These amazing athletic dogs gave us a thrilling ride

I got to tell you, I wasn’t expecting this!!!!  (WATCH THE VIDEO AT THE END) These dogs!!!!…… these dogs live to pull and press on!

We signed up for an afternoon dog sled ride.  The owner/driver gave us a detailed explanation of the history of dog sledding. They basically can go (and haul) places that horses and heavy machines can’t.  He showed us examples of the dog teams pulling medical supplies to the far away northern towns of Alaska and Canada.  What impressed me was a picture of a dog team pulling timber(yes, downed trees!!) across frozen lakes.  You’ve heard the country saying, “That dog can hunt”.  Well, these dogs can PULL! 

Our guide, Caleb, was talking to us (Staci, our daughter Jamie, and me,….. the human cargo) about dogsledding.  Occasionally I could hear him say another word or two as he was talking to us.  Oh, I get it. He’s also giving commands to the dogs as he talks to us.  Cool!  I didn’t ever hear him say “Mush” like what you hear in the movies.  Hey, I did hear him say “Gee” and “Haw”.  It reminded me of my long ago days in the garden with our mule named Amos Moses. For real, back then we would tell the mule to “Gee”/pull right”.  Or you could tell the mule to plow to the left by yelling “Haw” meaning to pull left.  Caleb explained to me that those commands mean the same to his dog team as when I used them with our garden plowing mule. It’s obvious that his dogs listen a whole lot better than my mule did years ago. 😉

We are moving at a fast clip.  I can see up ahead a fork in the trail.  It splits right and left, no straight forward.  I’m anticipating the dog’s owner to YELL “GEE OR HAW”  He doesn’t.  He’s carrying on a normal conversation with me.  In the middle of our conversation he says, “gee”.  Caleb doesn’t yell or shout, just says his commands.  Dogs immediately turn right.  You’d have to be there.  But it was an amazing sight seeing these dogs pulling with all there might, communicating with their human leader, and they were lovin’ every minute of it!!!

We stopped for a short break.  I was fascinated listening to Caleb tell about how his dogs work.  It’s obvious Caleb loves his dogs and loves working with them as well.  It made my day when he answered my following question.  “What do you do when the dog doesn’t listen and obey?”

(time out) See, a long time ago, I saw a documentary on dog sledding.  It wasn’t a pretty site.  When the dogs disobeyed, the driver would get angry and beat the dogs.  I didn’t like that.  Poor dog didn’t know what was going on.  But Caleb loves his dogs.  He said this to me.  “When one of my dogs is not listening or obeying my commands, it means I have got to spend more time training this particular dog.  All dogs have bad days.  They can get distracted.  But I continue with proper training so these dogs will eventually “get back in line” and pull their own weight as well as what I’m needing them to pull.  These are MY dogs.  They will do what I ask of them.

I can connect with these dogs who are loved and are BEING what God created them to be.

His “extra training” with individual dogs may not be fun for the dog at the time.  If you and I saw them being trained we might even think that it’s punishment.  But Caleb loves his dogs.  He trains them in a way that they realize it’s wrong when they disobey and not follow the leader.

But to see these dogs joyfully pulling their weight and their load for the day (us), it brought a smile and a laugh from my innermost soul.   See, what was amazing to me was these dogs were BEING WHAT GOD HAD CREATED THEM TO BE.  They were listening to their owner, Caleb.  Not only listening but obeying his every command. Right, left…..gee, haw…… They would stop when told.  And the most exhilarating was this.  When he gave the command to go……..they gone!  If you weren’t buckled in or holding on, you’d physically get thrown off the sled.  Get at ’em dogs.  You make me come alive!!!!   This ride is FUN!  Better hold on!!

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.  Philippians 3:14

I hurt deep inside when people think that my Lord and Saviour must beat me when I do wrong.  They must have grown up “watching a different documentary” on the subject.  My God is a loving God.  When I do wrong,  I’m in for a little extra “training” with my Lord.  Honestly, I guess at times it may look like “punishment” from the outside.  But I know for a fact that you and I get distracted, get selfish, or “have a bad day” if you want to call it that.  But God is my Master.  He knows better than me the directions to take.  I love Him.  Even love this training I’m in.  Even love those “extra training” sessions that God uses to get me “back in line”.

What about you?  Do you picture your god with a whip and stick waiting to beat you any and every chance he gets?  Or do you picture your God as a loving Master who does and will “correct” you so that you get “back in line” for your own good as well as His.  For your own glory as well as His.  Seriously it probably depends on how strong a relationship you have with your Master/Owner.  I would encourage you to “get back in line”. Stay in line, listen for the commands, obey…………….. and hang on.  You are in for the ride of your life.

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, dog sledder,  o’er the fields we go,laughing all the way