Going to the Dogs: Labrador Vs. Chihuahua. Which artist are You?

Going to the Dogs: Labrador Vs. Chihuahua
Which artist are you?

My Guide Dog, Kody, and I were crossing the street when a woman passed us walking two Chihuahuas. Toy chihuahuas. Little tiny things no bigger than my hand.

The dogs began growling and scrabbling at the pavement, trying to reach my sixty pound yellow Labrador Guide Dog, who promptly dove for cover beneath my skirt, and hid his face in my leg in stark terror. The itty bitty menaces were ten feet away, and yet my seasoned, fearless Guide Dog was reduced to a huddled up, crumpled pile of furry terror in the face of all that yapping, snapping power. Hmmm… not quite sure what that says about Kodak’s ability to fight off monsters, but I am sure of one thing.

We as artists are just as bad as Kody! How many times have you read through an opera score and wanted to play the leading character, but thought to yourself, “There is no way in hell I’d ever be cast for that role; I am just not good enough.” You’ve had years and years of training, you bring down the house when you do recitals, but somehow auditioning for the role of your dreams is tabeau? Yeah, you’re Kody.

Have you been ogling a window in a high-end gallery every time you walk by, envisioning your paintings hanging there with a hundred thousand dollar price tag attached? And then you go home, and refuse to pick up a paintbrush because if you took that much time away from the kids, you’d be a bad parent. Yeah, You are Kody, too.

Maybe you pick up the New York Times and scan the lists, and choke on your morning coffee because you wish it was your name on that page with the number one bestseller. Or you wish it was you walking onto that stage at the Grammy’s and holding that shiny trophy in your hot little hands. But your guitar sits collecting dust rather than fingerprints, and your finished novel sits in the closet because you can’t stand the thought of another rejection letter. You are Kody, too!

Stop hiding your face out of tiny little inconsequential fears, and start doing your job! Kodak faces down buses, huge airplanes, and things as a Guide dog that would make most of us cringe! He never flinches when a truck rumbles by inches from his paws. He just leads me fearlessly wherever life takes us. So should your creativity as an artist lead you. You have too much to do to let a little thing like fear snap and snarl at you, sending you scurring to an imagined safe haven. Kodak, after realizing that mom wasn’t going to whip out a flaming sword and slay the advancing villains, got himself under control, and realized that he had to be a big strong Guide dog. It was up to him to save his human from the scourges of little dogs, by guiding her safely away. :-d

Was Kody in danger from two walking pipsqueak bad guys? Not a chance. Are you in danger if you audition, or paint for that window spot or write? No. Will you be embarrassed if you don’t get the part the first time you audition? Yes, and the second and the third time… it’s called rejection. It’s part of being an artist. Eventually, when you learn it’s only a little nip, and it doesn’t leave your throat cut open, you’ll get up and do it again. You will if you love your art enough.

Things like fear, rejection—things that hold you back from getting your art where you want it to go, they are the chihuahuas, and you are the Big strong Guide Dog. Or are the roles reversed. Are you going to be the little guy barking at the weirdest things and chasing after things a zillion times bigger than you?

Some days you’re the windshield, and some days you’re the bug. Some days you’re the Guide dog, and some days, You are the Chihuahua.