Living a Life Like Dog

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you’re all feeling good, and slowly getting into the spring spirit.

I’m very excited to have Gila Kurtz as our guest blogger this week. Gila is the Founder of Dog is Good, a cool dog lifestyle company. In the following post, Gila speaks about the Bolo Project she started a few months ago.

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I have always held onto the value that making a difference in the lives of others and contributing positively to the world around us is a moral responsibility.

For the past 7 months, I have taken on the task of raising a future Leader Dog (guide dog).  This past  fall, Dog is Good- a dog lifestyle company I co-own with my husband Jon  launched The BOLO Project. Focused on making a difference, we established this year long endeavor as a way to raise awareness for the remarkable work dogs do for people everyday and for an amazing organization, Leader Dogs for the Blind..

In taking on this commitment, I agreed to properly train and socialize a yellow lab puppy. The goal: to raise a  well mannered, behaviorally sound dog who will then go on to provide  independence and a life-changing experience to someone blind or visually impaired.  Additionally, we sought out to raise funds for Leader Dogs for the Blind.

When we launched The BOLO Project- , we knew that the process of raising this puppy would positively impact those involved.  The tagline, “One puppy will change the way you see the world” has rung true on a number of levels both personally and professionally.  As I spend many hours each day with BOLO, knowing what her future holds, I have taken a deeper look at how she behaves and reacts to things.  I have come to embrace the idea that if we take our cues from the behavior of dogs, in other words- live a life inspired by Dog, then maybe we will achieve higher levels of success, both personally and in business.

Dogs don’t multi-task.  They focus in the moment.  They don’t worry about what they did not accomplish or look back and wonder if they made the right choices. They truly live in the moment and do what works best for them

BOLO has three modes: Working, Playing, and Sleeping. There is a distinct balance among these three modes.  When its time work, BOLO keeps her “Eye on the Ball” (well ,not literally, because she actually can’t play with balls), but when we are training she never takes her eye off the task at hand.

When she is playing, she is fully engaged in the activity.  Her “doggie smiles” and exhuberant involvement in play make all of us around laugh, smile, and actually relax.  She takes us briefly away from the minutia of our daily to-do lists, moments I truly find therapeutic. “Making time for Play” leaves one with a clear mind, enabling us to then focus more effectively on work and  those things that can truly make a difference in the lives of others.

When BOLO sleeps….she sleeps deeply and soundly.  There is no tossing and turning or laying with eyes open worrying about something- only snoring and the occasional yelp of excitement when she is dreaming. When the alarm goes off, signifying the start of new day, BOLO wakes up enthused, excited, and raring to greet the day ahead.  She wakes up like this every single morning.

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Through her, I have begun to see the real importance of balance. Taking inspirations from BOLO and the dogs in our lives shows me that a balanced approach gives us opportunity, not only to “Leave Our Mark”, but to find joy, happiness, and fulfillment along the way- and isn’t that what it is really all about?