Coming Home

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Written By Jenny Pavlovic

For most of my adult life, I’ve come home at the end of a long work day to a house with energetic dogs. Their need to get out and play has kept me from becoming a couch potato. When I say that I have to get home to let the dogs out, it’s not a complaint. I look forward to it, because there’s not much that I enjoy more than getting out with the dogs. Knowing that they’ve been confined all day and need to get outside to run and play and take in all the smells of nature makes me think the couch can wait. I’m grateful for the gentle breezes, the smell of freshly mown grass, beautiful fields of daisies, majestic bald eagles, spectacular fireflies, amazing northern lights, and crisp clear stars that I have discovered once the dogs lured me outside.
In June I was fortunate to return to Bimini to swim with wild dolphins. You may recall that last year I wrote about the spirit dogs of Bimini (http://www.8statekate.net/wordpress/?p=2632). These three dogs joined me on a walk down the road, reminding me of my three dogs back home. They were even the same colors as my guys, and walking with them felt very much like being on a walk with my three at home, just when I was missing them the most.

When I walked back to Wild Quest, where I was staying, I left the dogs outside the gate, complying with the rules. But somehow one dog got inside and followed me. When I entered the second floor classroom, all eyes were looking behind me. I turned to see that the blond dog had circumvented the security and was right on my tail. I think the rule about not letting stray dogs in was not because the people there don’t love animals; they most certainly do. The joy of playing with wild dolphins is not so different than the joy of playing with dogs. But there were so many stray dogs in Bimini that they just could not allow them all to come in. So the blond dog was escorted out.

But I was excited this year to learn that Wild Quest had “adopted” a stray dog, “Buddha Buddy”, a black and white dog who looks like a border collie-terrier mix. He showed up earlier this spring and a visitor from the States decided to adopt him and take him home to Colorado. The staff at Wild Quest are taking care of him while his journey is arranged. It was fun to see that Buddy has taken to Amlas, who was so adamant last year about keeping stray dogs outside the fence. He follows her everywhere and she appears to be quite fond of him too!

While nothing seemed to be missing from Wild Quest last year, coming “home” to Buddy this year made it easier to leave a day on the water with the dolphins. As the boat approached the dock, we saw Buddy waiting for us. We all looked for him and called out to him, excited to see him. His tail subtly flipped up and thumped back down, once. Then, with some encouragement, he began to howl, making us laugh and then howl back. There were people waiting on the dock for us too, but something about seeing Buddy the dog there lightened our spirits. Coming “home” was like coming home at home!
When I was meditating outside early one morning, Buddy approached and placed his head under my hand. Since my eyes were closed, I didn’t see him coming and was delighted to feel his head there and tell him good morning. Later in the week, when two of us took out a kayak for an early morning paddle, Buddy swam out and tried to climb in. We had to escort him back to shore, but again I was happy to see him. He will make someone a fine, true companion.

Buddy’s life must have changed a lot since he appeared at Wild Quest, from the life of a stray with nobody, to having eight regular caretakers and meeting several new friends every week. I hope he’ll have a bright future in Colorado. I was excited to learn from Wild Quest about a program to help the stray dogs of Bimini. Learn more about it on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stray-Dogs-of-Bimini/128258473969736?fref=ts.
At the end of the trip, coming home was as exciting as ever. Although I was very tired, I was still overjoyed to be greeted by my three dogs and my cat. Several of my friends have lost their pets to old age recently and I know my guys will not be here forever. So I cherish every moment and miss them a lot when I’m gone. There is nothing more precious than coming home… coming home to their love and excitement!

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Dolphins and Dogs: Protect Your Heart

