My relationship with my dog is like a jar of marbles

Using Brené Brown's trust analogy to improve our bond

One of the most helpful analogies I’ve found for life with my Australian cattle dog, Scout, is that our relationship is like a jar of marbles.

When I advocate for her, make things fun, and build trust, we put a few marbles in. When I make a mistake, confuse her, or react unfairly, we take a few marbles out.

What really matters at the end of the day is that the jar isn’t empty — that, even though it’s inevitable to lose a marble here and there (ha ), the ultimate volume still grows over time.

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The marble jar represents trust

I’ve heard versions of this analogy from a few different places, but my personal favorite is in Brene Brown’s book Daring Greatly.

My partner Sean and I read it out loud together last winter, and this way of looking at relationships — especially the complicated, far-from-black-and-white area of trust — really stuck with me.

We aren’t defined by any single moment

I have a tendency to focus in on specific moments. A single win feels like the ultimate success… and a single mi…