DEV Community

Cover image for My Dog is a Therapist

My Dog is a Therapist

Ryland G on June 27, 2019

Cover Credit Significantly more personal post today. Wanted to change things up. This is an experience we had with our 1.5 year old border collie...
Collapse
 
rpalo profile image
Ryan Palo

100% here for all pet related content in Dev.to. Audrey rules! Keep em coming!

Collapse
 
taillogs profile image
Ryland G

Will do! Not exactly "Dev" material so I was worried it wouldn't be received well.

Collapse
 
ssimontis profile image
Scott Simontis

Honestly this is what I would consider some of the best content. As an individual living with some rather serious mental health issues, I love seeing content that raises awareness of any mental health issue, and anxiety is one that I imagine a great many members here can relate to.

You approached this with the mind of an engineer. You made a hypothesis, gathered data that supported your theory, and once confirmed, integrated it. Uplifting stories can be difficult to find when anxiety or other mental health issues are involved, and your story has a happy ending, brings hope and optimism, and offers some great observations on the non-computing side of development, which is often neglected.

Great job and I look forward to reading more of your content in the future!

Thread Thread
 
taillogs profile image
Ryland G

Honestly this is what I would consider some of the best content. As an individual living with some rather serious mental health issues, I love seeing content that raises awareness of any mental health issue, and anxiety is one that I imagine a great many members here can relate to.

I'm glad it resonated with you. It's actually what I have the most to write about, so I'll make sure to write more stuff like this. Anxiety is a bitch, I think it contributes to almost every problem in the world.

You approached this with the mind of an engineer. You made a hypothesis, gathered data that supported your theory, and once confirmed, integrated it. Uplifting stories can be difficult to find when anxiety or other mental health issues are involved, and your story has a happy ending, brings hope and optimism, and offers some great observations on the non-computing side of development, which is often neglected.

I'm glad you took that away from the story. For a long time I would just get defeated by my anxiety, because that's what people around me did. Once I realized that anxiety follows rules like anything else, attempting to combat it became much easier.

Great job and I look forward to reading more of your content in the future!

Thanks for taking the time to leave such a positive and insightful comment. Expect more of this stuff moving forward.

Collapse
 
rpalo profile image
Ryan Palo

Well, Willy approves. :)

My dog, Willy

Thread Thread
 
taillogs profile image
Ryland G

What a stud. What breed is he?

Thread Thread
 
rpalo profile image
Ryan Palo

We’re not sure. Seems like some border collie and pit bull. Some pictures of staffordshire terriers kind of look like him. He may actually be just a very small cow.

What about Audrey?

Thread Thread
 
taillogs profile image
Ryland G

We’re not sure. Seems like some border collie and pit bull. Some pictures of staffordshire terriers kind of look like him.

I was guessing there might be some border collie in there, but I wasn't entirely sure. Pit bulls get such a bad rap, they are such awesome dogs.

He may actually be just a very small cow.

Have you tried milking him?

What about Audrey?

Allegedly a purebred border collie. She has very unique markings (for any breed), and we adopted her from a family, so it's hard to know for sure.

Collapse
 
rachelsoderberg profile image
Rachel Soderberg

My family's dog had an interesting way of picking up on anxiety too. My sister and I would walk her at different times with very different results - my sister is more anxious than I am and Jessie (the dog) would pick up on it and growl at strangers if they came too close. I walk confidently and have martial arts training so she would typically just ignore people on our walks together because I was not regarding them as interesting or a threat. I could run with her off leash, my sister could not. Pretty interesting how they can read us almost better than we can read ourselves!

Collapse
 
rachelsoderberg profile image
Rachel Soderberg

I forgot to share - this is Jessie!
Jessie

Collapse
 
taillogs profile image
Ryland G • Edited

That's a unique looking dog. What breed is she?

Thread Thread
 
rachelsoderberg profile image
Rachel Soderberg

She's a husky german shepherd mix! So she ended up with the husky colors (and stubborn attitude), with the shepherd markings and smarts. She's such a cool dog!

Collapse
 
shihexpert profile image
Shih Tzu Expert

Cute pup! Always said dogs are far more intelligent that we give them credit for :)

Collapse
 
cecilelebleu profile image
Cécile Lebleu

Thank you for posting this! Highly appreciated.
As someone with anxiety issues too, I will try to start watching more for my own triggers, and how it affects other people.

Collapse
 
taillogs profile image
Ryland G

Hey, thanks for taking the time to read the post. I'm so happy to hear it resonated with you. Let me know how it goes!

Collapse
 
sarahjanemorris profile image
Sarah-Jane Morris

What a good girl! She's clearly solving relatable problems in that video.

Collapse
 
taillogs profile image
Ryland G

I'm definitely not biased, so I feel confident saying she's a contender for "best girl". She's debugging the toy.

Collapse
 
gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

My editor is a therapist:

M-x doctor

Collapse
 
theringleman profile image
Sam Ringleman

I haven't read yet. I hearted because of the title. ❤️