We feed our puggle twice a day: once in the morning, when we get up, and once in the evening around 6 o'clock. At each of his two mealtimes, he gets a small metal bowl filled with dry dog food ("Chef Michaels"- we spoil him). The puggle usually devours his repasts in a matter of nanoseconds. Then he licks the bowl and checks around the floor for any errant pieces he may have knocked out in his haste. Finally, he bats the bowl with his paws.
At first, none of us could figure out why he does this. It's not just an occasional quirk. He hits his bowl after every single meal. I think I solved the riddle, though. He's hoping that somehow, by whacking his little metal bowl with his paw, it will magically fill up with food again. In effect, he's swatting it as if to say "Bad bowl!" and make it do what he wants. It has never worked.
Yet, despite the day-in and day-out failure of this tactic, he has never given up faith. Every morning and every evening he adamantly whacks that bowl with renewed vigor. You could (very easily, of course) view his behavior as an exercise in futility. I prefer to see it as a demonstration of hope and optimism. From what I understand, dogs don't think about the future very well, but our puggle has at least a rudimentary instinct that persistence yields results. Even though Pavlovian behavior would dictate he should have learned to give up by now due to his lack of reward, he has refused to abandon his plan. Of course, if he's ever successful, he'll have the last laugh.
My puggle's an interesting case study in this regard, I think. As sales professionals perhaps we have advertising routines such as e-mails, letters, brochures... even blogs. Maybe they haven't yielded results in some time. At what point should we give up? If you look to my dog as inspiration, you might hold off before you concede defeat. Persistence may not create real magic, but it really does lead to results, and a closed deal seems magical enough.
At Obbee, we persistently help realtors, insurance agents, mortgage brokers and debt settlement/ loan modification consultants by providing fresh, qualified sales leads. We use the internet to create motivated prospect lists, available in real-time. No magic involved, but increased business will put more food on your table. :)
- Dave
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