Pulling Against the Leash
By Joyce Shafer

Ah...to live a dog’s life. 

While in the park, I saw a young girl walking her miniature dog. Something caught its eye that I couldn’t see yet because shrubs blocked my view. The dog would surge forward, barking non-stop at the top of its miniature voice, and the leash would pull it back. I watched this surge/pulled-back action repeat over and over, and thought that life is sometimes like that. Then, I saw what was causing the behavior when a man came around the point with a very large dog on a leash. Whether wise or not, the little dog was fearless in the presence of the bigger dog. That little dog believed in itself. It was 100-percent into its dogness. It was authentic. 

Sometimes we surge forward and are pulled back. Are we as willing to aim to gain even a few “inches” if that’s what we can do at that moment? The little dog was focused on a target and was willing to continue moving forward until it reached it.

The little dog’s target may have been an inappropriate one. I don’t know what its expected outcome was; but had the bigger dog been in a bad mood, the outcome might not have been a desired one. And, let’s not ignore that there was a protective control factor at work here since both people monitored what was going on so they could prevent a negative result. 

When we are aware of our connection to the larger consciousness and how we participate with it, know and trust that it operates on our behalf, we see it functions like the people, the caregivers, who held the leashes. When we focus on targets that are inappropriate for us and may actually create negative or unpleasant outcomes, we should appreciate the “fail-safe” that is in place. The little dog was forced to abandon its target because it was on the end of a leash. It did not focus on the inappropriateness of straining to hit a target it shouldn’t. We, however, are able to pay attention and recognize that a particular target is not the right one for us. Perhaps, it actually led us to a different target, the one we should aim at.

We can consider and choose, reassess, change our target at will, take aim, and reach it. We may recognize that aspects of a dog’s life are one’s we’d like to have, and as I said earlier, we Could create for ourselves; but we also have the option to decide, mindfully, what is truly appropriate for us.

Also, consider how a dog owner must appear to the dog. We probably appear as quite powerful to them. We’d benefit if we thought of ourselves the way our pets do. And another thing we can borrow from a dog is to choose to “wag our tails” in joy and play more often. A dog is always willing to make the most of every moment. Life is what we make it.

Joyce Shafer is a life empowerment coach and author of “I Don’t Want to be Your Guru, but I Have Something to Say”, as well as “How to Have What You Really Want”, and contributor of articles to various publications. She has an eclectic background and focuses on learning, growing, and sharing information at every opportunity. She can be emailed at jls1422@yahoo.com . © copyright 2007 by Joyce Shafer