Brad Hall: HALL THINGS CONSIDERED: The truth about Jax and dogs

Sep. 4—They say that having a dog can prepare you for raising a small child, and in many ways they are right.

Both of them depend on you for just about everything, and yet neither of them come with an instruction manual. So while you're training your puppy, you're also sharpening your paternal or maternal instincts.

Having a dog also helps brace you for the craziness you're about to experience with the around-the-clock needs of an infant and the whirlwind of raising a toddler.

While you're busy cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry, your dog will no doubt start to cry for something. Then as you take a break to tend to him, you find he's eaten your shoes and peed all over the couch.

My 2-year-old son Jaxson and my dog Skipper certainly have their own commonalities — the biggest of which being their love of going outside.

Skipper will beg to go outside seemingly all day long, and even a few times in the middle of the night. Anytime he sees an opportunity, or senses we're about to leave him for a few hours, he won't stop until his leash is on and our shoes are on.

It's especially the case whenever we take him out of town with us because he loves to explore his new surroundings.

Likewise, Jaxson will dart for the door every time it opens — and yes that also includes every time Skipper wants to go out. Most of the time Jaxson won't even wait around for us to grab his shoes as he's just as content running around in the grass barefooted.

He gets excited when he sees cars and trucks go up and down our road, and absolutely loves it if he gets the chance to see a big yellow school bus pass by.

He also loves to play with our outdoor cat Fluff as "kitty" is one of the words he can say.

Recently, he's even started climbing up his little slide by himself to either slide down it or drop balls down it.

But perhaps the most important similarity between Jaxson and Skipper, and between dogs and kids in general, is they teach you how to put someone else first.

They're going to take the best seat in the house and control the TV, they're going to take a big chunk of your paycheck, and they're going to make you be on their schedule regardless of your plans.

And while we make these sacrifices out of necessity, above all we put their needs and wants over our needs and wants because we love them and want what is best for them. Before long, you realize that those sacrifices aren't really sacrifices. Instead, they are joys and privileges.

I touched on it last week that we all need to take time to care about other people's needs instead of focusing on our wants and our idols. and I know that can be easier said than done if we're all being honest.

But when you start to make it a routine of putting others first, you'll start to feel like it's less of a sacrifice and more of a privilege. The joy you will feel from helping someone in need will far outweigh a couple of extra hours binge watching a TV show or scrolling through Facebook.

Most importantly, you will make God smile when you use your blessings to help someone instead of letting them go to waste.

Philippians 2:4 says, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."

Would I still know how to change diapers if I didn't have a dog?

Sure.

And would I understand that I shouldn't clean up vomit with my bare hands if I didn't have a dog?

Of course.

But Skipper did give my wife and I a heads up on what life would be like as we transform to the joyous privilege of parenthood, and for that we'll always be grateful.

Brad Hall is the nighttime editor at the Times-Tribune. He can be contacted at bhall@thetimestribune.com.