...Enthusiasm!!! We had a wonderful Toastmasters meeting (Public speaking club) yesterday. Our featured speaker shared the Keys for Success. He encouraged the group to think about; what is our motivation for success? His favorite of the Keys was "Enthusiasm"! I could not agree more. He went on to list persistence, determination and the fact that we often become that which we think about most often - self-fulfillment. I left the meeting feeling encouraged!
When I think of the word enthusiasm the picture that pops into my mind is my son's dog Ezra (pictured above). Ezra does everything with enthusiasm...he loves his family and spending time with them and shows it. But Ezra's true joy in life, the thing that makes him come alive, is agility. The smile on his face is evident in the picture above. He can barely contain his enthusiasm when he sees a course of fences. Ezra inspires me. Ezra has taught me what being enthusiastic is all about. Ezra is very successful in agility...he loves it, he's determined, he's persistent and he has FUN!
As I continued to reflect on this very thoughtful and well done speech; I saw the parallel to dog training. So often when we work with our dogs we already have a thought in our mind. Our dog..."doesn't listen, he jumps, she barks, she has too much energy, I can't____"(fill in the blank). These unproductive thoughts become self-fulfilling. I am encouraged to continue sharing my pawsitive outlook to training and working with dogs. When we are having fun...when we are enthusiastic about what we do - we inspire others around us. I believe with pawsitive thinking, determination, persistence and consistency - we can inspire our dogs to become the well-behaved dog we always dreamed of.
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