What’s with the hound?

If you follow me on Twitter, or any other social media outlet, you know that my logo is based on Rooney, my adorable, loveable, seven-year old basset hound. He’s my logo because he’s my first dog and also, I'm a dog-person. So my phone is filled of selfies of me and the dog.

He’s also a very affable and approachable hound (and I’d like to think I have a little of that affability and approachability in me, but without the drool).

Oh, and I think he’s misjudged.

That’s right, I just said that my dog is misjudged. Ok, ok…maybe mis-perceived is a better term for it.

The point is, everyone thinks he’s lazy and that basset hounds are a lazy breed. Ridiculous, yes. Lazy? Absolutely not. In fact, he just got a bath today and is still racing around the house.

Every time he’s off to the dog park, people make the same comments.

“I didn’t know a basset hound could run!"

"I didn’t think they moved!”

And then he takes off, a little like Phoebe from Friends, front legs going one way, and his butt going another. He chases dogs and play-bows and barks and gets bowled over by faster, more athletic dogs. But here's the thing:

He doesn’t know what people are saying about him, so he runs like no one’s watching.

If Rooney was a person and could understand what people were saying about him, he might stop running, crooked, and tripping over his ears like the clumsy hound that he is. He is delightfully ignorant of what we say. In fact, he's delightfully ignorant about most things I say, but hey..he's no German Shepherd. Or rat, as I hear they're very smart..

But as humans, we can’t always tune out the noise the way Rooney can.

We’ve developed belief systems about ourselves, often based on the way we feel we’re perceived by others, and definitely based on our self-perception. If you felt as though you weren’t good at sports, or you were always picked last on the playground, or gym class was your worst night mare (I didn't like it either), then you might shy away from doing anything because you simply think you're not good enough. But you are.

People make assumptions about us based on our appearance all of the time. And Rooney is an excellent reminder that we’re not all put together like a greyhound or a marathon runner, but by golly don’t put us in a box.

You might put Baby in a corner, but don’t put us in a box.

And double-bonus for the Patrick Swayze reference. Boom.