Behavior

When we sold our farm and moved to the city, the only animals that we kept were our Great Pyrenees, Cloud, and our yard cat, Gus. Contrary to popular beliefs about “You can’t move an outside cat,” Gus made the move with no problems. However, Cloud, who had been a part of our family for nine years was very unhappy.

All her life Cloud had lived in the pasture with our livestock, so moving to the city and being confined to a small yard did not make her happy. We constructed a six-foot privacy fence because Cloud could easily jump a four-foot fence. Since she could not jump the fence, she started digging under the fence, so I installed an electric wire around the bottom of the fence. That stopped her from digging, but in her own way, Cloud was very expressive in letting me know that she was unhappy. She started losing weight and moping around.

The people who bought our farm wanted us to leave Cloud on the farm when we moved, so we made the tough decision to make us unhappy and make Cloud happy. We took her home, and the new owners graciously gave us visiting rights. Cloud is content to be back in familiar surroundings.  

Recently, I was telling my dental hygienist, Brandi, about having to return Cloud to the farm. Brandi has cleaned our teeth for 15 years, so she has learned a lot about our family, and I, in turn, have learned a lot about her family—since she has her fingers in my mouth for a large portion of my visit to the dentist’s office.

Brandi shared a story about their dog, Zeus. Their young son often rides his small ATV on their farm and does not always tell his parents where he will be riding. They installed an underground “fence” around their house so Zeus will not run away. They discovered that when their son took off on the ATV that Zeus would lie down and patiently wait in the nearest corner of the hidden wire in the direction that his master had driven away.

When we lived in the bush of Burkina Faso, we constructed dozens of water catchments among nearby villages to retain rainfall during the short 14-week rainy season. Villagers used the water for their livestock and to make mud blocks for construction of huts, walls, and granaries. One of these was for the village next to our home. The soil was not good for retaining water, so I added some Bentonite that I had imported from the USA to help seal the muddy bottom of the pond.

Then I put a solar electric wire around the pond. The single wire was about 10 inches off the ground. I assigned one of the orphan boys that we took care of to herd our pigs out to the pond each morning and drive them back to the pig pen in the late afternoon. The pointed toes of the pigs plus the fact that they would wallow around in the mud would all help to compact the sealant into the mud and help seal the bottom of the pond. A week or so after I asked him to do this, I walked over the pond and noticed that the wire was lying on the ground. I was angry because I wanted the pigs to be confined to the bottom of the pond, and the solar electric wire would not produce any shock for the pigs touching it if it was lying on the ground.

I confronted the boy charged with herding the pigs. After a scolding for not telling me about the wire on the ground, the young man told me that the pigs did not need the fence anymore because after a few of them had their noses shocked, not a one of them would ever get close to the wire fence. They learned that they did not want to go near that wire from watching other pigs squeal after touching it.

The next day I observed him herding the pigs, but he did not have to do any herding. He opened the gate, and the pigs immediately ran out of their pen and straight to the pond and did their work. The young man did not bother to hook the wire that served as the gate for the wire fence. In the afternoon he merely walked down to the pigs and led them out the ‘”gate” and they ran back into the pen.

A few days later, I needed the solar charger and wire for another project, so I removed the fence. The pigs’ behavior did not change, and they enthusiastically ran each day and stayed cool in the mud without ever running away.

Like us humans, an animal’s behavior can be learned from choices, repetition, developing habits and watching what others do. Our lives reflect the choices that we make and who we imitate. In our culture today there is much evil and so many inexplicable behaviors.

We are divine creatures, but we have severe flaws. We descend into horrible depths yet ascend to exalted heights. We are imbued with virtues such as integrity and compassion but also with vices like greed, cheating, and violence.

Scientists spend a lot of resources researching human behavior to explain why people do what they do. They should spend more time studying the Bible for good and evil are not new to our culture today. The Lord has given us sufficient guidance through His words such as these:

“It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” Titus 2:12

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

By the way, the pigs successfully sealed the bottom of that pond, and the next rainy season it filled with water!