{"id":10659,"date":"2019-07-30T06:01:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T11:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=10659"},"modified":"2019-07-30T06:01:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T11:01:39","slug":"its-a-dog-eat-dog-world-out-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=10659","title":{"rendered":"It’s a Dog-Eat-Dog World Out There"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who would have thought that some of my best \u201cpals\u201d these days are dogs. It comes with my territory and my family. There\u2019s my grand-dogs: Buddy, the 75-pound Australian Shepherd and Emma, the 4-pound Yorkie, who, I happen to be their caregiver right now while their family is out of town. I get a kick out of throwing the ball to Buddy (with a ball-thrower or else slimy-ball would be the case) and he retrieves it often in one catch in the air. As soon as I walk in the door, he runs to the backdoor for our \u201cplay ball\u201d time. Little Emma, who often seems the alpha-dog of the pair, incessantly yaps at me wanting her time with me. There\u2019s Bentley, a 25-pound Havanese who belongs to my Austin family. I also have another grand-dog, rock-solid and gentle, 79-pound bulldog, Athena, belonging to Braden and Ruth. I smile as I write this post because I\u2019m not what you would consider a dog-lover. I profess to be a dog-liker because they ALL belong to those people-lovers in my life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I think God must have a special love and delight for those who care for his creation. Jesus seemed to be enamored by animals as He often referred to them as a source of praise to God and revelation of the nature of faith, humility and peace. When we see Jesus\u2019 interactions with creatures, we can better understand how we are called to relate to other creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve all heard the saying \u201cYou can\u2019t teach an old dog new tricks.\u201d I never thought that the roles could be reversed and that my grand-dogs could teach ME some life-lessons in turning this world into a dog-love-dog world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lesson 1: Restrictions are Good. Once all these grand-dogs were kennel trained \u2013 it was a great option when the families were away or night-time sleeping. Believe me \u2013 we knew the damage done when my \u201cyoung\u201d daughter\u2019s dog, Desi, was left behind, free in the house. She had separation anxiety and tore our door-blinds to shreds. Now, all my grand-dogs are more \u201cmature\u201d and it’s “open to roam” home policy. But, like the restrictions placed on our furry friends, we, too, need restrictions that hold us to safe and peaceful living. Thank God for the Ten Commandments and Jesus\u2019 new commandments \u201cLove the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind\u2026.and your neighbor as yourself.\u201d Those aren\u2019t restrictions \u2013 they are freedom to love and be loved. What \u201cdog\u201d doesn\u2019t want that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lesson 2 — Bond with Others \u2013 When I lived a few months with my Frisco family, I would take Buddy for a morning walk. We would encounter dogs in fenced yards, barking like crazy and defending their territory. Buddy was leash trained, so he would look at them like \u201cWhat is your problem?\u201d I think, if he could talk, he\u2019d tell those dogs \u201cLet\u2019s make love \u2013 not war!\u201d As busy adults, it\u2019s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle and bustle, forgetting to make time for loved ones. Interaction with others can be a much-needed source of joy. We don’t have to go it alone. Reaching out to a friend, or making a new friend, can truly make a difference in that other person\u2019s life. And, spending time with others can be the first step on the path to making a difference in our lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lesson 3: Run to Greet Those You Love; Hang Out with Those You Love — There is something wonderful about coming home to those dogs so excited to see us. As soon as Buddy and Emma hear my car-door slam, they are at the front door barking and welcoming me home. Even sitting down, they just have to nudge in as close as they can to us. So why don\u2019t we do this for each other? Appreciating the people we love and care about isn\u2019t just something we feel, it\u2019s also something we do. And what better way to show someone you care than by greeting them with a big hug or a kiss when they arrive home? And, what better way to show our love to someone, by getting as close as we can to them when we\u2019re watching TV or just sitting down to relax. As adults, it\u2019s easy to take our relationships for granted. But dogs know that every time you see someone you love can be just as exciting as the first. Remembering this can only strengthen our relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lesson 4: Live in the Moment — Dogs don\u2019t have some big master plan. They aren\u2019t worried about the past, and aren\u2019t terrified of the future. They live right here in the present moment. What a truly a joyous and positive way of living our life! Stop to smell the roses. Breathe in the fresh air. Put our phone down and fully experience where we are. Maybe we should stick our heads out the car window with the wind blowing in our faces to remind us to live in the present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to our great Creator for creating some of our best friends and teachers and if we’d live in gratitude and love like them, then, for sure it would be a dog-love-dog world! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who would have thought that some of my best \u201cpals\u201d these days are dogs. It comes with my territory and my family. There\u2019s my grand-dogs: Buddy, the 75-pound Australian Shepherd and Emma, the 4-pound Yorkie, who, I happen to be their caregiver right now while their family is out of town. I get a kick…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4792,224,8492,4154,14110,169,13526,14109,14111,13973,14112,13603,14113,499,7315,545,10578],"class_list":["post-10659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-animals","tag-australian-shepherd","tag-bond","tag-breathe","tag-bulldog","tag-caregiver","tag-dog","tag-dog-eat-dog-world","tag-grand-dogs","tag-havanese","tag-kennel","tag-lessons","tag-live-in-the-present","tag-master-plan","tag-smell-the-roses","tag-trust","tag-yorkie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10659"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10675,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659\/revisions\/10675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}