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Dave Bolduc: Keep Driving Forward

Dave Bolduc is not sure of the origin of the following quote, but what matters more is its meaning of it.

“‘Success is rented, and the rent’s due every day,” he says. “It’s not that you do something one time and you’re golden for the rest of your life: you’ve got to keep going, keep building.”

That belief has carried over into the major chapters of his life, whether it be his time in the United States Navy, becoming a real estate broker, and raising guide dogs to become helpful and loyal partners.

Dave grew up in the Berkshire County area of Massachusetts and attended the United States Naval Academy. He served in the Navy for five years, working on the USS John Paul Jones and USS Kitty Hawk ships and serving and doing battleground, multinational exercises in Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Guam, and San Diego.

He remembers another lesson in life, this time one he learned from his father that struck him once he arrived at the Academy.

“One of the things he told me was that there was always someone bigger and badder. You go out in the military…it really brings that home,” Dave says. “I did well in school; I was an Eagle Scout. You go to the Naval Academy, and I met a bunch of people that were like two, three, four tiers higher than me! Everybody’s got the things that they bring to the table, and people have their strengths and weaknesses.”

A strength that has persisted to this day is that of friendship, as Dave is still close with several of his Naval Academy graduates of the Class of 1994. It is one of the things that make him proud to have served his country.

“We’re all still very tight. We go up to New Hampshire every year,” he says. “All our families are close. All my kids are friends with their kids. It’s just a nice thing to know. I’m glad I did it.”

Dave’s stint in the military taught a healthy amount of lessons for his current career as a real estate broker. Principal among them includes considering the needs of others, especially when there are options in real estate.

“Customer service is my core value. It’s understanding what my clients may need, and it was the same thing in the Navy. When I was a division officer and I had guys working for me, I needed to understand what they were doing...I needed to make sure that my guys knew what to do and my guys had the things they needed in order to succeed. When they fell, I fell. Same thing, in my opinion, as a broker.”

For Dave, it’s “the ability to drive forward” that serves as another important component to making success the rent that is due each and every day. He especially recognizes this when the directions to succeed have to come from the person alone, and that is himself.

“There was nobody standing over my shoulder, saying, ‘Hey, you need to do this; next, you need to do that next,’” he says. “Most of the time, it was always: what’s the next thing that I can do to develop myself so that I can add more value to the crew, value to the ship, value to the Navy.”

Outside of his career in real estate, Dave, along with his wife Michele, are busy driving forward in raising four dogs, namely rescues Nero and Tanner, his son’s dog Wrangler, and Boots, the latter of whom is with the Guide Dog Foundation. Dave is a volunteer raising seeing eye dogs for the foundation and its sister program America’s Veteran Dogs, initially connecting with them through their military affiliations. His volunteership began in June 2020, when he made his way to Smithtown, Long Island, to pick up an eight-month-old black labrador retriever named Alec. Training Alec is the same for all the dogs they help raise, starting with trying to “get the puppy out of him,” as Dave views it.

“We have until some time around 18 months [in age]. We do all the simple stuff, like housebreaking, feeding, walking…all those types of things, just to get the dog to be socialized,” he says.

The dogs follow a curriculum created by Dave and Michele, but training often does “fall into the day,” according to Dave, who will take seeing eye dogs to many different places to get them comfortable in various social situations. Be it his son’s wrestling matches, Home Depot, or real estate showings.

The principle of driving forward has translated into his training of Alec, witnessing his transition from being a “total goofball,” to a disciplined and helpful dog who can open doors, turn on lights, and pick up a fallen credit card to the person who dropped one.

“As soon as you put the vest on, he’s like, ‘I’m ready to go,’” says Dave. “The things that you can teach a dog — they’re very intelligent, and it’s amazing to see and hear about the things that he’s able to do. They’re so flexible.”

Years following his military career, his time in numerous jobs, and real estate deals, Dave has found a home in North Haven with good community members, “fantastic” and mindful schools, all in an ideal location in the shoreline area.

“It’s just so perfectly located between the Boston area, the New York area, I’ve got friends in both general areas,” he says. “You’ve got the water right here; there’s a big sailing community here. We’re social members of the Branford Yacht Club; I do a lot of sailing out of there. Overall, a lot of great people, the location, and there’s so much different stuff to do.”