I was talking to a therapist about dogs about a month ago. We had just met to discuss working together to help one of her clients who is afraid of dogs. During our exchange of personal dog stories, I told her about Jack and Mack and their funny relationship.
Jack is King of the house and Mack is his adopted little brother. So like many brothers, the younger little guy, Mack, likes to play rough with his big brother. Jack is a very tolerant big brother and puts up with a lot of ear tugging, mane grabbing, and tail pulling from Mack. It has been entertaining and educational to witness their relationship develop. One of the neat benefits for me is that Jack has done a lot of the training of Mack. Jack started training as a small puppy and is very good with obedience – especially if a treat is involved. He is comical is his speedy automatic moves – sit, down, sit, down, sit, down… Mack has picked up most of his moves from Jack.
Jack and Mack love their people. Jack demands attention. When anyone comes in the door, he will be right there, at your feet, wiggling his Pomeranian mushroom tail and barking. It’s all about Jack. Jack also likes to jump up in your chair with you and snuggle. Mack trots up with a toy in his mouth and tries to get close to be petted. He will also sit up on his plump hind end and beg with his little front paws pawing the air in front of him. He is not able to jump up on any of the furniture as he has not come to believe he can. As you may guess, Jack loves to hog all the attention.
One evening, the boys were particularly excited that Mom was home and sitting in her favorite brown leather chair with her feet up on the hassock. Jack and Mack were trying their hardest to get close for attention. Jack was spinning around and Mack was excitedly trying to push him out of the way to get to Mommy first. Jack backed up for his running leap onto the hassock, landed splat halfway on, and slid back down as a frustrated Mack drug him back by his tail. To say it was funny would be an understatement. Now, Jack wasn’t hurt at all. Undaunted, he back up again, took a running leap, and landed exactly where he wanted to be.
Now relaying that story has brought interesting responses. As for Mack, he got frustrated and worked up the courage to make his feelings known. He wanted the attention and was sick of Jack hogging it all. Of course, I did pick Mack up so he got what he wanted. But interestingly, my new therapist friend remarked,
“It’s awesome how dogs don’t get embarrassed. Jack didn’t care about getting laughed at. He just gave it another try.”
Great lesson, huh? As I have said before, we stop ourselves from doing what we really want to do because we are afraid of what other people will think about us. We don’t want to embarrass ourselves or appear less than perfect. But we forget that people that are worth knowing actually find imperfection more endearing. If you care about someone, you tend to root even harder for them when they struggle a bit, right? And the rest of the people who really don’t care about us? Well, I hate to have to point it out but while we are all anxious about what they think about us, they are NOT EVEN thinking about us. So forget about the ones that really don’t care anyway. They don’t count. Go do your dreams!
WANT TO USE THIS PIECE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Janus Moncur – The Co-Creative Coach(TM)- is a Certified Professional Coach and Founder of Co-Creative Coaching, LLC. She works with individuals as well as groups to help define direction, conquer challenges, and navigate transitions on the ride toward re-creating one’s personal and professional success. For more information or a free sample consultation session, please feel free to connect with Janus at Janus@theCo-CreativeCoach.com.
