10 lessons I learnt from my dogs that I apply to corporate life - Part 3

7. If what you want lies deeply buried, dig until you get it! We’ve all seen a dog burying for the forgotten bone (well the location might be forgotten, but not the bone!) Darby has a particular habit of flicking her chews underneath the furniture where she can’t get to them and then scraping the stone floor for an hour like she’s going to dig a tunnel!! And you have to admire that tenacity! This ritual normally results in me on my hands and knees retrieving the chew, but guess what...she gets the result she was after!! So here is my advice - copy her - be that tenacious. If you have a goal (and we should all have career goals) stand firm and keep going until you get there. It may not be all smooth sailing but that’s why you have to dig in and keep going until you get what you want. And when you achieve that goal, of course, you set a new one and start again.

8. My dogs (and all dogs everywhere) never quite trust anyone (human or canine) until they have had a proper good sniff and got the measure of their scent and I think this is a very wise lesson to learn! I am not suggesting that you start going around the office having a good smell of everybody’s smelly bits but I do think we could all benefit from tuning in to our intuition. By definition, intuition is ‘quick insight’ not dependent on any reasoning. In other words, gut instinct. Trust it and it will serve you well. And if you can learn anything from Darby and Jess, 99.9% of the time they are quite happy with everyone they come across, just occasionally they choose not to engage.

9. Guard Your Territory! I work from home a lot. It means I am home alone with the dogs a lot. Before Jessie arrived, my husband and I noticed that there was a pattern with Darby’s body language. Whenever I was home alone I realised she was guarding not only our home but also me. When my husband was at home she was off-guard (as off guard as a dog ever is) but when it was just me, I came to realise she lay in such a way as to be guarding every possible route of access from an unwanted.

If I was in the office she would lie in the doorway facing outwards, if I was in the lounge she would sit blocking the front door and watching the back and so on. My point is, know what is yours and protect, protect, protect it. Don’t give your own prize jewels away - if you are seeking progression and success you have to differentiate yourself from the rest so guard your USP! I would just like to point out here that I trust my house to my dogs on a daily basis, if I asked them to guard my supper, however, this would be another story, although I do know of dogs who once told not to eat something will not eat it...not mine!

10. Take naps. Darby and Jess sleep and wake in probably equal measures. Translating this into us humans, what I mean is you need to practice self-care, take breaks and look after yourself. You will give so much more to yourself and your boss if you are refreshed and calm... trying to be superwoman and burning out will just make you frantic and disorganised and this will show in your work and home lives. (We are hoping to feature our guest blogger, Ralph Woodhall to tell us more about the importance of taking naps soon).

Look out for the next Dog Blog topic soon....if you would like to blog or suggest a topic please let us know in the comments box....