Overcoming a Fear of Dogs: Lessons From the Show Your Soft Side Event in Baltimore

For this episode, The Keep Going Podcast went on the road to Baltimore to cover Show Your Soft Side at CFG Bank Arena. It's an annual event where athletes and other guests walk rescue dogs down the runway, and the animals get adopted. Kenny has been part of it for about 12 years, and his story is about far more than dogs.

Where the fear came from

Kenny grew up getting chased. "Either I was walking past the apartment and the dog just started barking. It was a Rottweiler that I used to be scared of. It was pit bulls." He said it came from not understanding dogs: "I didn't know what they were going to do. I didn't know what they were thinking." So he ran.

What changed it

The turning point was changing his environment. At the event, people who care for the animals taught him how to read them, including basics like not staring a dog in the eyes. "It wasn't that I was scared, it was my perspective... when you get around certain people who know what they talking about and can walk you through it and put your hand out."

The first time a dog licked his hand, he says, it was one of the best feelings in the world.

The bigger lesson

Kenny connected this directly to everyday life: "You could be fearful of taking the next step in your life. You could just be fearful of starting a gym. You could be fearful of starting your own podcast... and I think the thing that stops us is our self." And: "Once you overcome that fear, I think great things can happen."

What the event stands for

The organization's message is that big-time athletes with "chests puffed out" also have a soft side, and that the animals have no voice, so the event gives them one. Many of the dogs have been through abuse and abandonment.

A business trip too

I'll add one thing from my side of the mic. If you're traveling to another city with a brand or a business, treat it as a business trip. Every new city is a chance to connect with new people and tell them what you're building. Kenny put it well: he arrived at this event as an athlete and, if this is his last one, he's leaving it as an entrepreneur and business owner.

Watch the full episode above, and if you've been holding back on something because of fear, take a step this week. Keep going.