Mr. Know-It-All?

Today I was happily watching an episode of the Dog Whisperer on my Computer. (I try to watch an episode as often as I can) This particular episode, he took you behind the scenes to show you how he evaluates a dog's body language and energy. Now, I know a bit about animals. Reading, watching, and "studying" if you will, about them has been my Hobby since I was a kid. So I'm not ignorant when it comes to teaching them, knowing how they operate, etc. However, watching Cesar makes me see how much I don't know.

For example; The two dogs he was working with fought all the time. He assessed that Dog #1 was very dominant and #2 was insecure. So, you would normally think that dog #1 would be the one triggering the fights right? Wrong.

As you watch he takes you back to the screens, and points out all the different body signs the dog's are exhibiting. #2 was triggering the fights with her sharp eye contact, erect ears, and tense body.

Then later, as he was working with #2 to calm her down and encourage surrender, when you think she is surrendering, she actually isn't. One of the more obvious things was how tense her legs were as she rolled onto her side and showed him her tummy (that is normally a submissive sign), indicating she was not relaxing. The other, was something I never would have seen had it not been pointed out. Her right eyebrow. On closer inspection, you see her right eyebrow arch and her wide eye roll to the side. And if her leg had relaxed, I would have thought she was surrendering and not even noticed the eye.

I guess my point is, there is always something you don't know. No mater how old you are, no matter how long you have been doing something, there is going to be at least one thing, you didn't know.

I think we tend to get cocky, eventually, with how much we do know, and we forget that sometimes we can still learn from other people. Even if it's something small, even if the other person is younger than us, or older than us. The Dog Whisperer, the guy who has lived his entire life with packs of dogs, and studied them his whole life, says he learns new things with each case he takes. The phrase; "You learn something new every day," is very true.

And actually, it makes sense that we aren't going to know everything about everything because we're finite creatures and the only one who knows EVERYTHING, is God, the one who made the world, and who made us.

So, I'll give you a little challenge. Learn new things, from new people, even if it's in an area you have a lot of experience in, or it's something you think might not work. Because you know what....you just might be wrong.

Proverbs 16:18 says; "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall."