Ignore the Barking

Eight years ago my husband and I became first time dog owners of an approximately three year old female shih tzu. Twelve pounds at the time, we adopted her from a rescue group who pulled her from an animal shelter after she was found wandering the streets in a city about thirty miles away and went unclaimed at the shelter.

The rescue group named her Farrah because her hair reminded the rescue group’s foster mom of Farrah Fawcett, the beautiful actress from years ago with the long blonde wavy tresses. She is remembered for her famous 1976 image on the best-selling poster in history. When it came time to rename Farrah, I wanted something fun and different. The name “Fergie” popped into my head, and so it was.

Fergie is the calmest, most chilled out dog I’ve ever met. Even some of my husband’s friends have made the same comment. She always sleeps late and usually is in no rush to go out to do her business. She definitely has a lot of patience and self-control. She’s been such a blessing to us in so many ways. We’ve learned a lot from her over the years.

One such lesson my husband often speaks about revolves around Fergie’s behavior on her walks. When one of us takes Fergie for a walk, occasionally a much bigger dog, and sometimes one the same size or smaller, will be passing by on the opposite side of the street. Ordinarily it’s not an issue, but once in a while one of the other dogs will turn towards Fergie and bark at her in a loud angry way. Sometimes Fergie turns to look at the barking dog while she remains silent, and then just continues on her stroll. And sometimes she won’t even bother to look at the other dog at all as if he/she doesn’t exist. Fergie just keeps walking without acknowledging the barker, although she knows the other dog is speaking to her. In the meantime, the other owner is often trying to hold back their dog and get it to calm down.

Oh how we all could learn from Fergie whenever we have someone “barking” at us for whatever the reason. The bible says in Proverbs 26:20: “Without wood a fire goes out.” If we, as humans, would ignore the “barking” behavior towards us by someone else instead of “barking” back, the fire would die down.

Fergie’s demonstration of Proverbs 26:20 is one to emulate. It would definitely make for a calmer life for those who practice it. It’s certainly working for Fergie.