{"id":596,"date":"2025-08-13T22:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T22:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/?p=596"},"modified":"2026-03-13T22:43:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:43:03","slug":"networking-on-four-legs-jasper-the-lurcher-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/networking-on-four-legs-jasper-the-lurcher-and-me\/","title":{"rendered":"NETWORKING ON FOUR LEGS: JASPER THE LURCHER AND ME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I recently attended a local networking event \u2013 with my dog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, bringing a ten-year-old lurcher called Jasper to a room full of ambitious small business owners might not sound like a strategy, but bear with me.  Jasper is tall, lean and charming! Within minutes, he had worked the room and claimed a spot under the table as his own. Meanwhile, I mingled with coffee in one hand, lead in the other, and a vague hope that Jasper wouldn’t steal any biscuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the thing: Jasper was a better icebreaker than any elevator pitch I\u2019ve ever rehearsed. People wanted<\/em> to talk. Conversations flowed naturally. Instead of opening with, \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d, I found myself discussing dog breeds, escape-artist pets and, eventually, how I help business owners and employers to engage with their people through periods of challenging business change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Networking, particularly for small business owners and independent consultants, isn’t just about collecting business cards or pitching services. It’s about building relationships, sharing ideas, and creating a sense of community. People do business with people \u2013 and sometimes their dogs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an HR change consultant, I often stress the importance of authenticity. Showing up as yourself \u2013 dog and all \u2013 can make you more memorable, relatable, and trustworthy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would I bring Jasper again? Possibly. Would I recommend everyone starts dragging their pets to networking events? Maybe not. But if you’re struggling to connect, consider what makes you<\/em> memorable. Whether it’s a four-legged sidekick or a genuine interest in others, the best networking happens when you’re simply being yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently attended a local networking event \u2013 with my dog.  Now, bringing a ten-year-old lurcher called Jasper to a room full of ambitious small business owners might not sound like a strategy, but bear with me.  Jasper is tall, lean and charming! Within minutes, he had worked the room and claimed a spot under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper.jpg",1690,1010,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper.jpg",1690,1010,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper.jpg",1690,1010,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper-300x179.jpg",300,179,true],"large":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper-1024x612.jpg",800,478,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper-1536x918.jpg",1536,918,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper.jpg",1690,1010,false],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper.jpg",600,359,false],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper.jpg",350,209,false],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasper.jpg",100,60,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"mmadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/author\/mmadmin\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Uncategorized<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"I recently attended a local networking event \u2013 with my dog.  Now, bringing a ten-year-old lurcher called Jasper to a room full of ambitious small business owners might not sound like a strategy, but bear with me.  Jasper is tall, lean and charming! Within minutes, he had worked the room and claimed a spot under…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":598,"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions\/598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahler-marrow-z48z.temp-dns.com\/MM1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}