Overshadowed and under appreciated.

Once I had a dog. A very lovely, obedient, faithful and loving dog. A Kelpie Cross called Daisy. A great and wonderful dog she was, but one who got up to a little mischief when left alone. (Like pulling pot plants out of pots, ripping a leg off of my Pyjama pants hanging on the line and ripping up a brand new Yellow Pages (Thick Phone Book) delivered & dropped on the lawn that very day.) So to help prevent further mischief through boredom, the decision was made to get another, smaller dog to keep her company. (Unfortunately a couple of years later that one was run over while we were visiting relatives.) So a little while later we decided to try again with another dog.

Now, ever since I was a Lad and saw a Walter Brennan Film set in a Swamp, where his grandson found a strange dog that turned out to be Basenji, I had wanted one too. So later, much later, (when Daisy was about 4) when the opportunity occurred, my wife and I bought one which we called Suzie.

Now Suzie was everything that Daisy wasn’t. Almost the exact opposite it seemed. At first we thought that Basenji’s must be stupid but later I found out that Basenji’s are very intelligent, but they just prefer to do things their own way and in their own time. So, if she came when you called, it was because she wanted to and not that she was obedient at all.

So, stacked up against Daisy, Suzie was a bit of a disappointment. (To say the least!) However we had both dogs for about 14 years each, so she wasn’t that bad either. In fact as we bought her when Daisy was already four years old, we had Suzie for another four years after Daisy’s departure for the great Kennel in the sky.

And those four years were an eye opener to Suzie’s real qualities. Without Daisy to compare her to, we saw the true side of her nature and found she had many endearing and good qualities about her. Our dogs were old when our kids came along and so while our kids grew up with dogs always around them, they were not really Kids dogs. Yet Suzie in her old age spent some time at my mums (while we were at Bible Collage) and when my young nephew was up there as a wee baby he could do things to Suzie, that we couldn’t ever had done to Daisy and get away with it. But because of Daisy, we never saw this side of Suzie before.

What about you and your situation? Are there some Suzie’s around you? Some people who don’t stack up to what you see in others, but have other desirable and in many occasions, much valued qualities that they have not had the opportunities to display? Will you not give them a chance to shine without constant comparisons?

Maybe you even feel like you are a Suzie yourself sometimes and just can’t compete against someone else. I myself don’t know what advice to give you, but Suzie’s was obviously, don’t try and compete, just keep doing what you are good at and eventually you will get noticed and appreciated. What say you? Walter