Your Dog May Need A Success Coach…And You Might, Too!
We recently got a dog. I had been lobbying against getting a dog for two years. Both my wife and especially my kids wanted a dog, but I knew that another animal would only mean more work for…you know who! (Turns out I was wrong.)
At the end of last summer, I was at a local mall, and I saw some rescue dogs up for adoption. Despite my natural inclination to run the other way, I stopped by the cages and looked at them.
I saw one cute little dog named Ellie. She was a mutt. Probably part Corgie, part a lot of other things. I liked her eyes. They were liquid and sweet looking.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I must have been under some sort of alien or paranormal influence. I went straight home, calling my wife en route to tell her that I had found a really sweet dog that I thought would be perfect for our kids. When I got home Suzy went back to the mall, ostensibly to put her stamp of approval on Ellie. The kids were so excited! They couldn’t wait for Mommie to get home. While she was gone, I told them all about Ellie; how she was the perfect size, had a great disposition, wasn’t hyper, all of that.
Suzy came back about thirty minutes later. We all ran out to the car to greet Ellie. Suzy got out and then opened the back door and got the dog out. Only it wasn’t Ellie!
My wife had nixed Ellie for some reason I’ve never understood, although I’m sure she was right. The dog she brought home looked like a dirty snowball, but she had the most human-looking, beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen on a dog. Her name was (and is) Emma.
With a few neurotic exceptions Emma has been perfect, and I’ve lost some of my natural repulsion toward dogs. I give her her last walk of the day (because it’s dark), and I’ve come to actually, almost look forward to it.
I guess I’ve always been a cat person. Suzy and I have had cats for the past quarter century, and they’ve worked out fine. They’re smart. They live a long time. Most importantly, they can take care of themselves! Dogs can’t–at least not like cats. I’ve had to get used to this.
One interesting difference between Emma and all of the cats we’ve ever had is this.
Let’s say a cat is in a room sleeping. He wakes up and decides that it’s time to get a bite to eat. What does the cat do? Walk over to the door and pull at it with his claws to open it. Cats are amazing this way.
In Geometry there’s actually a theorem that explains how a door works. It’s called The Hinge Theorem. You study Geometry in ninth and tenth grade. That’s how advanced the cat brain is. (Or that’s how pathetic the American educational system is. It’s according to how you want to look at it.)
Emmy can’t open a door!
If Emmy wants to go through a doorway, and if the door is half way shut so that she can’t fit through the resulting space, she stands there and looks at the door–then barks, loudly. All she would need to do is to push at the door, or to put her muzzle on it and use her body to widen the crack, then go through.
Emmy has everything she needs to go out of the room, she just doesn’t think she does. It’s a sort of brain hardware problem.
I’ve thought about finding a dog success coach to help her expand her ideas about what she can accomplish.
Of course, when you think about it, a lot of us are like Emmy. We realize that we no longer want to be in the room where we currently are. We see the door–blogging, starting a business, getting married, having children, moving to another part of the county, moving to another county, changing careers, making more money–and we just stare at the door thinking My God! there’s a door there. It’s blocking my way. I don’t know how to move it. I’m not capable of leaving this room that I no longer want to be in.
Just like Emmy, usually all it takes is a willingness to go just nudge the door out of the way.
I know Emmy needs a doggie success coach, for the door and for so many other things. Are there doors in your life blocking your path? I suspect so. I know there are in mine. I’m not even going to nudge them open. I think I’ll just break the door down, explode it into a million splinters! How much fun would that be?
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