{"id":2162,"date":"2010-12-21T07:01:04","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T15:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midlifedog.com\/?p=2162"},"modified":"2010-12-20T10:01:20","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T18:01:20","slug":"another-way-dogs-earn-their-keep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/a-dogs-life\/another-way-dogs-earn-their-keep\/","title":{"rendered":"Another way dogs earn their keep"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My mom’s been reading an interesting book, Choke by Sian Beilock<\/a>. Well, she says\u00a0 it’s interesting. I may write my blog but I don’t read books.<\/p>\n

This book explains why people freeze when they’re under intense pressure. It’s why top students get low scores on big exams, like SATs.<\/p>\n

As a dog, I rarely experience this pressure.<\/strong> I passed my temperament test at the Barking Lounge<\/a> with flying colors. Fortunately they did not evaluate my mom’s temperament, but that’s another post.<\/p>\n

So where do I come in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, it seems that one proven strategy involves taking a break. When you feel totally pressured and stressed, give yourself some distance.<\/p>\n

When you have a dog, you have no choice. <\/strong>Here’s how I earn my crunchies. Most of the time I’m lying on my cushion, watching my mom work in her office. It’s pretty boring. Luckily I get enough exercise so I am usually sleepy.<\/p>\n

But<\/strong> when I sense that my mom is getting intensely frustrated, or it’s just long past time for a walk, I rise from my cushion and flap my ears.<\/p>\n

“Uh oh,” my mom sighs. “I’ll have to take you out, won’t I? Just let me finish this one thing…”<\/p>\n

So then I come up and rest my head on her knee. I look at her imploringly. We have<\/em> to take a break.<\/p>\n

“Okay, Gracie,” she says. “Let me just set down a plate of cat food for Ophelia. She can’t jump to the kitchen counter the way Creampuff does. She can’t eat while you’re loose around here. The poor thing is hungry.”<\/p>\n

Yeah, right. All 15 pounds of furry feline.<\/p>\n

Once she’s up and moving,<\/strong> my mom doesn’t waste any time. Now that we live in Belltown we take a fast walk to the dog park. Sometimes we run into the park regulars and hang out awhile.<\/p>\n

By the time we’re home.<\/strong> Cathy is feeling refreshed and ready to hit the computer again. I am feeling good because most park regulars (and a lot of strangers) make a big fuss over me.<\/p>\n

See? Pressure is lifted. <\/strong>Mom thinks more clearly. And it’s all because of me, the resident dog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My mom’s been reading an interesting book, Choke by Sian Beilock. Well, she says\u00a0 it’s interesting. I may write my blog but I don’t read books. This book explains why people freeze when they’re under intense pressure. It’s why top students get low scores on big exams, like SATs. As a dog, I rarely experience … Continue reading Another way dogs earn their keep<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2162"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2171,"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions\/2171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midlifedog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}