A slap in the face with a wet tail

I was walking my human last night (she needs a fair amount of exercise) when I met a Heinz dog.

I.E. A dog with at least 57 different varieties in there somewhere.  He was a big chap, with the body of a greyhound, the face of one of those wee terriers (I'd have liked to seen that coupling) and the tail of a large labrador.

And it was the tail that was the problem.

Let me explain a bit more.

This was the friendliest woofer (other than meself) I have ever come across.  His face was one big smile, he bounced rather than walked and he even went straight to my human when she didn't have any biscuits.  More fool him, if you ask me.

'Hullo' I says to meself, 'here's a fellow I can be friends with'.  So I went to give him my usual  handshake - that is to shove me nose towards his bottom, whilst he did the same to me.

And that's where the problems started.  I couldn't get anywhere near it.  While he was being generally very freindly and saying 'hello' to me all I got was SWISH - THWACK.

That powerful tail swiped me a good 'un across the nose.  I tried again: SWISH - THWACK.  Right across me bows again!

So I gave up, turned tail and wee'd on a bush instead.

We walked on a bit with me human looking quizically at me.  'You could have made a good friend there,' she said.  And she was probably right.

I wonder, in business, how many opportunities to do business, make and receive referrals and generally get a wider reputation in the market place, are missed because we limit our marketing activities to only those businesses which are exactly like us... in my case, a wonderfully handsome, if somewhat curly, labradoodle?

It could be that even a slight expansion of your business circle to include people and businesses who are 'different' could do wonders for your business.

I've certainly resolved to be more resilient when I meet other woofers... although I have to admit, that tail was a right nasty piece of work.