College Town At Christmas 2023: The Holiday Season Is For Dogs

    I am a dog walker and dog lover.

     And I also an observer of dogs. Especially when I'm walking my eight year-old Red Merle AKC Australian Shepherd named "Jude." on the Greenway close to my house. I pretty much walk him every morning. I think a lot and wonder about everything especially dogs. Mainly, I watch Jude walk and sniff.  I see him smiling and how happy he is when he goes for a dog walk with his human. He loves to go for walks on the Greenway. (A dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than a human's. According to Wikipedia 'For every scent receptor a human has, a dog has about 50.')  As I walk Jude in his harness and a retractable leash, I can keep a close eye on Jude and close to me.  The street that the Greenway is located next to the CSX railroad tracks and is very dangerous because vehicles tend to spend up and down the road and they do not obvisouly go the speed limit of 35 miles per hour as posted with the proper signage. It is very dangerous if a dog is not on a leash. Plus we have a leash law in the city of Bowling Green.

     However, as Jude walks, he keeps his nose close to the ground sniffing the grass and blades of long grass stems that have turned brown and dried out from the fall weather not far from the railroad tracks.  He always sniffs the dried leaves too laying on the ground and the remnants of dried out dog poop too from other dogs as well as their markings of dog pee I am sure.  I wonder what Jude is thinking and what calculations are adding up in his little doggie mind. Is he thinking about the time period that the other dog was just there? Are the dogs sending him some sort of signal or message?  Those are the things I wonder about.  Just what is Jude thinking? I wish I knew.

  I have read that dogs can communicate by other dog's poop and pee left on the ground. (Again, according to Wikipedia, "Dogs have a keen sense of smell and use their urine and feces to mark their territory and communicate with dogs. This marking behavior helps establish their presence in their environment.) Jude thinks he owns the Greenway apparently just like he thinks he's the boss of our house.  I admit, we have spoiled him rotten.  He probably owns more dog toys than any other dog in Bowling Green.  And he always gets the best vet care, dog food and doggie daycare and overnight boarding that money can buy. Remember, "The Puppy Rules!"

   Dogs have a strong sense of belonging. Especially to a human family or to "a pack" as I like to say.  Jude gets extremely excited when the Christmas season arrives.  The day after Thanksgiving, I go to the attic pulldown stairs in the hallway of our house and pull the stairs down.  Then I climb up into the attic and take down the artificial Christmas tree and decorations. He starts to run around the house huffing and puffing and begins to bark. He gets real excited! Then we play Christmas music and he gets even more excited. I made the mistake that of telling him early this year that Santa Clause was going to bring him some Christmas presents like he always does and he started looking to the top of the book shelf where we always try to hide his presents.  He kept looking and whining. Eventually, he just laid down on the floor and kept looking up at the top of the book shelf and whining into the evening.  But there were no presents to be found. This went on for several hours. Poor little fella. Now my wife and I have agreed not to bring it about the presents again until it gets closer to Christmas. 

   We treat Jude like he is our child.  Our only grown son is grown and lives in Nashville plus he is married now.  So Jude came into our lives eight years ago and filled the empty nest syndrome. This Christmas season be sure to share the Christmas spirit and joy with your pets whether you have dogs or cats or any other critter. Be grateful for them because they know too when you are happy because they can sense how you feel. They feed off your vibes and energy.  If they sense when you are happy or not. If you are are happy and feel happy and loved.  Plus they feel safe and secure in the furever home. God Bless you and Merry Christmas to all from Galen, Patty and Jude!


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Jude, The Australian Shepherd From Bowling Green, Ky.

     He's wild, energetic, spunky and crazy!

He's Jude, the Australian Shepherd from Bowling Green, Ky!  He even has his own Facebook page. Check it out at https://www.facebook.com/judetheaussie/  Patty and I took Jude, an American Kennel Club Australian Shepherd dog into our pack in May of this year. Currently, he is eight months-old and he is a beautiful Red Merle Aussie with awesome markings.  This is our third Aussie to own.  The first two were Foster, a male, a National Stock Dog Registry Aussie, and Katie Red-Dog, also from the National Stock Dog Registry, who was Foster's mate.  They had two litter of puppies together and gave us many years of pleasure and happiness until they both passed away of health complications at 12 and 13 years-old, about the average life span of Australian Shepherds. Besides Jude's wild side, he has a sweet, calm side. He loves to have his belly scratched and songs sang to him in his ear while holding him on your lap and on his back.  He loves to play with his toys in the backyard especially any kind of game of fetch with a ball or frisbee and he loves to go for long walks while he is on the lease in our neighborhood and on the Greenway which is a wide, concrete bike/walkway path located down the street from our house next to the CSX railroad tracks.  But mainly Jude is a great  friend and protector and gives us lots of love and affection. He is very loyal and protects our home letting us know when strangers come onto the property or ring the doorbell, day or night.  

   

 Most of all, Jude loves going to the "Bark Park," located in our City of Bowling Green on old Cave Mill Road next to Lost River Cave.  There, Jude gets to socialize with other dogs and Patty and I have learned that dog people are crazy just like us!  Many people in our city, regardless of skin color, political background, sexual orientation or social or income status love dogs!  We are very fortunate to have a "Bark Park" in Bowling Green a.k.a. a "dog park" where dogs can socialize and mingle with other dogs in a fenced in area while the dog owners talk amongst themselves about their favorite pet or pets. It's amazing how a dog can neutralize any political affiliation or social status amongst humans where nothing negative in conversation hardly ever comes up because everybody in Bowling Green loves dogs it seems!