Good Dog

Have you seen the movie "Up" yet? It is a great Pixar movie that works on so many levels. I love, love, love this movie. In the movie is a dog, named Doug, who is more Golden Retriever than anything else. At one point his would-be master turns to him and says, "Bad Dog!" and Doug slinks away, tail between his legs.

What is interesting that in this house, our Golden Retriever does not know "Bad Dog" or "No". Whenever either of those expressions have been used, you might as well be saying, "You want a treat?" or "Go for a ride?" because they are received with enthusiasm, dog wags and general joy. Therefore, I'm sure Vegas has no self esteem issues and like Mary Poppins, believes herself to be practically perfect in every way.

Molly on the other hand learned "Bad Dog" somewhere in her distant past and will tuck her tail, roll her ears back and look like she's done something really heinous. Someone convinced her that she was bad and she owns it whenever you look at her with any serious expression. Therefore, we try to only ever be positive. This can be challenging when coming home and realizing she has scarfed three dozen homemade cinnamon rolls.

I am trying to be less like Molly and more like Vegas. I am trying to ignore the small but loud inner voice that tells me I'm bad for eating the chocolate or bad for missing a deadline.

I came in tonight and Vegas looked at me from across the room, ran to her toy bucket and pulled out a much loved and used stuffed mallard toy. She brought it to me and I praised her for such a wonderful gift. She then danced up and down, spun in circles and urged me to throw the gift.

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel, 16:7

Just like Vegas.