“A human being is part of the whole, called by us “Universe”
a part limited in time and space. He
experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the
rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us,
restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons
nearest to us. Our task must be to free
ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all
living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
- Einstein,
The Einstein Papers
The Pawsitive Dog Program has enriched my life in ways I
hadn’t expected in the past year since I enrolled. There are two teachings I have been
gifted. The first and most obvious is
the practical dog training methods. The
second teaching, and I think the most meaningful training, is a subtle learning
that infuses your whole being.
First, of course, and I will boast, has been the training I
have received from a very experienced and qualified staff that I have much
gratitude for. Our staff, with fifty
plus years of combined experience, has provided me and the rest of the prison
dog handlers with a holistic perspective to dog training. Every Thursday we
receive practical and theoretical training in basic dog obedience, dog behavior
modification training, puppy training and socialization, instruction on writing
treatment plans and protocols for separation anxiety, dog-on-dog aggression and
resource guarding. The staff also empowers
us by holding us accountable
to our commitments.
I can go on and on about the instruction I have
received. However, when I mentioned
earlier we receive a holistic perspective of dog training, what I mean is that
we don’t just learn about a dog’s behavior.
We are taught that our dogs are one of all “living creatures and the
whole of nature” as Einstein mentions in his papers. We are all interconnected and by being aware
of this life condition, we get to the root of the psychological and spiritual
aspect of problem behavior; not only with our dogs but with our own
life-alienating behaviors as well. Our
dogs have the opportunity to be canine citizens and we, offenders, have an
opportunity to become better human citizens on this planet we all share.
This canine and human citizenship training is the secondary
learning I have received. It is a
special training I wasn’t aware of being part of the offered curriculum. This special training is something our
instructors let us discover on our own as if giving us a very valuable map that
will guide us on our journey to a treasure by giving us a dog.
I set out thinking I’m going to teach the dog, and this
four-pawed smiling creature gently teaches me to escape from the mental,
emotional and spiritual prison we all seem to live in one capacity or
another. The dogs and I seem to have a
symbiotic relationship in citizenship training.
I have been taught to observe the dog’s behavior and
emotional content. This practice of
observation has assisted me in cultivating awareness within myself. For example, when I was given my first dog to
train, I would become so frustrated while walking this Beagle breed. He would stick his nose to the ground and
take off dragging me behind as I was yanking his leash. My leash hand would be looking like I was
trying to start an old lawn mower rather than walking a dog. Then I would stop and recall our instruction
of stop and act like a tree. The best
learning I received from this experience is self-observation. What was I physically doing? I was pulling which created resistance. How was I feeling? I was feeling frustrated and helpless, which
was being transferred to my dog. What
was I thinking? “What a stupid dog” –
“Damn, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
I had to learn that I had a habit behavior of yanking on the
leash. Once it was in my awareness, I
thought how many other habits do I have that I’m unaware of? It was a beginning of citizenship training
from my dog. It was as important to know
my own thinking, feeling and behaviors, as it is to know the dog’s.
In addition, the dogs were tugging at my heart. This deep feeling of love and compassion I
felt was throwing me out of balance.
Being in this physical prison, there isn’t much focus on emotion,
although we all feel it. Whether
pleasant or unpleasant, we try to hide it or become numb to it, or only act on
the anger. I suspect holding our
feelings in or medicating unpleasant feelings is how we found ourselves
here. I know it is true for me. Yet here is this dog, loving me, teaching,
playing, and helping me release my pain of heart.
I recall a line from the movie “Eat, Pray, Love” that I’ll
paraphrase – sometimes when one loses balance for love, one sometimes gains
balance for life. When I’m interacting
with the dogs, I feel a sense of softness, a silkiness of joy and happiness
that I have rarely felt. What I mean is
the quality of happiness and joy. Most
of us feel happy and joyful at different times when one of our immediate needs
or values are met by someone in our life.
Yet, to me, that quality of happiness is not the same as this
in-the-moment love I have when playing with the dogs. It is like a feather tickling my heart and
sifting out every happy molecule in my body.
Yes, in this moment, I lose balance for love.
I ask myself, “How can I cultivate this same feeling with my
own species?” I see the dogs loosening
the shackles of fear that keep me from feeling.
When I feel and let it cut deep, whether pleasant or unpleasant, without
trying to hide it, fade it, or fix it, I feel most alive and free. I feel as I do when playing with the dogs; a
sense of openness, spaciousness, and interconnectedness.
Therefore, I agree unequivocally that our task in
citizenship is to “free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of
compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its
beauty.”
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” Thank you, my dog friends, for mapping me
back to my heart.
That in this grand scheme of Life, we do not stand as the standard by which all of God's creatures are measured. That in this current existence in which we consider ourselves civilized, which is so new, dogs and other animals, though viewed by many as savages, exist among us in their true nature. Yet still able and willing to adapt, while still maintaining true to form by which the Universe set for them. Retaining senses and basic instincts we have found ourselves lacking in our transformation into civility. Still moving in tune are they to nature and their primality. So far removed have we become. They see the world and experience it in ways we have lost or never will know.
