dogs · fitness

National Dog Day? Sure!

Christine Hennebury

I know, I know! Since the advent of social media, we’ve been swamped with National Days and I’m pretty sure that National Dog Day (or Puppy Day or Rescue Day or I Love My Dog Day) happens several times a year.

And one part of me wants to resist falling for a trend or buying into the hype but another (very determined!) part of me says ‘Why not celebrate good things more often?’

Yes, I know that it is hard to celebrate things – even the very best things- every day.

And if you celebrate things every day, aren’t you just establishing a new normal and nothing is actually being celebrated?

Yeah, probably.

But maybe having multiple points in the year to celebrate important parts of your life is a good compromise between all of those things.

*****

With all of that wondering (overthinking? probably.) out of the way, I’m going to go ahead and celebrate National Dog Day today.

Even after 6 years, I still find myself somewhat surprised to have a dog.

It’s a good kind of surprise.

It’s delightful to have Khalee in my life, to take her for walks and to give her treats and to just have her company even though part of my brain is still astounded that she lives here.

You see, I have always been allergic to animals and while we had pets some of the time when I was growing up, my allergies kind of forced me to keep my distance.

I don’t think any of us realized that I could take an allergy pill daily. I only took them when my symptoms got really bad – they were a treatment, not a prevention – and as a result, while I loved our dog, Sox, and our guinea pigs and the like I didn’t get the same kind of close to them that other people got to their pets.

So, when my friends started getting pets for their kids – or when it was suggested that I get a pet for mine – I would comment that I couldn’t imagine having an animal living in my house.

Now, before you get all upstrapless about my tone there, I wasn’t judging them and I wasn’t saying dogs were bad. I was actually bewildered by the idea.

I liked dogs and cats but I didn’t understand them. I couldn’t get close to them (because: allergies) and so all I was imagining was having another creature to take care of and my brain just flatly refused to entertain the idea.

But once my ADHD meds were sorted and my kid’s therapist had recommended that we get a ‘tactile’ pet, I had a bit more capacity AND I had an extra reason to take on the responsibility of giving a dog a home.

So, we got a dog, and I started taking allergy meds every day and I quickly began to realize all of the benefits of sharing our house with an animal. In fact, I even wrote a post for National Dog Day in 2019 about how the right dog had come along.

a photo of a light-haired dog looking towards the camera while standing on a dark-coloured floor
This is a photo of Khalee from 2019 and I love how it looks like she is hoping I understood how important that secret she just told me was. Image description: a close-up photo of Khalee, a light-coloured, medium-sized dog, standing on a dark laminate floor with an orange wall in the background. She has her mouth slightly open and her eyes look serious.

In that post, I mention that I didn’t consider ‘dog person’ as part of my identity. I’m still not sure that it would occur to me to mention how I feel about dogs when having a casual conversation but I am a friend to dogs in a way I never was before and everypup recognizes me as a soft touch for a pat or a snack.

Khalee has branched out a bit since that post – she doesn’t follow every step I take anymore, unless I am in the kitchen or carrying a plate of food, of course.

She gets up waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early and she sometimes needs to go out over and over and over and that can be annoying in the moment but she also keeps me company when I’m working on something challenging and she gives me a reason to go out for a (often very slow) walk and she’s happy to see me when I come home (even if I have just been out in the driveway) and, well, she’s just great.

And appreciating her for her mere existence – she’s good because she’s good, not because of anything specific she does – has made it a lot easier to feel that way about creatures in general, including people.

a close photo of a light-haired dog's face in a dimly-lit room
A recent, sleepy photo of Khalee. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a medium-sized, light-haired dog resting with her head on her paws, facing the camera. Her face takes up most of the image and she looks gentle, relaxed, and sleepy.

So yeah, I’m up for celebrating National Dog Day.

If you are looking for some other ways to celebrate National Dog Day, check out this list on the National Dog Day website.

a dog resting on a bed next to a pillow that says 'Feminist'
Khalee is DEFINITELY a Feminist. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a light-haired, medium-sized dog resting on my bed. She has her mouth open slightly and she is looking directly at the camera. Next to her is a rectangular pillow that says ‘Feminist’ in red cursive with a pink, yellow, and green rainbow behind it.

As a bonus, here are some photos of some of my other dog friends…I mean, my friend’s dogs…hmm, maybe I was right the first time.

A husky resting her head on the center console between the front seats of a car.
This is my friend, Gal, she likes highway driving but she is not a fan of driving slowly. that’s why we don’t let her take the wheel. Image description: a photo from the passenger seat of a car with Gal, a husky, poking her head out from the backseat and resting her chin on the center console. You can see my left arm next to her head and my friend’s shoulder and a piece of her hair on the other side of Gal’s sweet face.
a small dog with curly black, white, and brown fur sits upright on a couch
Archie! My friend Archie likes to sleep on the back of your neck if you sit on his couch when you visit. He is a fan of treats – that’s something we have in common. Image description: a small black, white, and brown dog wearing a plaid bowtie sits upright on a brown couch. He has true puppydog eyes – round and bright and very likely to convince you to hand over a potato chip.
a large grey dog with fuzzy hair sits upright on a patio
Maisie and I are good friends, especially if I am willing to share my snacks, scratch her head, or hold her chew toy at chomping height. Image description: a large grey dog with fuzzy hair sits upright on a weathered patio. She has her tongue stuck out a little ways and her hair hangs over her eyes. You can see my friend’s arm as she reaches out to pat Maisie’s back, and you can see grass, flowers, and trees in the background.
a curly-haired dog sits on the floor next to a kitchen table
Reuben is a new friend of mine and he is VERY fuzzy and he was wondering if maybe I had a treat for him. (I did!) Image description: a tall, light brown, curly-haired dog is sitting upright on a tile kitchen floor next to a table with a flowered table cloth.
a woman holding a small brown chihuahua
Spritz (a.k.a. Spritzie) is a teeny brown chihuahua who liked being up in my arms until he very much did not and then I gently laid him down on the floor. Image description: a photo of me holding a teeny brown chihuahua in the crook of my left arm while I take a selfie with my right. I am wearing a beige sweater and I have my hair pulled back from my face with a black cloth band.

And just in case you want to know more about how helpful Khalee is, here are some of my posts that feature her:

Low Key Winter Walk With Christine & Khalee
Khalee has a question for you. (Actually, several questions…)
Just For Fun with Christine and Khalee
Spring(ish) Walks for Christine and Khalee
Resistance, ADHD Time-Math and that time that Khalee and I were both so good despite everything else
Khalee Solves Christine’s Problem (a poem?)

Published by Christine Hennebury

I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm a former president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

2 thoughts on “National Dog Day? Sure!”

    1. Thanks, Chantel! I’m lucky to know so many cute dogs and I’m glad to introduce you to them in this post.

      (Unrelated but my middle name is Chantel, spelled the same and everything!)

      Reply

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