Things that Foster Dog taught me, part 3

When Zoe first arrived at our house, I was convinced that she would be moving on soon. After all, she wasn’t our dog and surely an awesome home would surface. I don’t know what Foster Dog’s thoughts were, but I was thinking there was probably a farm somewhere in her future where she could run and chase squirrels and rabbits.

But it was about that time that our previous foster dog, Snoopy, passed on. And Zoe reflected pleasant memories of our special furry friends.

And it was during that time that I was introduced to social media – FaceBook and Twitter. I really didn’t know what to do with either. Something about having to ask people to be my friends took me back to some really difficult junior high moments. And tweeting. What would I say? What would people want to read?

I’m a storyteller. Those of you closest to me are nodding, knowingly. And you’re rolling your eyes. Sometimes too many stories and too many details.

One Sunday morning, after feeding Zoe, it began to rain. Now, she’s impervious to water and rain. But thunder and lightning is a different story. So when storms blow up, Zoe begins to feel a little edgy. On that morning, there was a feeling of storms in the air. As I went back into the house, Zoe pled with me to let her inside. Instead, I tapped in this tweet:

Church in 20 minutes. Rain. Trying to convince Foster Dog that the back porch is sufficient shelter.

And Foster Dog was introduced to her adoring fans. My Twitter list of followers is pretty small. But my tweets go directly to my FaceBook page. And friends from around the world were asking about Foster Dog.

So I wrote Foster Dog “stories.” She provided a lot of ideas for those stories. The challenge came in the length — 140 characters per story.

It was in telling her story that she taught me an important lesson. You can say a lot by not talking too much. It was a principle she used in her own relationships.

Sometimes you just need to give people a simple idea and then be amazed by how their own imagination and creativity make it great.

For example, what’s the story behind this Foster Dog picture?


6 Comments

  1. Definitely ACU purple and, technically, rubber boots — doggie galoshes. We’ll have more to say about these later.

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