Lessons Learned From a Child and Her Dog

By Cyndi Krupp

So teach him to close the door", my daughter Emma responded after listening to me complain, again, about the dog coming in from the back door, bringing with him a blast of Buffalo January cold air.

Teach a dog to close a door behind him? You got to be kidding. That has got to be a really, really hard thing to do, and I do not have any dog credentials following my name.

But then she took it a step further. "Come on Kolby", she said, grabbing some treats and positioning him in front of the open door. "Touch."

And "touch" he did, which moved the door to a closed position. She rewarded him with a treat, smiled, looked at me, and said "see!"

And I saw and became convinced. Over the last few days I have been consistent with Kolby. Each time he comes in I bring him back to the open door and ask him to close (I changed the target word, making the command more specific). There have been failures, but lately more and more successes. And I knew we turned the corner this morning when he asked to be let out just so I would open the door, so that he could close it and be treated.

WOW

There remains work to be done. I have to remove the hand signal and work so that he will close the door from a distance. But, I now realize, with consistency of focus the task will be completed, and, with the way things are progressing, completed quickly.

What a wonderful treat to have a dog that can close the door after himself. Even more wonder can be found in the lessons I learned so clearly from both Emma and Kolby.

A wish is just a wish until you decide to take action.

Once you decide to accomplish a goal, and decide that it "is" easy (remember Emma's assurance), than it becomes easy to do what needs to be done. Just start doing it.

As long as one holds on to the belief that it is "too hard", than it remains "too hard" and out of reach.

Working towards the accomplishment of a goal can be loads of fun, and full of lots and lots of treats.

So what have you been wishing for lately? And what has been stopping you from getting started?