Wolf's Wisdom: Patience, Trust, and Growth

Patience, Trust, and Growth: Lessons from a Rescue Dog for Small Business Owners

We were surprised when we were told we could take our 4-year-old GSDx rescue dog Wolf home after only meeting him for an hour or so prior. Normally you must meet a rescue several times before.

When we took Wolf home, he required constant brushing as he was going through a heavy malting after being in kennels for 7 weeks and who knows what prior to that, as he had been brought to the UK from Romania. He was patient with us doing this as it occasionally caught on some matted sections.

We completed training with him every day, learning he was of course food motivated after a few weeks.

He was starting to settle as he was learning commands, what he could and couldn’t do, he even found his voice and his ears were up more than they were down. He started to realise he was now home.

Fast forward 2 years (to 2024) and we noticed that he would look to us when he wanted to cross the road to divert which way we went on walks, instead of just trying to cross the road without us checking it was safe to do so. He even began completing the next move for a trick sequence without a prompt, we think to get the reward quicker at the end. He feels truly settled and we have a loving bond now.

Now you probably haven’t thought of things like this before, the way you have patience, work hard and build trust and a nurturing relationship with a rescue dog is a bit like when you start your own business.

A rescue may have different problems that arise even after they’ve been rehomed – for us this turned out to be chasing cars both on a walk as well as in the garden. However, once you notice something you look for solutions on how to try and resolve them. He has given me a reason to get up every time I didn’t want to and a reason to get out of the house and witness the changing seasons! Since starting RemoteGem, getting out with Wolf has also brought sparks of creativity, sometimes within minutes.

The same goes for starting your own business, you need to take things slowly, build those relationships, learn to trust yourself and your problem-solving skills, as well as knowing when you need to ask for help.