a doberman and her sticks

Dogs, ummm, well, any pet for that matter, are not my thing.

They smell. They shed. They have accidents in the house. Can you see me wrinkling up my face as I type this?

My husband, on the other hand, absolutely loves all animals. And so, we own a Doberman Pincher.

I recently read this online, “The Doberman is mentally superior to most breeds, with high drives, high energy and excellent working ability. They are the fifth smartest breed and easily trained. That intelligence comes at a price—to their human friends.”

First of all, we are not friends. Secondly, I can tell you, with absolute certainty, intelligence comes at a price with this breed! Rae, our dobie, is A LOT of work. She needs a great deal of physical and mental challenges throughout her day… and even after a 4 mile walk at the Afton State Park, she turns and looks at me as if to say, “Okay, what’s next?!”

This morning, we were out for our morning neighborhood walk and ran into two of our neighbors. They looked at her and said, ““Rae, where is your stick?” As I reflected on this, I thought about another couple in our neighborhood who asked the same thing last week. In fact, I think every neighbor has commented on our dog who loves sticks. She races through the neighborhood with them - the bigger and pokier the better! And awhile back at the state park, a man asked with a very confused tone, “Is that a breed that typically fetches?” I am not sure you know this; dobermans are not natural fetchers.

But Rae… she’s a fetcher.

As I walked with her this morning, I chuckled at how odd she looks traipsing through our neighborhood with sticks. It reminded me of how much she stands out; it seems everyone notices the oddity of a doberman running around with sticks in her mouth.

I wonder…

In a world that wants us to fit in, do we stand out?

I want to be more like Rae.

Standing out in the crowd… for Jesus.