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Written By Jenny Pavlovic

All photographs © Jenny Pavlovic

A quick note: A few weeks ago I discovered that Bandit’s tags were missing. I keep them in a tag pocket on his collar to protect them, and the entire pocket with all the tags was gone. I immediately got him a new ID tag. After my experience with hundreds to thousands of lost dogs after Hurricane Katrina, I wanted Bandit to be easily identified from a tag (even though he is microchipped), if for some reason he got lost. For more information, look for the special offer on the Not Without My Dog Resource & Record Book at the end of this article.
I’m excited because I’m preparing for a trip to swim with wild dolphins (if they’re willing) in Bimini with animal communicator Mary Getten. In 2008, I had amazing encounters with gray whales at Laguna San Ignacio on a trip with Mary. I’ve been reading books by Rachel Smolker and Horace Dobbs about encounters with wild dolphins. I knew that dolphins are remarkably intelligent, and reading these stories impressed me about just how connected they are. We’re often ignorant of other species’ capabilities and needs unless we take time to observe them and get to know them.
Smolker wrote about a wild dolphin, called Holly, in Australia. When Smolker was in the water with Holly one day, Holly tried to get Smolker to swim down into deeper water, but she didn’t follow the dolphin because the water was murky and she couldn’t see well. Holly then dove down alone and carried something up from the bottom of the sea. It was the toolkit that had been lost from Smolker’s boat in a recent violent storm. Holly the dolphin had retrieved Smolker’s lost toolkit!
Dobbs wrote a similar story about a dolphin, called Donald, in England. Dobbs had lost his new underwater camera when the strap broke. He’d been searching for it for a while when Donald dove to the bottom of the sea and pointed to the lost camera, finding it for Dobbs. This is another example of a dolphin helping a person find something they had lost! After spending much time swimming in the ocean with wild dolphins, Dobbs hypothesized that they used their sonar to identify the heartbeats of their human friends from a distance.
During the same week I was reading the dolphin books, while out doing errands I heard snatches of a cancer researcher speaking on the radio. I later looked up the broadcast and found the podcast at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/04/27/mpr_news_presents/. Dr. David Agus, cancer doctor and best-selling author of the book The End of Illness, spoke about diet and exercise and genes, but what jumped out at me the most is what he said about dogs. He said that the landmark Framingham Heart Study showed that the most protective factor for our hearts is having a dog. People who have dogs are healthier because dogs keep us on a regular schedule. He stated that having a regular schedule for diet, sleep, and exercise is even more important than how much food or sleep or exercise we get.
When asked how this helps, Agus said that our bodies don’t like surprises. Our bodies care about surviving, and having a predictable and regular schedule helps our bodies know what to expect. Stress hormones are more likely to be activated when our bodies are surprised or miss something. When we have responsibility for a dog, we’re more likely to go to bed and get up at a certain time, have regular mealtimes, and go out regularly to walk the dog. We have to get home by a certain time to let the dog out and are less likely to stay out late because we have to get home to the dog (or we know that the dog will wake us up early even if we stay up too late!). This regular schedule is good for our bodies.
I knew that having a dog was good for my heart, but I hadn’t thought about it this way!
Next Dr. Agus said something that I hadn’t exactly heard before. He said that if you work out for an hour per day and sit for the rest of the day, all that sitting negates the benefits of the one hour of working out. Sitting for too long isn’t good for us because our lymphatic system has no muscles. When we walk around, the rhythmic contractions in our leg muscles circulate the lymph, helping our bodies get rid of waste. Helping the lymphatic system drain regularly by moving around makes us healthier. People who go to the gym for an hour per day may be fit in some ways, but their chance of getting cancer isn’t reduced by exercising unless they continue to move around throughout the day. People who have dogs tend to move around more regularly. This helps drain our lymph nodes and keep us healthy. Of course, this probably only pertains to people whose dogs live in the house with them and who spend time with and pay attention to their dogs.
According to this thinking, Bandit hitting me on the leg with the rubber chicken or dropping the ball in my lap when I’ve been sitting at the computer for too long is actually helping me stay healthy. Every time I take a short break to go outside, run around with the dogs and kick the ball, I’m milking my lymph nodes, helping clean junk out of my system. I always thought Bandit was a genius. He’s even more of a genius than I realized. I call him my recreation director, but perhaps I should call him my personal trainer too.
In turn, I do many things to help keep my dogs healthy. I give them off leash exercise, with room to run every day. I take regular breaks to play outside with them. I let them be dogs, don’t give them junk food, don’t use harmful chemicals on the lawn or the carpet or the floors of our house, avoid exposing them to toxic substances, let them express their natural instincts like tracking and herding, take care of their basic grooming needs and veterinary care, feed them high quality grain free food, and, of course, give them Omega Canine Shine® and Omega Nuggets™ to help meet their nutritional needs.
Dolphins and dogs are more intelligent and aware than most people realize. They give us their best. In turn, let’s take good care of them too. Next month I’ll report back on my visit with the wild dolphins and on Chase’s therapy dog certification and stint as an acupressure demo dog.
Announcements:
Great gift for dog lovers, graduates, dads, and more: Signed, hard cover copies of The Not Without My Dog Resource & Record Book are available for $15 each (40% off). Email me at jenny@8StateKate.net with “BOOK ORDER” or “BOOK INQUIRY” in the subject line. Quantity discounts are available for orders of 10 or more books. Find more info and the book trailer video at http://www.8statekate.net/wordpress/?page_id=1542.
Braveheart Rescue in Hastings, Minnesota needs to place many wonderful dogs by the end of June. If you would like to adopt a dog, please check their adoption page athttp://www.braveheartrescueinc.com/Available_Dogs/available_dogs.html and contact them ASAP. Thank you.