The Puppiness Project – Ask for Help

Gretchen Rubin wrote in The Happiness Project about the year she spent “test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happy.” The Puppiness Project is my attempt to learn the same from Honey, my Golden Retriever.

I once read of a study where a Border Collie and Golden Retriever were given a complicated puzzle to solve. The Border Collie worked tenaciously to work out the problem while the Golden Retriever stopped after a few minutes and looked at the person giving the test. The researcher felt that the Golden Retriever’s looking to a person for help demonstrated he wasn’t as intelligent as the Border Collie (I’ve been unable to find this study again; if you have a link, please share.)

I’m not going to touch the question of which dog breed is more intelligent. But I will say that I’m fascinated with the way Honey looks to us for help when she’s learning something new.

From puppyhood, we’ve never fed Honey from a bowl. As we’ve introduced harder food toys, Honey has looked to us for help in figuring things out before she’s ready to take them on alone.

I definitely need to learn this!

I started Something Wagging This Way Comes to learn something about blogging while keeping a record of Honey’s development. Now I’m hoping to launch a blog for home buyers that will (hopefully) provide some income. And the same learning curve that daunts me in creating Something Wagging is paralyzing me in creating my new project.

It’s time for me to look to others for help.

I’ve been lucky to have my friend Eva provide encouragement and a listening ear. An extrovert sitting in front of a computer for hours at a time is not a pretty sight and I’m thankful for real time friends that get me out of the dark room dominated by a big computer screen.

It’s time I stopped pretending I know what I’m doing and connect with people who know what I don’t. And maybe I can help them too.

I’m connecting with people in my neighborhood. But I’m also reaching out to people in my virtual community–starting here.

So if you think you’d find it helpful to bounce ideas off another (amateur) blogger or just want to share accountability for goals, let me know. (Or perhaps you have some questions about buying a home?) Maybe we can help each other. You can leave a comment here or send me an email at somethingwagging at gmail dot com (y’know, substitute @ for “at” and . for “dot”).

See, Honey, I do pay attention to what you have to teach me.