A Bernie Blessing

An Ode to Chuck

Once upon a time, about 4 years ago, I thought that investing in “dog training” would make me a responsible dog owner. I discovered a well-recommended source in my local town with a man named Chuck (let’s call him that, shall we🙃). He was rather short and a lil stout. He had a walk about him that seemed more like a trot or a prance you might say, yet stood firmly with confidence as if no dog would ever mess with him. He’d plant both feet on the ground, place his hands on top of each other to rest on his sweet pot belly and begin to ask questions with just enough of a condescending tone to affirm that he in fact knew far more than I did about getting Bernie to come, sit, stay or roll over. And you know what, he wasn’t wrong!

Except for the fact that he told me one very sage remark that I will never be able to shake: “You speak to Bernie with words like I love you I love you I love you and that to Bernie is Japanese. He will never understand you, just like you don’t understand Japanese.” 🤔

We left our lesson and never went back. Not because Chuck wasn’t right, but because Chuck missed that the only language I knew with Bernie was love. ❤️

And while I thought Bernie needed Dog Training, no one told me when I got Bernie that he was giving me Relentless Joy Training – and that doesn’t come from classes with Chuck, dog training books or an online app.

As we’ve been skiing with Bernie this winter, there is a certain joie de vivre about him on the snowy trails that reminds me without question: he does not need training; he is here to train us.

Photo: Our buddy Alan + Alma, Co-Founders of The Fraps Institute; Bernie always trying to keep up!

You see, the magic of Bernie is his incredible ability to show up — beside your skis, between your legs, at full-force, with his ears flying in the wind. The circumstances rarely impact his ability to be joyfull; the weather certainly does not impact his spirit. And before you roll your eyes at “Personal Development brought to you by my Pup”, I’ve yet to find a better example of Relentless Joy, of All-In-Commitment and arguably, a very temporary listener of come, sit, stay — yet he is always here to play! 🥳

*I write this with a deep understanding (or lack thereof, to be honest) of how wildly messed up things are occurring in the world today. It brings me a certain type of solace to find leadership in places and spaces beyond certain glorified humans — and Bernie is one of those places. 🐾