Click

 "You have made us for yourself O Lord. And our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

Between the kennel cough, and the neutering surgery, and well, life, we've run into a few training snags with Mo Trouble.

Mo Trouble is an incredibly loving and sweet tempered puppy.

Mo Trouble is also an incredibly rambunctious and active puppy who likes to get into, well trouble.

While Peanut and I dearly love Mo, and spending time with him, we are unfortunately for him, not 30 pound cockapoo puppies. Our limbs are not made for wrestling, we do not enjoy being objects in a tug of war game, and our clothes don't seem to be as sturdy as his fur.

This week I ordered a clicker trainer in order to switch up our approach to helping Mo learn how we expect him to behave.

Clicker training is a "mark and reward" method. You "click" the clicker to mark the exact moment of the behavior you want, and then you reward with a treat. The idea being that sometimes we aren't marking what we think we are marking because of the lag between the command and the treat. So the clicker acts as a bridge - telling the dog "that thing you did RIGHT NOW - it's the good thing."

Today our main goal was to teach Mo that the sound the clicker makes is the most fantastic thing in the world. If he hears the sound, he gets a big prize. Right then.

We picked "sit" to teach this because Mo does a fine sit - should nothing else exciting be going on.

I say "Sit" - the minute his bottom hits the ground, I click, then we give him a treat.

Our ultimate goal is to replace some unwanted behaviors like jumping and biting, with goal behaviors like sitting or lying down on his mat. Both things he knows how to do BUT he does not currently find sitting preferably to jumping and biting my hands.

All day today Mo has followed me, my clicker, and my treat pouch around. He's more than happy to sit anytime I stop. Often before I can get the command out!

He has quickly learned that clicking is his new favorite thing.

We set aside 100 pieces of kibble today and he has excitedly earned every single one.

Mo and I are both motivated by a good snack.

I've been thinking today as I watch him learning the new system and how eager he is to do what I want him to do because he's learned it's advantageous for him.

I'm on day 2 of an advent book I started with my goal being to journey to the manger intentionally this year. To make time and space for reading, prayer, for looking for the light.

I was pondering today why it's always so hard for me to stick with a plan.

I think because having a healthy spiritual life is nearly the opposite of clicker training.

I read, I pray, I am still.............and often there is no immediate click. No treat within 10 seconds.

Instead there is this trust that the click is silent. That the treat comes in His timing.

This making us a hard people to train I think.

And a people that question whether we got the command right?

Are we supposed to be doing a sit now? Maybe it's a lay? And we either ditch obedience all together or we start fluttering around looking for the click in all different ways.

Mama Warriors, I find my spiritual life falls under that often neglected "self care" category.

There is no click right away like there is when we make the lunches, drive the people around, cross of the to do's.

But the sit is more important than those things. The click is internal.

The treat is eternal.