I Was Wrong About Being Right PART 4 “Old Dogs and New Tricks” (Traditional Service)

You’re familiar with the phrase, “You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks”.

Turns out it’s not exactly true. Old dogs can learn new tricks, but it appears to be a more difficult task to accomplish.

At the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the world’s third-oldest veterinary teaching hospital, researchers ran 95 border collies through three tests: learning, problem-solving, and memory. The ages ranged from five months to 13 years, and for the most part was not a huge determinant of the dog’s performance. All dogs, young and old alike, were able to learn to identify certain images on a screen, solve the problem of dummy pics being introduced into the mix, and still retain what they learned months later.

The only difference being that the “seniors” (the dogs ages 10 and up) took about twice as long to learn.

They were, in a word, stubborn.

Mark recalls the story of when Jesus encounters a woman who pushes back on the whole concept of barriers, borders, prejudices, and bigotry. She has a daughter who needs help. Jesus not only crosses the border into a foreign land, but he also obliterates the walls we build believing that people who are not like us are undeserving and unworthy.

Any good trainer will tell you: It’s not the old dog who can’t learn new tricks.

It’s you. Or, as Jesus would say: The problem isn’t them, it’s us.