When I was 17 my dad bought the second of the 
two Irish Setters we had for a while in our family.
The first was called "Robin" because of her bright red
coloring... not too creative, but you get it, right?
Our second dog was named "Robby"..... and I
thought my dad had lost his marbles... hehehehe
My dad told me to pick the puppy for our family, since it was going to be just my dad, me and the dog at the house, since my brother and sister were away at college.
After seeing all those brothers and sisters together,
I knew I had to pick one of them..... so after standing
outside of the little fence surrounding the litter from 
the rest of the house, I made "kissing" sounds and
called to them..... only one of the cute little pups came
to me.... that was the one I picked for our family.
The rest of the brothers and sisters just played with each
other while I hugged the little guy close to me so he could
get my scent. he looked up at me and then he licked me...
We were buddies right then and there.
That might my dad went out and he made a barricade for our little pup in the kitchen where there was linoleum and if he made a "mess" it would be easy to clean.
I kept him with me while I watched TV till around 10 pm or so.
Around 10:30 he started to whine and cry in the cold kitchen. I am saying the kitchen was cold, because there were NONE of his brothers and sisters OR his mom to hang out with. He was LONELY and he was letting ME know it.
I have a pretty soft heart, so I went to the kitchen and got
through the barricade and scooped him up.... he immediately
got quiet and licked me several times....
We went to my bedroom and I kept him close..... I knew
if we were buddies, he would not jump off the bed and go
exploring in a house he did not know if the room was all
dark.
He stayed close to me till all at once he went to the foot of the 
bed and just sat....right at my feet on the bed. I was dumbstruck.
I didn't know why he did that and I pondered it.... then almost
fell asleep...till he suddenly BARKED..... not a whine or whimper
like before...but a BARK.... that was the first time he ever did that
the whole day. Just about 30 seconds later my dads car turned into
the driveway.....I was awed...... the little guy did not know my dad
as well as me, so he was "protecting" me....... what a CUTIE!!
After Robby grew up I found there was just something not quite right
about the relationship he had with my dad.
I fed him, took him for walks, played with him and built a relationship with my pal.
All my dad did was discipline him when he did something wrong.
Don't get me wrong I disciplined him also, BUT I built a relationship with him built on respect and love.
He did not know my dad as a pal and how he responded to what my dad did showed it..... sometimes he would bare his teeth when my dad wanted to spank him..... he never did that to me.
Then the unthinkable happened...... my dad and I were too busy to
take care of him..... I was busy at my last year of High School and
my dad was just getting too old to do much of anything else than
work and come home. So my dad in his wisdom found a solution:
We had a downstairs basement that had a full bathroom...... to 
make sure the dog did not do anything to the carpeting up stairs in the house,
and because the dog would dig under the fence outside to try to get
out during the day while we were away, he made a lock on the bath-
room door and locked the dog in the bathroom during the day till
we got home after I got done with school and my dad came home
from work.
I would come home to hearing Robby barking his breath away and he would be
scratching on the door of the bathroom...and my heart would break
for him.... he would pee and/or poop in the bathroom because of
his frustration of being cooped up and I would quickly mop up his
business so he would not get in trouble with my dad. The only thing
I could think of was that we never properly trained him to be a house
dog and I did not know how to do that......when we owned our first
dog I was less than 10 years old, so I knew nothing about training
a dog to become house broken, I just took him out when he needed
to do his business and that was all I needed to do to get him house-
broken, so I thought..
The end of everything was when my dad decided to put an ad about 
Robby in the paper because we could not take care of him and hearing
him howling and barking every day in the bathroom was just too much. Robby needed
to run in the open field and chase animals...and go hunting...he was not
set up to be a dog brought up in suburbia, and if he could have been
taught, I did NOT know how and my dad was just too old to do it.
My dad told me that a guy who owned a farm bought Robby...... when
Robby saw him, he kind of just stared at him...... and the guy kneeled
down and called to him, just like I did a long time ago...... my dad said
Robby just ran right to him. Robby and he were buddies...... and my dad
said Robby looked VERY happy.
Robby now had acres of land to run and LOTS of animals to chase.....
he had freedom and an owner who could take care of him properly.
Which brings me to the subject of this post:
Do you know of an agent who is being taken advantage
of by a Team Leader or Broker?
The Leader/Mentor may not know it, but the agent is not
making what they are worth and is dying inside, but doesn't
say anything about it.
All the secrets the Leader/Mentor has for building business
they keep to themselves and just send the agent on
"contact appointments" to close deals, show homes or write
contracts.
They keep the agent in tight constraints with high splits
and the agent makes just enough to survive....but NO MORE..
There is no performance bonus to reach for and everything
is tightly controlled because "if you teach them too much,
they might leave".
What will you do for this agent you have found?
Will you give them hope by teaching them secrets you have learned?
Teach them to build a database of clients they can depend on if they
go out "On their own" as an agent NOT under a mentor program or a
broker who takes advantage of them?
Will you refer business to them if you have too much to handle and
if it is close to where they operate in town?
Will you let them know they CAN survive if they change companies?
WILL YOU TEACH THEM HOW TO PROSPER?
I am NOT advocating stealing agents away from companies.....
I AM advocating teaching agents what they need to know to survive
and prosper so they can get out from under a suffocating broker or
team leader.
My dad saw what was happening with our dog and made the
right decision...he gave Robby his freedom with an owner
who had LOTS of time and land. He more than likely had the
knowledge to housebreak Robby, or he was able to let Robby
sleep in a barn outside where he would be safe and warm.
Our house in the suburbs was too constraining on Robby. We
had just a standard lot and most of the backyard was taken
up with our pool. So Robby was in good hands with the new owner.
Will you teach an agent who is suffocating
the tools he/she needs
to break free and fly?
Or are you too busy?
This thought provoking post was brought to you by:
Alexander Harb - Founder of "Christianity and Real Estate"
Thanks to: Guitar slinger , ricardo_ccc , schneemann2007 ,
Alanah , tpetriep , Sara Richer and www.flickr.com/ for the great photos!
Alexander Harb PSEM®, E-Agent®
Rice Property Management and Realty L.L.C.
Just click on any of these links
to find the type of help you need.
Buying, selling or just searching,
Rice Property Management and Realty
has what you are looking for!
just north of Buenaventura Lakes 
