Three Business Lessons That Came to Mind While Dog-sitting My Neighbor’s Beagle

Oscar the Beagle knows me. He’s been to my house to visit me and even had previous sleepovers. I’ve been to his house to visit him, but no sleepovers. His people were heading out of town recently and asked if I could keep him for 5 days. Of course I could! He’s fun to have around although he sheds like nobody’s business. I scooped him up after work on Wednesday and brought him over. As I watched his behavior during the next few days, I couldn’t help but notice a few business lessons that he pointed out to me. In his own little neurotic canine way.

1. Assess Your Situation Quickly. Although Oscar had been here before, he hurriedly made the rounds of my house. He walked the perimeter of every room sniffing, evaluating and looking. He glanced outside to the back yard and then promptly ran upstairs. Sniffing each room as he surveyed all around the upstairs, and in about four minutes, he decided this was an okay place, ran downstairs and got very comfortable on the sofa. On top of the old sheet that draped it in preparation for his shedding visit. Lesson: Sometimes we spend entirely too much time analyzing situations. A quick once over can be all that is necessary to assess a situation. Not always, but sometimes.

2. Learn to Adapt. Oscar has a leather bench placed strategically in front of the living room window at his house, so he can survey the neighborhood and watch every single passerby – a car, a person, or another canine which usually gets a bark or two. But at my house, I have no bench. And his bench was too big and bulky to drag across the street to my place. So he improvised. He jumped on the love seat and strategically balanced his little beagle body on the arm of the un-sheeted love seat so he could survey the neighborhood. From a different perspective, but he seemed okay from his new “throne.” Lesson: Although your normal environment may be disrupted, you can adapt and still perform your task, but with a different perspective.

3. Thank Those Who Help You. Of course I walked him, fed him, and played with him and his favorite slobbery rope toy. We watched a movie together on Saturday afternoon and I fed him more Milk Bone treats than I should have. I made sure he was comfy when he went to bed. I let him explore my back yard that has a ravine over the little hill. And I introduced him to some other neighborhood dogs (Maddie and Bentley) through the fence, and they all said hello and exchanged tail wags. Throughout his stay, he cuddled with me on the couch, tried incessantly to share my dinner with me, and made countless attempts to kiss me. He's very sneaky. But I do know in his own little way, he was trying to thank me for taking care of him while his people were away. Lesson: Remember those who help you even in the smallest way with the smallest task – they all deserve a thank you.

 Jayni Sech, CUDE, is the CEO of Marketing Solutions Unlimited, a credit union marketing company that provides marketing assistance to credit unions.