"Don’t let one bad experience determine your future experiences."
As I was walking Kaleb this afternoon, I had come across two dogs, both standing in the neighbor’s driveway, off leash.
I immediately thought, “Oh, no!”
That immediate thought came from a past experience, remembering when Kaleb was attacked by another dog who was off leash.
I still remember the size of the open wound on his chest.
Sitting with him in the bathtub of my apartment, trying to keep the blood from filling up the tub.
And then the 10 PM rush to the 24 hour emergency vet to get the wound stitched up.
Then came the $500 bill.
As I quickly passed both dogs, and Kaleb wanting to go say, “Hi”, I had thought of the importance of not letting one poor experience define future ones.
Not all dogs, off leash, want to attack and hurt, I thought.
Maybe that was not even the case, when Kaleb left with a battle scar.
Maybe it was Kaleb who instigated the fight between the two? Who knows?
I wish he spoke English sometimes. It would certainly make things easier.
As I thought about dogs, I couldn’t help but think of humans.
I couldn’t help but think of all of the “poor experiences” I’ve had with someone and then letting that one experience define the future experiences.
I then started to question, “What if that person was having a tough day? What if their dog was bit and this is how they were processing their sadness? What if something very stressful had just happened and the person was displacing their anger?"
So many things to think about regarding poor experiences.
