Our columnist recommends bright colors, deep breathing and sticking up for yourself

By Strider the Dog

Dear Strider,

Like you, I love autumn in the Rogue Valley, and I love walking with my dog in the mountains. What I don’t love is that October is also hunting season. My dog, Shiloh, is a little brown and gray thing who could be mistaken for a deer — especially if the person making the mistake has been drinking beer before going out with a gun.

Any advice on how to avoid disaster on the trail? Thanks in advance.

— Scared by Hunters

Dear Scared,

I get you. We live in the mountains, and when we hear gunshots nearby, my pack mate Shadow feels very nervous. She, too, is a little gray and brown dog you could mistake for a deer if you weren’t paying enough attention. Regarding this, the empty Budweiser cans we found on a walk one year did not inspire confidence.

On the other hand, we don’t want to mistrust all hunters. We assume most of them are paying attention. But just in case we run into one who’s overly exuberant, Tod makes Shadow wear a bright orange cape that fastens on with Velcro. Shadow hates the cape, so sometimes if we’re only going a little ways, Tod ties a red bandanna around her neck, on the theory that deer do not wear bandannas, and even the most trigger-happy hunter understands that.

Have a great walk and stay safe out there!  

Dear Strider,

Have you ever found it tough to stop and smell the roses? Do you ever wake up just thinking about all the things piling up that you have to do that day? Or do dogs take life a little more easily than us anxious human types? Let me know, will you? Maybe you or the Old Cedar Tree have some hints for how we can slow down.

— Going Too Fast in Phoenix

Dear Going,

Well, in point of fact, smelling roses is usually on my list of To Do activities. I mean, have you ever stuck your nose in one of those things? Hot doggety. It’s worth the occasional thorn stuck in the snout.

But I get that, for you, this is what Tod calls a metaphor. I feel kind of bad saying this, but this is one issue on which dogs have just got humans beat. Every morning is a wonderful start to a potentially fantastic new day for us dogs. The first pee of the day! Breakfast! A morning snooze! The first walk! Smelling what’s going on in the houses around us! Greeting the Old Cedar Tree!

It was the Old Cedar Tree who offered me some counsel on what advice to give here.

They said, “The most important thing is to breathe, slowly, deeply, in and out. Every time you feel yourself getting breathless, it’s because you’re going too fast. Stop for a minute and breathe. From the bottom of your being. When that’s cleared out whatever thoughts are jostling around in your head, look around. What looks beautiful? What smells nice? What feels soft and good, like a squirrel scampering up your trunk? When you’ve covered that ground, branch out into the rest of your day. It should go like a breeze after that.”

I think that about sums it up, don’t you?

Dear Strider,

I got all dressed up to go out on a blind date, and my mother laughed at me and said it was way overkill. I was so embarrassed I didn’t know what to do. What would you have done?

— Tangled up in Talent

Dear Tangled,

I don’t mean to disrespect your mother, but I really think she should have just told you how great you looked. Still, sometimes even the most loving parent’s anxiety leads them into incorrect behavior.

I bet your mother felt sorry after. So here’s what you need to do. Dress however you want. And if someone criticizes you, just give them a long, sad, silent stare. More in pity than in anger, if you know what I mean. That gives them a minute to regroup. And it gives you more strength every time to just go on doing what you think is best for you.

The more often you practice not caring what others think about how you look, the easier it gets.

I learned this early on, with my crushed ear. A lot of people made, well, remarks, about how I’d never find my forever home with a disfigurement like that. Disfigurement! Can you imagine! Then Tod found my picture on the internet, and she says she loved the ear on sight. She says it gave me a certain panache.

I have no idea what “panache” means, but I do know I carry that ear with pride!

I’m hoping you do the same. Get that panache (whatever it is)!

Just saying.

Want to share your own panache with a sympathetic canine? Our lines are open. Just email [email protected].