Hello. My name is Captain Jack and I’m the terribly charming, witty, and intelligent pal of my human, Dan. I’ve been observing human behavior and have come to the conclusion that you all can learn a lot from dogs. Especially me. You see, I’m a Jack Russell and we are unquestionably the smartest dogs on the planet. Welcome to my column…

We had people over to our house to celebrate the New Year’s Eve. I guess that’s one thing I still don’t understand. Every day is a day we should celebrate, not just the passing of the 12th month of a calender made up by humans thousands of years ago who didn’t even own an iPhone. But I digress…

One of our neighbors that came to visit was sitting on my favorite green chair. I want to be clear that I’m not a selfish dog. I’m more than happy to share with others , especially when we get to share together. Humans are a little funky about this. She was sitting there with plenty of room for me to wedge myself in, so I just jumped up and decided to insinuate myself into the chair. I was immediately chastised by Dan who shooed me off the chair and into the corner blanket. After several minutes, I decided to make another attempt…now it was a matter of principle. I didn’t even get to within 3 feet before the stern reproach of “Jack…” was heard, leading me to avoid the chair and return to my corner.

Here’s the deal…

I may have failed in my attempts to reclaim my favorite spot, but I remain undaunted. We dogs don’t know the meaning of failure. We chalk it up to learned experiences. Believe me, I will have a new plan of attack for the next person sitting in my green chair! The guy Dan listens to all the time tells him that “if you’re not failing, you’re not trying.” No kidding. I could have told him that, but I’m just “the dog!”

So you can listen to me. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying. If you fail, learn from the failure and go try again. If you fail a whole lot of times, then you are getting smarter. If you fail doing the same thing over and over, that’s just dumb. Keep trying, but always keep trying new ways to succeed. That’s what I do and it works for me and my fellow canines. It will work for you, too.

© 2014 Captain Jack. All Rights Reserved (WOOF)

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