What Puppy Training Teaches Us about Freedom

Do you like to have restrictions put on you? I’m guessing you probably do not. Unfortunately, we often see the Bible as little more than a book full of restrictions. How do we deal with that? Maybe we can learn a lesson from my foray into puppy training.

For years, our kids have been begging for a puppy, even going so far as to volunteer for jobs around the house and post signs reminding us of how they deserved a puppy.

Finally, we broke down and invited Willow into our family. When we got her, she was only nine weeks old—so tiny and so cute.

Immediately we began one of the toughest jobs of our lives—housebreaking a puppy. And let me tell you, it’s not for the faint of heart.

One thing I learned from researching how to train a puppy is that the reason we can housetrain dogs is that they instinctively know that they are not supposed to do their business inside their home. They don’t want to do it where they sleep. We don’t have to teach them that—they already know it.

Deep inside, Willow knows what’s right. We call it instinct. It’s almost like she has a moral code built inside her that says, “Don’t go to the bathroom in your house.” Her instinct is to not do her business in her home, so our job is to teach her that the whole house is her home. That’s not an easy job.

Of course, as a dog, she’s amoral, so she’s not deciding to purposefully disobey us. At least, I don’t think so. Sometimes that look on her face makes me wonder. But we have a moral code put into us by God, and we decide whether or not we will obey it.

To teach Willow where she is supposed to do her business, we can’t let her roam the house. So, whenever we can’t give her our undivided attention, she has to be in her crate.

Now, every morning when I try to eat breakfast and read my Bible in peace, all I hear is ‘Yip, yip, yip!” Someone wants out.

I don’t know how many times I have scolded her: “If you will just learn to go potty outside only, you can be free to roam the house!”

I wonder if God ever says that to us?

Ok—I don’t think God is too worried that we’re going to go potty on the living room rug. But what we fail to understand is that when we refuse to obey His commands because we want our own freedom, we actually give up freedom.

If Willow could think through this, she might say, “Why should I obey you?”

First, it makes me happy. I’m the one who provides her with a nice home and food, so it should matter what I think.

Second, it makes life more pleasant for everyone.

She might think, “So what if I do my business in the house? As long as I’m not hurting anyone else, I should be able to do what I want!” Have you ever heard that before?

But wait a minute…is that true? If she squats over in the corner, she may not think it is hurting anyone, but it is. She just doesn’t understand it.

It makes the whole house smell. Disease could start to spread. Someone has to clean it up (good thing we have kids!). If it goes on for long enough, we have to replace the carpet.

Willow doesn’t understand all of that, but I do. That’s why I put rules on her—no running the house until you can learn to obey.

We may not understand why God puts commands on us. If we did, maybe we would agree with John when he said, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (I John 5:3).

Freedom is not just doing whatever you want to do. If we had no restrictions and no laws, we wouldn’t even be able to function as a society. We just need to wave the white flag of surrender and say, “OK, God, You win. I’ll do it Your way.”

Only then can God trust us with true freedom.