Doug Giles encourages us to stear clear of poodles

Doug Giles

The following is an excerpt from my latest book The Bulldog Attitude: Get it or Get Left Behind.

"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Because of the Bulldog's scrappy, summit-or-plummet, die-or-be-killed attitude, he usually wins most battles in which he engages. He might get knocked down, but he's not going to stay down; and it's this very thing that will eventually cause him to succeed.

But success can be tricky. Success can change one from a bold Bulldog to a punk Poodle. Success, if not handled correctly, can produce arrogance within the little champion that can, inadvertently, turn this noble creature into a pompous Poodle. This would absolutely foul up everything the Bulldog inherently is, namely, a regal creature-in defeat and victory.

Success brings with it temptations that aren't present during the struggle. And you, my little Bulldog, need to understand and appreciate these unique temptations once success comes your way. Yes, the struggling, focused and friendly Bulldog can turn from a hard working, loving animal to a completely and utterly prissy, cantankerous Poodle once achievement comes-if he doesn't watch his spirit. To keep one's head from getting wacky when life starts rewarding righteous dreams and the persevering spirit, you, the Bulldog, must have the following non-negotiable attitudes settled deeply within you now. There are five commandments that will keep you from getting Poodle-weird when your victory comes. Here are the first three:

1. Thou Shall Not Be a jerk. Determine now that you will not ever become a jerk after you're living in your newly attained prosperity. Success has a weird way of completely ruining people once they get it. I'm sure you have seen it before. You know the story . . . once someone achieves something, finally gets a little notoriety after years of hard work, he ends up dumping his spouse, starts neglecting his kids or discards his true friends and begins to develop a wicked Poodle attitude.

Some of the telltale signs that you're becoming a jerk are:

• You speak about yourself in the third person. Bulldogs who do this almost never recover-unless life violently kicks them in the butt.
• You begin to believe people when they tell you how great you are, which inevitably leads you to think you can get away with murder.
• You start demanding Evian, and only Evian, in your diamond encrusted dog dish.
• You become extremely annoying about the brand of dog food you'll eat.
• You begin to lose your high quality Bulldog friends, and you start attracting Shihtzus, Pekinese and self-obsessed Poodles.

Remember the words of that old Bulldog, King Solomon, in Proverbs: "pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." To keep from getting destroyed and from doing a face plant into the concrete after you succeed, stay humble-and if need be-duct tape your feet to the planet to keep yourself from floating off the earth, Your Loftiness.

2. Thou Shall Not Gloat Over Thine Enemies. Another way to stay the big boy and not stoop to the pathetic Poodle level is to never gloat over your enemies when your success comes.