The “Pippa Principle”

by Lisa May

Lookout Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Staunton Virginia 

Can an old dog be taught new tricks?

Let me start by telling you that I had reached a point in my life where I had concluded I was set in my ways. I am who I am and what I am, and it’s not likely to change.  I have accepted that I am not perfect, but I am quite comfortable with myself, and can even say I like myself. This is not to say that I don’t have my faults, my flaws, my idiosyncrasies. I’m well aware of those too. I haven’t always been long on patience. It hasn’t always been something that has come naturally or easily.

Pippa came to us when she was almost 5 months old : quiet, not terribly outgoing, reserved, and a little unsure of herself. She remained the outsider in our family for months not knowing her place – not knowing where she fit in with the pack. She was reluctant and hesitant, and some of the others weren’t always kind to her or accepting of her.

Pippa lacked the confidence to just forge on and be herself whoever “herself” might have been. Then one day it seemed that Pippa woke up and said to herself, “I’m here, and I’m staying like it or not !”

That quiet, unassuming little dog turned into a terror. She discovered the shoes under my bed and found that chewing the heels off of them was great fun. She realized she had a paper fetish evidenced by the reams of toilet paper she would run with throughout the house, and the trash she enjoyed getting into daily.

She became the acrobat of the family; the circus dog. She discovered she could be on the floor, and with a single flying leap she could land on my counters where she helped herself to whatever was made available. She could scale the fence effortlessly. No one else had ever dreamt of attempting such a feat. (Now I needed to install a new fence!)

Pippa managed to regularly get into my closets where she would chew tags off of clothes, where the joy of chewing more shoes was there for the taking, purses to be gnawed on, and many other devious delights which awaited her. She figured out how to open cabinets and storage baskets containing toiletries and potions, and the crunch, crunch of plastic being chewed would frequently awaken me at night.

I found myself growing weary of her antics. All day long I was yelling. “Pippa! Stop that!”, “Pippa! Come here!”, “Pippa! Get out of there!”, and throughout the night too.  I’d had it! I had never had such a “bad” little dog. I was exhausted.  I wasn’t enjoying Pippa very much in those days, and I was ready to ship her back to where she had come from.

Then one day I woke up, and the thought just popped into my head. “Pippa was who Pippa was”. There was going to be no changing her. She didn’t mind being in trouble. A stern tone didn’t faze her. She took great pleasure in doing bad, mischievous deeds, and any resulting discipline there might have been was worth the price to be paid for such  pleasures

I didn’t think sending her back was a feasible solution, so what could I do? What could be done? Then I experienced that eureka moment! Pippa was not going to change, and the only thing that could possibly change was MY attitude toward Pippa. I needed to EMBRACE who and what she was or otherwise I would go mad!

So, embrace her I did. She became my dear, oh so darling little dog who entertained me with her shenanigans! What had once annoyed me to the point of distraction was now endearing to me. This charming little girl whom I had once pondered returning became one of the precious delights of life!

I had been working when Pippa had became part of my life. I enjoyed my job and the relationships that had been made, the customers whom I had come to know, and the owners who were such wonderful people.

However, there was one singular coworker who was making me crazy! He was thoughtless, inconsiderate, and a bit lazy. He would fail to give me telephone messages, or tell me when a client had come in to see me. He was affecting my ability to do my job, `or provide the excellent customer service I have always been known for. It didn’t matter how many times I asked him, or begged him to PLEASE give me my messages, PLEASE don’t schedule appointments that overlap with mine, or PLEASE don’t leave a mess behind you, it was for naught.

I found myself incessantly muttering under my breath over something he had done, or something he had failed to do. I would go home at night and complain to my patient, tolerant husband about him. This man was the one thing that was keeping me from being completely happy at my job.

I was ready to give up. If there had been a way to send him back to where he had come from I would have shipped him back! I had started a job hunt. I was weary and exhausted.….AND THEN….

Eureka! This man was not going to change. Time had proven that. He was who he was and what he was. The only thing that could possibly change was MY attitude and MY reactions. I had a choice; leave a perfectly good job that I otherwise enjoyed, or EMBRACE who this man was. EMBRACE and ACCEPT that he was forgetful, couldn’t deliver accurate messages, or messages at all, and his many, many other shortcomings. I could only change how I dealt with him and how I perceived him.

I had learned that lesson living with Pippa. My sweet, sweet girl had taught me to accept that which I can not change. She taught me tolerance, patience, and a little forgiveness. She taught me it’s not always what others do, but how we accept what they do as the undeniable part that is who they are.

This old dog had learned a new trick! I learned the “Pippa Principle”.

Pippa relaxing