Winnie

Sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves of why we go through the bother and expense of owning and training dogs. Recently, John Pappas, author of That Dog Will Never Hunt asked me to review this new collection of true stories, and I was glad I said “yes”. Having learned dog training from poet, author, dog and horse trainer Vicki Hearne, it was refreshing for me to return to literary roots -  roots that reminded me of the romance of our relationship with dogs and the possibilities of nobility in both man and beast.

You’d expect a book of stories about real people and their dogs to be authentic, and John Pappas does not disappoint. At first his style can sometimes seem a little choppy until you realize that this is simply strong masculine prose shining its light on reality. Most of the stories are written from the point of view of a man or a boy, and although their dialogue is often simple and occasionally coarse (as is our wont), the writer’s perception of the thoughts and feelings of the characters is by contrast deep, complex, and genuine. From the humorous title story, “That Dog Will Never Hunt,” to the thought- provoking conclusion of “Statue Man,” Pappas’ characters struggle with the world and themselves in ways that ring true every time.

Pappas is concerned with the things that concern men: the beauty of creation as revealed in nature; the desire to be worthy of our position, particularly in the eyes of a dog or a woman; the realization that often we’re not; and the incredible grace of knowing that we are loved anyway or at least have enough hope to get up and try again.

The Bible says in Genesis that after God made man, He gave him dominion over the animals. And although this special position was severely damaged in The Fall, we still see glimpses of it in our relationships with domestic animals, particularly (in my experience) dogs. These glimpses fire the imagination and lead to expectations in both man and beast; expectations that can cause us to realize our potential or our brokenness and sometimes both. It is within this tension that these stories reside and have their beauty and poignancy.

That Dog Will Never Hunt is entertaining and sometimes challenging. If you’re someone, particularly a man, who knows and loves dogs, you’re really going to enjoy this book. You might even learn something as I did—about greyhounds.

You can order That Dog Will Never Hunt from Amazon, and you might want to check out John’s website at http://orca11.com.

One often-heard shibboleth is that dogs only want to please us. This is mostly not true. Yes, there are some dogs who, by their nature, fit this description but they are relatively few and far between. Dogs in general, like us, mostly want to please themselves. I think this is one of the reasons that we find them so appealing. We identify with them. Probably the reason people say that dogs want to please us is that they do in fact please us, so we assume that pleasing us must be their intention.

One of the biggest ways dogs please us is by being so darned happy to see us. How can you not smile when s/he wiggles and waggles his or her entire body when you walk in the door? But this is because s/he likes you, not because s/he wants to please you. After all what’s not to like? You represent food, water, shelter, companionship, affection, bladder/bowel relief, and fun activities like going for a walk.

If dogs really wanted to please us however, wouldn’t they adopt our perspective when it comes to behavior like staying off the furniture, getting along with others, not pulling on the leash, confining their chewing activities to their own stuff, coming when called, etc? But very few dogs score high in all these areas without some real training.

Okay, I admit that I see major spiritual implications here. I became a dog trainer before I became a Christian and so I couldn’t help but see my own transformation – brought about by my new relationship with God – as a strong parallel to that which dogs experience when they encounter sound training. When I began to see my own behavior from God’s perspective my worldview and behavior changed radically.

Sure, I knew of the things of God before my conversion. I reveled in His creation and its inherent beauty especially as it manifested itself in horses, the seaside, women and sunsets. But to paraphrase the Bible in Romans Chapter 1, although I knew God, I did not glorify Him as God, nor was I thankful, but became futile in my thoughts. All this changed when I began to realize that in order to be in a relationship with my master, I needed to adopt His perspective.

Something very similar happens when a dog recognizes that his owner is in charge. There is something intrinsically “right” about that perspective that gives a dog a sense of joy and peace.