The BIGG Successs Show
Lessons about Friendship from Man's Best Friend
A loving tribute to our beagle, Gus. Read the show summary (and see a picture of him) at biggsuccess.com.
Welcome to the Big Success Show. Today, we'll discuss lessons we can learn about friendship from man's best friend. "The Big Success Show" with George and Mary Lynn. One of my favorite actors of all time is Jimmy Stewart. And I guess I love Jimmy Stewart, Mary Lynn, just because I can't think of anyone who was more extraordinarily ordinary. You know, he was just fantastic and Jimmy Stewart had a dog named Bo. And you may have seen or heard or read the poem he wrote after Bo passed away. We have a link to a video where you can actually see him reciting this poem on the late show with Johnny Carson. But hopefully, I don't cry during this show, George. Our Bo was a beagle named Gus. Hey, Jimmy Stewart cried a little bit when he read the poem, so... Yeah, he made us all cries. Yes, he did. Even if he didn't have a dog. But a few weeks ago, Gus went to doggy heaven. And so this show is in loving memory of a dog named Gus. Yeah, today we don't want to just talk about Gus, but we do want to give tribute to him and talk about man's best friend, lessons we can learn from dogs about friendship. What makes a best friend a best friend? It all boils down to loyalty. You know, Gus was definitely a mama's boy everywhere I went, Gus was there. And, you know, I've got a 19-year-old cat and she doesn't follow me everywhere I go. She's got her own things going on, so I guess what was really cool was that he was just so loyal. Well, and one of the things about dogs is they always welcome their friends. You know, they're always happy to see us and they definitely let us know. It's kind of funny because, let's say we went to the grocery store, right? Gus would know we were home before he even saw us, because he couldn't see us through the window. He was a little too short for that. But we would hear him yelping and jumping around like even before we opened the car door. Yeah, and so what can you learn from that? How do you greet your friends? Every time you see them, do you just let them know that you're absolutely thrilled? That's something that dogs always do. I try to wag my tail for you when you come home. Oh, I love it when you wag your tail, baby. How long goes same lines? Gus would never pass up an opportunity to spend time with us. I mean, if I put on my walk-in shoes, he was like, "Hey, where you going? Let's go. I'll go for a walk with you. Let's go." And I always remember his disappointment when he realized he wasn't getting to go that particular time. I know. It made me feel really guilty. But the bottom line is wherever we were, he was. Obviously, we can't spend as much time as we might like with friends and family. We all have other obligations that we have to attend to, but the thing is how you spend your time definitely shows what you value. So make sure that you carve out time for those that you care about the most, your friends and your family. It's also amazing how dogs can sense your mood. If I was sad, Gus would be right there, and he kind of looked at me with puppy dog eyes. And it was somewhat comforting now, but if I was excited about something, he would be excited too. So he was like a little mirror of whatever we were feeling. Yeah. And so from that, what we can learn is that if we can get to know our friends so well, that we can instantly tell that maybe something's a little bit wrong, even without them saying so. That's a good thing because maybe they're having a bad day, but they don't want to burden you with it. But if you can sense it, then you can reach out to them and make it easy for them to open up. And one more thing about friendship from dogs. Today we're talking about why man's best friend is man's best friend and lessons we can learn from dogs. And here's one more thing we can learn, growl first, bite if you must. I remember that, Mary Lynn. Gus was a pretty mellow dog. He was very friendly, but when it came to his food, a little bit of aggression would come out. And if you got close to his food while he was eating, he would growl at you. But that was his way of saying, look out, you're crossing a boundary. Do not come over here. And if you did cross that boundary, you'd probably get bit. That's right. And it's natural as humans to sometimes unintentionally step over a line with friends. When a friend does that, don't bite their head off. Just growl a little bit, right? Yes. They'll probably get the point. No harm will be done to the relationship. We're not saying literally growl. Oh, we're not. Oh, okay. You might lose friends that way. Well Gus sure was a cutie. He melted it. Oh, oh, I don't want to, I don't want to get emotional, but he would melt. He would melt your heart. Thank you. You're welcome. And boy George. You want me to do this for Mary Lynn? Yeah, please do. Boy George. Well, we've got a, we've got a picture of Gus on the blog today. Check it out. We also have a link to that great little story poem by Jimmy Stewart from The Tonight Show. You can get a written summary of today's show on our blog today at Big Success. It's big with twojissuccess.com. How do I, how am I doing? You're doing great. All right. What's our big quote? Our big quote today comes from Eleanor Roosevelt who said, "Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart." And sometimes those friends leave paw prints. Yes, they do. And Mary Lynn, you know my dad would say, "If dogs have a heaven, now you got me doing it." "If dogs have a heaven, there's one thing I know. Well Gus has a wonderful home." Daddy does. Next time we'll talk about. Oh, here I'll take over now. Next time we'll talk about six strategies to beat your competition. And until then, here's to your big success. [MUSIC PLAYING]