Living God's Way Everyday With Our Dogs

There is Life Beyond Obedience

The dogs entrusted to our care may learn behavioral skills in class, but those skills do not automatically become manners when real life unfolds. Manners must be taught and reinforced right in the midst of our everyday chaos like in the morning rush to work or school, while welcoming guests for dinner, when carpenters and plumbers fill the house, or while traveling on vacation. In this way, training moves beyond simple obedience and reaches its true goal: good canine manners woven into the very moments where life actually happens.

This brings to my mind the words of Deuteronomy 6:6-7 and 11:18-19, where God clearly commands His people to impress His commandments upon their children, and upon every generation with them, as they sit at home, as they walk along the road, when they lie down at night, and when they rise in the morning. He instructs them to write His words on their doorframes and gates so that His truth would surround them in every ordinary moment. Reading these verses, I see how deeply God desires His ways to be woven into the very fabric of our daily lives. His commandments were never meant to remain mere information stored only in the mind, or to be kept for sacred buildings and special times. Instead, they are to guide every part of life: our relationships, our work, our rest, our decisions, and our smallest interactions. Faith, He shows us, is not an add-on to life; it is the heartbeat of life itself.

This same principle applies when we become stewards of the dogs He entrusts to our care. Just as God commands us to teach His ways in every situation, we have the joyful duty to teach our dogs how to live well in different circumstances they may face in the human world. We do this by personally guiding them ourselves, day by day, while learning from wise instructors so we grow stronger and more confident as their guardians.

We begin with the basics: clear commands taught with fairness, and practiced together in calm, familiar settings. This builds the mental and muscle memory for correctly performing behaviors. Many assume that when this is completed, training is done and the dog should automatically know what to do, regardless of the challenges it faces.

Deuteronomy teaches us differently. Just as education in faith does not end with formal instruction, neither does education in canine manners end in the classroom.

We must proof our dogs’ understanding, and our own ability to guide them, in different environments, whether it is when guests arrive, when other dogs pass by, when excitement rises, or when distractions pull at them. Most importantly, as real life unfolds moment by moment, we need to stay present and do the guiding ourselves, with patience and consistency, never handing the daily work over to someone else.

When our dogs choose correctly on their own, we notice and praise them warmly so they learn to repeat what brings harmony. When they show confusion or make a wrong choice, we coach and redirect them with clarity and consistency. In this way, good behavior becomes woven into the fabric of their everyday experience, just as God’s commandments are meant to be woven into ours.

Whether we are raising children in the faith or nurturing dogs in our homes, the pattern is the same: teach diligently in every setting, live the lesson alongside them, praise what is right, and gently correct what is not. By doing so, we honor the heart of Deuteronomy. We stop treating God’s lessons as occasional information and begin living them as constant guidance. In the process, we experience richer relationships with our Creator, with our families, and with the canine companions who share our days.

May we write His truths on the doorframes of our homes and hearts, and may we live them faithfully, sitting, walking, lying down, and rising, until every part of life reflects His wisdom and love.

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Deuteronomy 6 -  “⁶ And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; ⁷ and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸ And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition.

Deuteronomy 11 - “¹⁸ You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹ And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition.