I’ve been asked “Well, Dan, have you quit writing? Nope, completely the opposite. I am now writing a book! There is time now to edit, write, rewrite, delete, edit, and write some more. You guys are seeing the trend here. I am setting aside time to write. And motivation! Friends who have written their own books (shout out to June, Geno, Ralph, Barry, and Gary) in their own ways have encouraged me to write the story as though talking to a friend . So while there won’t be new material on this blog post, know that sometime in the next year or two there will be a book. I’ll keep ya’ll posted!
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3
See Ya! Dan Ainsworth Wilderness Preacher……… and writer
Dudley, our sissy house dog is terribly afraid of thunder.. Just ask our Ole Miss friends, the Parkes. While we were gone, a large and loud thunderstorm came over our house. Dudley, I call him “the Big Dud”, went berserk, crazed, wild. Because he was so scared of the thunder and lightning he decides to leave. First, he goes upstairs and chews and claws the door trying to get in. No luck. He then pushes open the front door, chews a hole in the dogproof wire of our backyard………. He gone!!!
Now when we drive up and see the door open, and then no Dudley, our hearts are in our throats because we know how he gets in a storm. We call, yell, honk horns, everything. We call out the cavalry/family. We are out riding the country roads while it’s still raining. I get on the 4-wheeler riding the back pastures. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Staci and I go to bed but there’s no sleep. Not for me especially. I’m mad because I didn’t lock the door behind me when I left earlier in the day. If only I had locked the door, then he would still be in the house. I’m fearful because I know what’s in the backyard and woods. Also, I’ll admit to this. I am sad. The thought of losing this dog has saddened me. I’ve always had manly dogs. A Lassie Collie, then a brown Lab, then a bloodhound. This dog is the only dog we have now. He is Staci’s pet. A shih-Tzu…….but he’s my little wolf!
Look it up. What dog is the most closely related to a wolf. You would think it would be a Husky, or a German Shepherd. But the guys at Mission Wolf told us that the Chinese breeds like the Shih-Tzu are closest kin. Now it makes sense to me. I’m attached to this little fellow because deep down he is a wolf. I can relate to that!
At 2 am, it’s unusually quiet. Spooky because it’s so quiet There’s fog and no wind. The rain has finally stopped. I go outside and call. I can hear sounds from the 4-lane highway a couple of miles away, the trucks and their gears shifting. What’s so bad is that I can also hear the owls, the coyotes, and all the other predators that roam the nights. What’s good is that I promise you I hear a little dog howl. Immediately, I wake Staci (she’s not asleep). “Get out here and call for Dudley” I’m telling her and rushing her outside.
Staci comes outside and calls for her puppy. She yells, “Come get a treat, let’s go to Mimi’s, want a puppy cup?” All these phrases are things that get the Big D to respond when he’s at home. I thought I heard a howl off in the distance. But nothing. Staci goes back in, I walk around in the woods for another hour. Mad, fearful, saddened, now dreading what the outcome of this will be. Why? Well, if I did hear a small dog whimpering somewhere in the night, so did all the predators. As I walk in the woods, the howl of a coyote only a short distance away raises the hair on my back, but at the same time lowers the feelings in my heart. My dog is gone. Where oh where can he be?
It’s morning now. The search party of kinfolks has arrived. We start asking neighbors, riding the roads, and searching. We get a call that he was seen over a mile away at a neighbors driveway. Off we go. It’s rather comical now, but you would think that we had lost something special. Well, we have. Dogs become part of our lives, part of our own being. If you have never experienced the loyalty and love from a dog, then you must have a cat. Or either you have a huge hole in your heart that has never experienced a companion with 4 legs. I feel a bit sorry for you.
The search party spans out over the area. I get a hunch that maybe the little wolf may be trying to get back home on his own. He’s a house dog, spoiled, can’t walk on grass ’cause he gets stickers. There’s no way ……….well, except somehow God gives these creatures a sense of where home is and how to get back. While everyone is searching this last place he was seen, I begin the mile long trek back towards the house. Halfway home, in a sandy road bed I see little dog tracks, along with fresh deer, turkey……….. and coyote tracks. They are fresh, too fresh. I start running and calling as I go. A quarter mile from the house I am on top of a large hill. I let out a holler for my little wolf. And he answers! boo woo woof. I take off running. I’m trying to call the search party on my phone as I run. “Get home.” I yell, “He’s close to the house”.
As I run to the backyard, I see the prodigal dog. He’s scared of me. I guess he’s been through a lot. Now he won’t even come to me. I kneel down and wait. Suddenly he bolts to me whimpering and jumping into my lap. His whimpering sounds as if he’s crying, the little wolf pup. The daddy wolf is shedding a tear or two himself. Why? Because Dudley has come home.
All the search party celebrates. We eat Pizza!
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20
But this story was about a dog. He left on his own. He’s done it to himself. Doesn’t matter what caused him to leave. He may have been scared. But even if he had been rebellious, disobedient, or well, think of whatever reason YOU can think of to leave home yourself. The point is that there was love waiting for him when he returned.
We have a Loving, Living, Heavenly Father who waits with open arms for me and you to return to Him. Why do we run away when we’ve got it made where we are? We get scared. Or maybe we get rebellious, disobedient, or well, think of whatever reason YOU can think of to leave God yourself. The point is our Heavenly Father’s love is waiting for your return. You’ve never experienced His love? Well, you must have a huge hole in your heart (and soul) that has never had this experience. I feel a bit sorry for you. He’s waiting….
See Ya! Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, on a journey with a “little wolf”
There it is! That first step of trust and the bond that will grow between two very different creatures. One creature is a very wild hawk, the other creature is …….me.
“Dak” has experienced being trapped from the wild, tethered to a perch in his new home, and placed repeatedly back on my glove. I gently work with him for hours (called manning) to get him use to my presence. From the very beginning, all he knows if fear. In his previous wild world, it’s eat or get eaten. It’s kill or be killed. Nature is cruel, nature is tough. It’s truthfully the survival of the fittest.
The first few hours, I place “Dak” on my gloved fist. He will try to fly away, but I have him leashed to my glove. He attempts to fly, I gently swing him back on the glove. All the time, I don’t look directly at him. Think about why I don’t. You see, in the wild, when a hawk (with that intense eyesight) looks at another animal, he’s either looking to kill it……or it’s looking to kill him. Dak must learn to trust and believe in me as someone who is not going to hurt him. Incredibly, hawks trained in falconry learn in just a few days that I am not a threat, but someone who actually protects and feeds them.
It’s easy to tell when the hawk is calming down. As I walk around his mews (the fenced pen) with him on my glove, I feel his talons gradually relaxing on my glove. Thank goodness, because when he clamps down with those talons it’s with a surprising amount of strength. If that thick glove wasn’t there, I’d be getting plenty of tattoos from those claws. I have a few scars from the past to prove it!
Gradually, this wild creature begins to accept my presence. In Dak’s case it’s happening very quickly. In less than five hours from being trapped, he’s eating from my hand! It could be because he has a gentle personality. All the hawks I’ve flown over the years were different. Some were gentle, some acted nervous, some aggressive. “Tama”, one of my best hunting hawks from a few years ago could only be described as Wicked!!!
But Dak is very calm. I place a small piece of chicken in front of him. Remember, I don’t look directly at him during any of this training. (Just looking at him from my peripheral (side) vision.) He actually doesn’t eat the chicken. What I do is touch the sides of his beak with the meat. He bites at me and the meat gets caught in his mouth. FREEZE! I don’t move. For however long it takes, I don’t move. He is standing on my glove with a piece of fresh meat in his mouth. Amazing what his body language shows. See, Dak’s not moving either. He’s still scared. But the whole time he’s sitting (on my glove) he is now tasting fresh food that is resting in his mouth. That’s when it happens……….. He swallows a nourishing morsel of food. The body language? Suddenly from fear to a small step of trust. His talons relax, his wings are not rigid, his eyes are no longer focused on “kill or be killed”. What next? Quickly another piece of food is placed in his mouth. FREEZE! Again, don’t move until he swallows his meal. Then quietly and gently I exit his new home. I’ll return in the morning. He’s been given plenty to think about.
The next morning I return with more time spent manning Dak. He’s still getting used to me. Learning to trust and believe in me. I spend this time walking around with him on my glove. I make noises, pick up items and move them. Sit down, stand up, walk backwards…….. doing any and everything. All the while Dak is riding and resting on my glove. He needs to know he can feel comfortable standing on the glove. Occasionally he will attempt to fly from the glove. I gently place him back on for more training. Now for the next big step! Literally!!!
Dak remembers that I fed him yesterday. Today I show him a piece of chicken by placing it in front of his beak. Today he snatches it from my hand. No need to try to get him to bite me, he’s hungry and he’s eating from my hand. Success!! Now for the next step and I do mean a step.
Since Dak knows there is food in my hand he readily wants to eat it. But I now want him to come towards me, to take a step towards me. There is a giant leap involved in the hawk’s mind in doing this. For him to step towards me is so foreign to his way of thinking. He has all this time been trying to get away from me. I am a creature he is afraid of. For him to take even one small step towards me……….involves a decision. It’s a decision of trusting and believing. Dak has taken his first step to believing that I no longer want to hurt him, but that I want to help him.
The first step!
Dak is taking his first step to me! Notice the body language. (I can feel it as well.) The claws are clamped, the wings are ready to spring into flight, and the eyes are filled with fear. In spite of this natural fear of me, the belief that I am not a threat but instead someone to trust has taken over! This thrills me to no end!
“Dak” now believes in me!
The picture shows the same bird but with a totally different mind set. A change in his way of thinking. His trusting and believing in me can even be seen (and felt). Claws are relaxed, wings in the resting and calm position. You can even see a different expression on his face. Two entirely different creatures are now beginning an adventure based on trust and believing in each other.
Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Mark 5:36
This is a great scripture talking about believing. (I’d encourage you to read the whole chapter. Several instances of unbelievable miracles that Jesus is doing). Here in Dak’s situation it was a remarkable thing for me to see. Once Dak believes in me and no longer is afraid of me,……. well, it’s game on!!! The excitement I have of interacting with this magnificent creature is one of my greatest thrills! He has taken one small step to me. This will quickly lead to him taking 3 steps to me. Then he will jump to me. Then he will take a short flight to me. Then in such a short time period, he will be free flying and hunting WITH me. I am DELIGHTED!!!!
Just like God delights in you trusting in Jesus and taking a small step of belief towards Him! (stay tuned, till next time, Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, having taken a small step of belief of my own towards my Lord and Saviour!)
