Gail Fisher, All Dogs Gym & Inn - The perfect place for pets and their people

N.H. Sunday News - Dog Tracks Column - 12/21/08
By: Gail T. Fisher

This being my pre-Christmas column, I usually write reminder caveats for taking care of your dog, keeping his schedule sane and normal, protecting her from the stresses of the holiday, and watching what she eats. This year with so many of us struggling to achieve some semblance of normalcy in the aftermath of the ice storm, don’t forget your dog. While many pets are basking in the extra time together with someone at home keeping the wood stove stoked, the disruption to the dog’s usual patterns may well have behavioral repercussions—if not now, once things are back to normal. Your dog will benefit from time spent practicing behaviors, tricks, taking walks and enjoying interactive games together. 

We were relatively lucky during the ice storm. A beautiful old birch tree broke and landed on the wires from the pole to our house. The lucky part was that it didn’t take down the wires. Another tree fell from one neighbor’s yard straight through the corner of our backyard into another neighbor’s, taking out two sides of our fence, and one of theirs. It meant leash walking the dogs until we could erect a barrier across the breach – a minor inconvenience compared to what others are going through.

We were without power for only about 20 hours—so much better than so many others. The dogs huddled in front of the gas fire, hardly aware that anything was wrong.

I lived in a more remote rural area in the blizzard of ‘78, and spent three days huddled around our wood stove before we could get out and the power came back on. I thought three days was about my limit, cooking on a Coleman stove, melting ice on the wood stove to flush the toilet, but this is so much worse. I’m hearing from friends that they may not have power back before Christmas, or maybe even after Christmas. I guess we’re learning a bunch of lessons that we wish we didn’t have to learn – another one of those (blank) growth opportunities. (I suspect Harrigan is reading this thinking, “What a wuss! She ought to experience what **really roughing it** is like!”)

Last Monday night, four days after the storm, we held our regularly scheduled training classes. All but one of the students that showed up for class were still without electricity at home. I am so impressed by their dedication and commitment to their dogs.

I also felt good that our business was open and we able to take in a number of pets for many families that went to hotels or stayed in shelters. Even though we lost power at All Dogs Gym for nearly 40 hours, the collective heat of the dogs (and cats) kept their areas snug and cozy. I can’t say enough about our wonderful staff, rising to the occasion with good humor, working under less-than-optimum conditions, but focused 100% on customer service . . . regardless of the species of the “customer.”

I’m dating myself to say that I lived in New York City at the time of the first major blackout (1968), but the aftermath of that experience was life-changing, as I suspect will be the result of this storm, too. So many of us met our neighbors for the first time, and the experience led to the birth of neighborhood block parties – a real feeling of community in an otherwise impersonal City.

Hopefully that is the result not just of this storm aftermath, but the message of this time of year, and all year. Fellowship, community, cooperation and partnership with our fellow beings – human, canine, feline, equine – any “ine.” We are in this together. May we all mutually benefit from the life we share.

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