Tag Archives: Togetherness

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A great idea for valuable community service for our terriers. Bossy and Bark Border would LOVE this service dog gig. How about your terrier?

Jeg News

The end of semester can be a tough time, with students feeling the crunch of big assignments and cramming for exams. Add to it the lack of sleep, eating badly and more than a few drinks, and it’s pretty easy to get stressed out.

And we know, there are plenty of ways to fight stress — but Dalhousie University is trying out a new way: Puppies.

The Halifax university is creating a puppy room for on December 4th, 5th and 6th to help students cope with the stress of exams and end-of-term assignments.

Not surprisingly, news of the puppies has been met with excitement. A Facebook post published to the Dalhousie Student Union’s page on Wednesday has already been shared more than 300 times in two hours.

“My major paper is due at 4 PM on the 4th… I will beeline it to the Puppy Room,” wrote Dal student Jimmy Tennant.

HuffPost Canada spoke…

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Reading Service Terriers

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Bark Border Enjoys Reading Game of Thrones With Sister/Cousin

Border Terriers Love To Read (with their favourite people)

Yesterday I said “Winter’s Coming!”. That reminded me of the Game of Thrones family motto and this moment between Bark and “Sister/Cousin” and a laid back afternoon they spent reading one of the books.  Bark prefers the book form of Game of Thrones to the TV version. WAY less gratuitous smut.

People who know terriers think that they aren’t well suited to Guide Dog Service functions (What car? Get that squirrel instead!), but Border Terriers make awesome  Reading Service dogs. Patient. Encouraging. Happy just to hang out with you for hours.  Keep on reading, Sister/Cousin.

Don’t walk your dog today!

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Don’t walk your dog?

What on earth would possess me, the ‘owner’ of two high-energy terriers who LOVE and need to trot for miles and miles and miles, to recommend that?  Simply: better results.

OK. I’m not really saying we shouldn’t walk our dogs.  What I’m offering is the thought that we walk with our dogs, not for our dogs.

This shift in perspective can make a lot of the dog-walking challenges disappear.

Both Bossy and Bark can be very forward. Especially in an exciting, new park or trail or when we’re out on wet, smell-enriched ground.  As a puppy and despite a lot of very solid obedience skills, Bossy pulled so hard in these settings I was sure she was going to collapse her windpipe. She could snowplow her Gentle L headhalter right off her nose. And Bark can still–at three and half–do a 5 or 6 km walk with his nose on the ground, tracking one inch ahead of his leash.  Just lovely!

Yet when I walk with Bossy and Bark and lose myself in music, or let my mind wander through the challenges of my work, we start walking together.   The dogs just fall in at a my side.  We’ll travel as a unit. We all forget the leashes.

I change. Then they change.

But whenever my attention snaps back to them, I’ll feel them in my hands again.  We’ve fallen out of the zone.

I’m sure the secret is in my more focused, peaceful and happy energy. In my deeper and even breathing.  In the speed we can walk when I relax, let my arms swing naturally and just go.

When I’m in this zone, I’m a whole lot more interesting and easy-going.  I’m someone Bossy and Bark want to walk with, rather than someone they have to walk with.

So don’t walk your dog today.  Take yourself for a walk; bring your dog(s) along for company. Enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and use of your own body and mind.  Lose yourself and find your dogs.  See what happens when you forget about demanding respect. You might discover that you’re someone who can actually command it.