Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Obstacles – Be The Dog

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Before I start this post I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Chuck and Collies of the Meadow, last week they bestowed their Collies Choice award on this blog.  If you have a minute pop over and say hello to Chuck.  His collie Trevor is failing and I’m sure a kind word would make him feel better.

Sampson is a people dog.  Don’t let his enthusiastic run up to your dog fool you, once the greeting is over he will be leaning on your leg encouraging you to pet him.

When we pulled up to the park yesterday morning Bob and Marge (a couple we’ve met on the trail) were just walking in.  Sampson was super excited.  By the time I opened the door to let the dogs out Bob and Marge had made their way into the field.

Sampson jumped out of the car and started to run up the path.  He’s usually very good about not getting too far ahead of me and apparently he had reached his comfort zone and turned around and came back to me.

Being a projective thinker I figured by the time we got to the field they would be long gone.

I was wrong.

They were stretching.  Still I felt like we shouldn’t bother them, so despite the eager look in Sampson’s eyes, I told him, no let’s go this way.

We headed up the hill.

I enjoy the hikes as much as the dogs but I usually let them choose the walk, and yesterday Sampson chose to head back to the field.  Not being a projective thinker, he assumed Bob and Marge would be where he left them.

Sampson was wrong, but that doesn’t matter.  What matters is being the dog, he found a way around his obstacle (which was me not allowing him into the field.)

Sampson came at his obstacle from a different direction.

You can over-come your obstacles. Be The Dog.

 

What kind of obstacles are preventing you from achieving your goals? What can you do to over-come them?

Don’t let obstacles get in your way.

Be The Dog.

Don't Project – Be The Dog

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I probably shouldn’t admit this, but there are some blogs that I just can’t wait to read.  When I sign into my google reader I go straight for those blogs.  Of course I won’t tell you which ones I read first, because that would be like telling one of your kids that you liked them better than the other. 🙂

I’m going to go on record right now saying, I want to be your favorite blog in your google reader, and I plan on working hard to make it so.

I’m loving the “Be The Dog” slogan, that’s all I’ve thought about since yesterday.  There are so many lessons we can learn from our dogs, not least of which is not to project what is going to happen, but to live in the now.

We all know dogs are not linear thinkers, they do not have the capabilities of projecting (or anticipating if you will) what will happen next.

There have been a couple of times while out walking where I’ve lost Sampson.   Usually it is because he has seen or smelled something and run off to investigate.  In the meantime I have continued walking but Sampson doesn’t understand the concept that I was here and now I’m there.  He cannot project where I will be upon his return.  He only knows where I was when he left me.  Sampson lives in the now.

As you know Delilah has run off on me a number of times, the worst (for me) being the day she got stuck under someone’s air conditioner. Delilah does not project the outcome when she runs off.  All she knows is there is something far more exciting than whatever it is that I have in my treat bag.  She does not project that if she runs off, on our next walk she will be on leash and not allowed those freedoms.  Delilah lives in the now.

We need to learn to live in the now.  To not project what will happen if we write that slightly controversial blog post, or submit a query letter to an agent.  You will never know unless you try.

When you are older, sitting on the porch in your rocking chair telling stories to your great-grand children let them be stories about things you’ve accomplished, don’t let them be regrets for not having tried.

If it is something you want to do, just DO IT.  Don’t be afraid about what might happen. Don’t put that kind of restriction on yourself, live in the now.

Don’t Project – Be The Dog.

Be The Dog

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Back in April, Pamela over at Something Wagging had a post titled, You Can’t Do That! Oh yeah? Watch Me.

In the post Pamela made the observation that there are so many people who tell us what we cannot do.  Pamela stated “Well I like surprises—people and animals that do awesome things because they don’t know they’re not expected to do them well.”

Then she posted a video of a St. Bernard doing agility.

I know.  Not normally a dog you would associate with that sport.

But here’s the kicker, the St. Bernard has no idea that the agility ring isn’t designed for large dogs, he just knows that it’s something he enjoys doing.  And he does it quite well I might add.

In the comments I noted in response to another blogger’s comment, “it’s much harder trying to do something others tell you, you can’t, then doing something when you just don’t know better.”

I ended the post with, “Be the St. Bernard.”

Pamela said it was a lovely mantra.

A couple of weeks ago Pamela had another post, Don’t Worry About Messing Up Your Hair, in which she noted dog’s aren’t self-conscious like humans are.

A dog doesn’t care what it looks like after rolling in that mud puddle, the dog just knows that the mud puddle looks fun.  After this post I noted perhaps the mantra should change from Be The St. Bernard to Be The Dog.

Dogs have a way of living in the moment, it doesn’t matter how their day went, if you come home and say want to go for a walk, the dog seizes the opportunity.

The dog has no idea of what it can’t do.  Can’t isn’t a word dogs understand.

After listening to today’s keynote speaker, Lena West via the live stream from BlogPaws 2012 Conference I’ve decided I need to take can’t out of my vocabulary.

There are a number of things I need to do if I want to take this blog to the next level.

If I want this blog to live up to its full potential, I need to seize opportunities.

I need to be the dog.

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