January 30, 2025
By Tom Console
Having been around canines now for the past few years in Army veterinary medicine, it’s become very clear these animals are incredibly intelligent. While I’d probably never follow a dog into combat, I have learned a lot of lessons from our four-legged friends. My dog is incredibly special (as yours is too), but he is not unique in giving us three simple lessons of: do what you love, live in the now, and take a break to make time for others.
Do What You Love
Everyone has heard a version of Marc Anthony’s saying, “If you do what you love you’ll never work a day in your life.” As cliché as it may be, I’ve found that when we love what we do, we have an immense feeling of pride in being a part of our organization, exude more positive attitudes, and find resiliency to push through challenges when others might quit. But loving what we do doesn’t have to be all about our occupation. We must discover things that we’re passionate about, and once we find them, go all in.
With dogs, this is easy to see. Some love to play fetch while others enjoy digging. Many can’t walk by a body of water without taking a dip. Whatever your dog loves to do, they not only find excuses to do it but also fully lean into that activity. They’re never working—they’re loving what they do!
For me, I discovered that I absolutely LOVE coaching football. I stuck with it for three of my four years in veterinary school, slammed between eight-hour classroom days and studying for exams. The only reason I didn’t coach during my fourth year of school was because Army obligations pulled me in another direction.
It wasn’t easy, and both my grades and my sleep suffered, but I wouldn’t trade a single day of my time as a coach for a better GPA. Coaching football is the one place I’ve found where I get to instruct and mentor young people and help them achieve their goals, be part of an organization that has a singular focus, and scratch my competitive itch in a game of complex strategy. And I’ve found the more I gave to my coaching job, the more it gave to me in return. I’m thankful every day that I kept coaching and didn’t listen to people who tried to convince me it was too much. Just like my dog, I’ve learned we must do the things that bring us joy and do them to the fullest.
Move Our Bodies Every Day
For dog owners, you know the struggle of the morning walk. It’s usually before the sun comes up, in freezing weather, and during a downpour. Have you ever wondered as you were dripping wet, “Why does my dog still love being outside even though we went potty five blocks ago?” Well, every dog needs to exercise both physically and mentally. Physically, a walk is not only a bathroom break but a chance to burn off that morning adrenaline. Each dog has different energy needs. They may walk around the block with you or run five miles, but they all need something.
They also need their mental fix. Many get it in the form of sniffing. While it may seem excessive, ten minutes of our dog sniffing can be just as tiring as 30 minutes of walking (a quick tip from your friendly veterinarian-author). While physical exertion cannot be totally substituted with mental work, our dog sniffing everything shows us an important connection between the mental and physical.
I get my physical exercise by going to the gym or running. I exercise my brain through playing chess, writing, and voraciously reading sci-fi novels, books on leadership and sports, and academic papers to stay current on veterinary medicine. Even though I’m years removed from playing football, I still find a need to physically compete, and I get my competitive energy out through mixed martial arts. Our bodies have mental and physical needs we must fulfill.
You don’t have to be a competitive bodybuilder, run a monthly marathon, or play chess daily. But physical and mental exercise is something we should all do regularly. There are the obvious immediate benefits such as muscular conditioning, looking good for swimsuit season, and a sharper mind. But there are also long-term physical and mental health implications.
My dog (and cat) patients that are within a healthy weight range and are mentally acute on average live longer and avoid both initial development and serious progression of some diseases. Old dogs that have been in good shape and are intellectually stimulated for most of their lives are more cognitively aware as they age, and the same happens in people. In the words of Major Dick Winters of Band of Brothers fame: “Physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.” Those individuals who regularly face and overcome challenges in the gym or on the bike trail are better prepared to persevere through the hard times that life inevitably throws at them.
Not every dog is winning the national dog show agility competition, but they all understand the importance of getting out of bed, doing that big stretch, and working both their bodies and their minds every day.
Make Time for Friends, Family, and the Couch
But what is life if all we do is work and exercise? That’s called burnout. It can happen very quickly and takes many forms including mental, physical, and emotional. It’s vital to include rest in your routine. It’s even more important to include enough space in your life to spend quality time with family and friends.
You’ve probably seen a dog burn out. They become so stressed or exhausted that they’re shaking or frantic. Sometimes, they become totally unresponsive and shut down all together. They need to recharge and get back into a safe place.
We see this in Military Working Dogs in the form of heat stress. These working dogs have an incredibly high drive to do whatever is asked of them so that they can get their reward at the end (usually a game of fetch or tug-of-war with their handler). However, the drive to work in some of these dogs can be so high that it overrides all safety switches in their brains telling them to stop and take a break. Sound familiar? These dogs show up as emergencies in the veterinary clinic, which can be a life-threatening situation.
I remember one weekend in college where I had an important exam coming up. My friends were all going to a party but I was holed up in my room studying. One came by to see if I was ready to go out and found me at my desk, textbook open, with a quizzical look. I smiled and told him I memorized most of the study guide for the exam over a week away.
Then he hit me with a saying that has become a core pillar in the way I view life. He said, “In twenty years, what are you going to remember more? That one night in college you studied a few extra hours for an exam you have a good handle on or a night out with your best friends?”
As soon as he said it, I knew he was right. I was already super prepared and was hyper fixating (and stressing) about nothing, and it was affecting my relationships.
Keeping this frame of mind helps us avoid burnout. Sure, there is time for work, but there is also time for breaks, fun, family, friends, and relaxation. We need to make sure that our drive to work and succeed does not override the circuit breakers in our bodies when they scream that we’re about to crash and burn.
Take a cue from the working dogs; you can work hard but remember that it’s more than okay to hit the couch with your owner every now and then.
Conclusion
Sometimes leadership is about doing and experiencing. Sometimes, it is about observing.
I encourage you to closely observe your dog (or someone else’s if you don’t have one) after you finish this article and see life through their eyes. See if you don’t learn something about leadership from them. If you look hard enough, you’ll find that we are the best versions of our leadership selves when we fully invest into all aspects of our lives.
Take a page from your dog’s book and do what you love, move your body every day, and make time for yourself and those most important to you.
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