Dear (Your Name!),
I've been watching Muster Dogs on Netflix this week. It's one of those shows that attracts words like 'charming', 'heart-warming' and 'uniquely Australian'! 😍
(So it's a good antidote to the Black Mirror, Squid Games kind of stuff that I probably shouldn't watch but do anyway! 🙈 🙉 🙊)
Back to Muster Dogs!!
It follows the first year of a litter of 5 kelpie sheep-dog puppies, each sent to Aussie farmers in far off points of the Outback. They have 4, 6, 9 and 12-month milestones to reach. Accelerated working-puppy training. Luckily they are super-smart pups and (most of) the owners are too. (Aaah, Rob.😕 )
They are the kind of assessments you would expect - obeying basic commands, starting to work with the sheep and cattle, getting along with the other muster dogs.
But two things struck me as I was watching:
1. The order of the challenges was not what I expected... and
2. This is directly applicable to training our own mind - getting our inner thoughts and feelings under control, just like wayward puppies!
Let me explain.
1. The very first challenge to complete is Forming an Early Bond. It's all about connection and love. There's verbal and physical contact (like watching each other and lots of cuddles!) but also what they call 'Bluetooth' contact, a kind of knowing, or sensing, an energetic connection between the two.
Only after that is established, they go on to basic 'sit, stay, hold' commands and teaching the dog to run clockwise and anticlockwise around the cattle as well as even more advanced stuff.
In the final assessment they do a technique, the 50 Meter Cast. The dog has to run out in a wide arc around the herd, and then guide them gently back to the owner.
2. This is the one that got me thinking about our minds - how our thoughts are like cattle or sheep. Lots of them and often scattered and unruly and potentially destructive.
And how, with our intention and our energy (that's us as the owner or shepherd) we can use our mind (our muster-dog) to bring our thoughts (the cattle) gently back under control. 🤗
And the last point they make, throughout the series, is that it only takes a few minutes a day to achieve amazing results!
Here's to training our Inner Muster-Dogs! ❤️
Jenny
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