking the dog, dogs and people seem to get along fairly well. However, when left on their own, they may cease to be friendly and perhaps become even hostile with each other. What can we learn from this?

The various diverse mixtures of people in our world seem to have a difficult time getting along with one another. Nationalities, languages, cultures, beliefs, economics, and values separate us and cause us to go to war or at least to become hostile or hateful towards one another. Maybe a simple solution would be to require every person in the world to have a dog, take the dog for a daily walk, and go to a dog park once a week. Maybe this would help us to see something we have a common and make us more accepting of one another.

Of course, that is just an off-the-wall suggestion from one whose suggestions are usually more spontaneous than well thought through. However, there is one truth that should have a much greater impact upon us than we allow it to have. Both us and our dogs all have the same source of creation. God who created the world and all that it contains is the creator of dogs (and all the other animals) and all the people (created male and female, after His likeness). When we see another person, regardless of skin color, nationality, language, culture, beliefs, economics, or values, we are seeing another person created by the same God who created us.

Maybe the first need in our world is to begin to see what we have in common rather than what is different. Dog owners seem to have in common that they have dogs rather than the breed of dogs. Once we can see our commonality, maybe then we can share the values and beliefs we hold that our creator also gave to us - His Son - Jesus Christ. Our need is not to become images of each other but to be renewed in the image of our creator through a faith relationship with Jesus.

This week begin to notice what you have in common with others that could open the door to sharing the great commonality of God's love that He desires we all receive through Jesus Christ. Maybe you might even get a dog and head to the dog park to observe the interaction of people and dogs.

(If you are needing a good book for yourself, a friend, or a child that stars a dog, consider Buddy The Floppy Ear Corgi by my good friend William "Bill" Tinsley. It is available on Kindle Unlimited or through Amazon.}