Dog Gone Missed Opportunity

Do you ever have one of those 'Dog gone missed opportunities'? This is when an opportunity comes along and you totally miss it. Then afterwords, you say to yourself, "Dog gone it! I missed it!"

This happened to me and I totally missed it. I failed to read the signs. Opportunity was looking at me, but dog gone it, I let it slip away.

I was walking my dog to the newspaper stand. A young couple that was passing by stopped us. The lady asked, "Excuse me, we have been watching you walk your dog. Could you tell us how do you get your dog to do that? We have a puppy and we can't get him to listen to us for anything"

She was referring to the way my dog, Buddy Boy, was healing to the left side of me. I told her that we took him to obedience school. Gave them some pointers on the lead and chain, walked him around and showed how he walked and sat on command. Afterwards he barked at the couple for no apparent reason. Then I finished with where they can take their dog for training.

They both smiled and thanked me. They went on their way and Buddy and I continued on to get the paper.

I desperately needed to pick up a newspaper so I could to look in the classified ads for a job. That's right, a job! I have been laid off for the last few months. I have been working hard to make money online. But for some of us, it takes several months or years to become successfully independent on the internet to the point that we don't have to rely on working for someone else and making the boss rich. Let's not even get into when I become a network Guru! I'm still hoping that money will pour out of my computer in the near future. In the meantime, I need work.

(Here are some of the online sites that I have.
Ebook Tree Saver
Embrace The Hill Dog Site
Zenzuu
Lazzeo
Sales Spider
My other lens and the list goes on.)

I thought of this couple as Buddy and I walked home that I could have turned this conversation into a money making opportunity. I could have elaborated on the fact that we (my family) already knew everything about obedience training. We could have trained our dog on our own. The only reason that he was enrolled in the first place was that Buddy did not like other dogs. He needed to develop social skills with his own kind. In other words, he was a dog that loves people and not a dog that loves dogs. He still has some problems with other dogs. It really all depends. He needs time to get to know the other animal. But that is another story.

To get back on track, before Buddy, we had two other dogs, an Irish Setter, (Wendy Ann) and a German Shepherd mix (Chico Bartholomew). We belonged to a kennel club. Our dogs perfected heal; stay, down, sit, come, some tricks and discipline. Our dogs were scored on how perfect they did their routines. We entered our dogs in shows and took home trophies for both. We felt especially proud when our Shepherd mix, took home first place, beating out the pure breeds and their snooty owners. Chico was a proud and conceded canine. He didn't know that he came from mixed blood. He just knew that he was better than everyone else, including us.

My 'Dog gone missed opportunity' was to not offer my service of training their puppy. The place we took Buddy was mediocre at best. I know that I could train their puppy to be a well adjusted and obedient canine.

This is not the first time that an opportunity has presented itself. And it isn't the first time that I turned a deaf ear to the chance of making money!

I am putting the challenge to anyone who is reading this, next time someone talks to you, take time to really listen. Let your brain absorb what is being said. Then ask yourself, (not out loud) "How can I turn this into a dog gone opportunity?"

Update: If you need a little help with your dog or cat, but don't know who to ask, here is some great information from an expert trainer.
Dog Obedience Secrets
House Training
Cat Training