I love watching my dogs run and play, they are a real lesson to me each and every day about staying true to yourself, and living in the now. You never see your dog worrying if Scout doesn’t find her attractive , or how she’s going to pay for her next vet appointment, or what the other dogs in the neighbourhood think of her kennel. I always think it’s a funny saying ” It’s a dogs life” because I reckon my dogs have got it pretty good, lying in the sun all day, cuddles on the couch at night and food scraps all day at random. So, I thought  I might share some of the insight that my dogs shared with me this week running along in the forestry.

Neo as a baby

Neo aka “Big Man” is not a smart man, we often like to give him voice overs ala Homer Simpson and when we go out running I don’t need to put him on the leash because he’s quite happy to hang close by me. Sometimes a little too close, just like this one time, I bent over to tie my shoes and I got a very cold wet and nasty surprise that made me straighten up again very very quickly!  Neo is an amazing creature to watch,as he gallops and leaps,  but he’s not a leader, he absorbs the energy of the other dogs. When they sprint, he sprints, when they cruise, so does he but no matter what pace – he enjoys every single minute of it.

Audi my late beloved Doberman picking a fight with a cow, and Neo doing whatever she says!

Neo VERSUS Bull - You can pay your own vet insurance mate !

If you are a Neo style you work best with the support of others—you need a strong motivated leader who you can trust and is willing to show you the way. You are at your happiest when you can share the journey with others. Never be afraid to ask for others for help, and if they don’t listen to you the first time, whine pathetically at their door until they give in, they’ll give in eventually.

Indie the 6 year old Queen Bee Beagle

Indie is a girl after my own heart, she is the most driven and instinctive of my pack. She runs at a consistent 12 o’clock to me and she never ever gets let off the lead. The last time I let her off, we came around the corner and there were 3 massive Kangaroos she chased off into the forestry. She didn’t come back for 3 hours.  Once I let her off to do some step ups, I did 12 and looked up to see her already 30 metres away running after a wallaby. Sometimes we get calls from the Mobil servo, “ We’ve got your beagle, but come quick cos we’ve run out of sausage rolls”  Once she ate a whole packet of rat sack, ( we think a neighbour trying to protect his chooks bated her ) -  the only reason she’s alive today is because we discovered a great big green rat sack poo and got her off to the vet in time.
Indie is the one who is so motivated, so driven that she can not hear me call out to her even if she WANTED to come back. She is the one who can smell the wallabies and sounds off to the other dogs, it’s pretty cool to see how generations of breeding have created that “Release The Hounds! ” sound they make – it gives me goose bumps.

I admire Indie , either she’s playing hard out, she’s cuddling up to Pete on the couch , or she’s eating her food, neo’s food, and then she’s trying to eat the  chooks from next door. Her motto is if it moves, eat it , if it lies still , eat it and if you’re eating it , I want it. She lives life to the fullest, she listens to her instincts, she stays true to what her inner being wants at the time. and she makes no apologies for it .

If you are an Indie style you just need to take the time to realise the power you have within by setting aside time each day to meditate. You are a passionate person so you throw yourself into projects but you can get easily distracted by other things you are passionate about. The lesson for you is to acknowledge when you stray and why, and not to view your misadventures as failures or mistakes, it’s just a part of the journey. It’s what makes this roller coaster of life fun .

Cuba the 6 month old Hungarian Vizsla

Cuba is a high spirited puppy who loves to be right in the thick of the action, and if that means she has to sit on Scout’s head, or climb up Neo’s back to get the best sleeping position or begging position she has absolutely no qualms. Cuba is also high maintenance, she wants to be everywhere all at once, and when I finally let her off the lead she covers so much more ground than the other dogs, except it’s in a horizontal zig zagging fashion !
Sometimes she wants to get “there” so quickly that her running looks like a galloping turtle she is so close to the ground and pulling so hard on the chain. Her focus is so set on everything else but the task at hand, it doesn’t matter how many times I Dog Whisperer style “Ccccchhhh” her and poke her in the net, pull her back with the leash or run with a tennis racket in front of her face ( yes the humour of what I must look like isn’t lost on me )

Then we come back home and she’s so exhausted she doesn’t care if you never say the word leash again, she’s out like a light!

If you are like Cuba, it pays to keep your head up and focused on your end destination and remember why you want to be there. Don’t get distracted by all the wonderfully tempting fetid delights you come across along the way  you will save time, money and energy if you just consolidate a little. You might have subscribed to the “No Pain No Gain” dogma in the past, and it’s time for you to realise that just because you’re pulling on that collar so hard you’re almost asphixiating, it doesn’t get you there any faster. Give yourself a little bit of encouragement, to stay the path and to be patient, if you focus on the process the results will come.

Scout the 5 year old Beagle and Pete enjoying a beer

When I go running with Scout, he insists on running out at a 5’oclock angle as far away from me and everyone else as possible. But there gets a time where it does not matter how much I yell, scream or shout—he would rather let me drag him along the ground than keep up . He will not miss out on smelling all those deliciously intoxicating smells. Sometimes he just stops dead in his tracks and locks eyes with me and starts pooing,  (a subtley which isn’t lost on me ) then as I’m gagging on his poo vapours in disgust, he walks past me nonchalantly, winks his little date at me and it’s like he’s saying to me  “ Cop that sweet’art, Suffer in your jocks! ” ( Yep, i’m pretty sure Scout has a cockney accent )

So out of necessity I let Scout off the leash and he will stay in the one spot until I am 100m away but as soon as he realises he’s been left behind; He will sprint his little legs off, way faster than I ever make him run, with the biggest smile on his face until he gets about 20 metres away and then starts sniffing again.

The best approach for you if you have a Scout’s Motivational style is if you make sure you do what YOU want, on YOUR terms. Don’t do anything just because you “think” you should, for society’s norms or for what other people will think of you. You have to tune into what is really important for YOU and your morals.

And DON’T get a trainer who will yell and shout at you because in the end you’ll just want to shit all over them.

Me hanging out with Audi and baby Neo

What motivational style am I ?

Well I’m actually all of them , at different stages of the year, of my life, I experience all of them, but I find personally the one I get the most results with is Indie’s style, – it’s also the style I get most off track with ! The point I want to make to you is , that there’s no right or wrong way, just as long as each time you approach a goal with a desired result you  take the time to get really quiet, and listen to your inner guidance.

Tips To Unlocking Your Inner Motivation

1. Review  your daily activities, what do you enjoy, wat things ould you enjoy if you were fitter ? What things would you enjoy if you had the right support ?

2. Sit Down and take some quiet time and ask yourself – If Iwas brave and I always knew what was best for me – What is the best path for me to take right now ?

3. Listen to the guidance that comes to you, what feels like you are flowing with the current, what feels like you are pushing upstream ?

4. Go With It ! Don’t fight against what you think you “should” do as it will only lead to changes for you in the short term, and have dissapointing results in the long term. Discover your own personal “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow, it might be not needing a sarong wrapped around you on the beach, it might mean being fit enough to walk up your super steep driveway without stopping. Explore how that pot of gold feels, taste it, hold it, imagine what your life looks like being enriched with your own pot of gold, and trust me friends – you will feel yourself hurtling down the rapids of change without resistance, without effort and with great success !