I used to have a very big Great Dane. I also had a small picket fence on my section.
When my dog, Duke, was a puppy he couldn’t get over that fence. So he formed an opinion in his mind that, “he couldn’t get over the fence”.
Even when he was about a foot or so taller than that fence he still never attempted to get over it because he thought that he still couldn’t do it. He didn’t believe that he could jump that fence. To me it was clearly obvious that he could easily get over it, but not to Duke because he still had his imaginary limitations in front of him informing him that he was trapped.
One day he saw a dog on the other side of that picket fence, to him this was an intruder on our property and off he went, over the picket fence and after that intruder. In one swift leap he easily cleared the fence and was over the other side chasing that dog outraged that the dog had the nerve to enter Dukes yard – he also cleared away any doubts in his own mind that he may have had about whether he could get over that picket fence.
In its place I had to build a 6 foot (1.83 m) fence to keep him in, now that he realised that he could jump the picket fence easily.
We also had him chained up on the back yard at times. And one day I was working on my computer and I looked out the window and Duke was happily asleep in the sun. But then, what did I see? A foolish large brown dog was walking around in our garden not far from where Duke was sleeping in the sunshine. I watched to see what would happen. I knew that it was going to be fun and that the visiting dog would get the shock of its life. But I also knew that Duke was securely chained up, so I had no worries of him bounding away down the road after this dog.
Great Danes can be enormous dogs of great strength and are very fast for short bursts. Duke must have smelled the scent of the dog or heard it. In a flash he was standing up tall, erect and instantly tense and ready for action. He had been chained to that chain for a few years on and off, it was strong and solid, and seemed unbreakable. All Duke did (and I was amazed when I saw this), he flexed his shoulder, chest and neck muscles, moved his head and neck forward for an instant and snapped the big strong chain clip into pieces, all the while his whole concentration and focus was on that visiting dog. I saw the metal bits flying in the air, and a second later Duke was bounding after that dog at full “fully charged” speed. It was amazing to watch, and my faith in Duke as a guard dog and bodyguard just grew in leaps and bounds.
That chain held Duke in place for years. All it took was something that had a stronger desire for Duke and he new that he could break that chain of limitation instantly. He didn’t even tug on the chain. He confidently snapped it in a second and was off doing what he wanted to do. The need to do this was stronger than any other feelings that he had at this point.
Sometimes we have to take the plunge to know what we can do, and what we can achieve. It is often what it takes to show us what we are really capable of.
All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
October 10, 2014.