Doggy date night

I am more than just a walking treat dispenser

Hi friend,

Happy Valentine’s Day from Canine Hotline, a weekly newsletter fetching advice and adventures for dog people. We hope you find ways to celebrate love today. Maybe by calling a friend? Walking your pup? Snuggling with your dog on the couch? Telling someone you love them? Taking yourself for a jog and telling yourself, “I love you!” Giving your dog a nice bouquet of fresh sticks?

In honor of the holiday, I’m sharing one of the adventures from my newest book, Adventure Dogs. This is one of my fave activities in the book. It’s all about L-O-V-E, of course. ;) Enjoy! xo -Fern

When I asked Clive Wynne, a pioneering canine behaviorist, what adventure he thought his black mutt, Xephos, might want most in the world, he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell me. He thought, maybe it wasn’t exciting enough. Well, what is it? I pried.

Wynne has conducted cutting-edge research on dogs and their wild relatives. He is the founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University. He is the author of several animal cognition books and more than a hundred peer-reviewed scientific journal articles that are some of the most highly cited studies on dog psychology. He’s even worked with wolves! No way this could be boring!

“Well, we would sit on the couch,” he explained to me. I waited for him to continue. He didn’t. That was pretty much it. He would sit on the couch with his dog and give her a nice pet. “It’s what my dog really likes to do!” he exclaimed.

At first, I wanted to reject the notion that sitting on the sofa was a noteworthy canine adventure. We’ve got to get up from the couch, people! Move! Run! Play! Sniff! Fetch! But the more Wynne explained, the more I started to understand that this adventure was about more than embracing your inner couch potato.

Dogs thrive when they are able to forge strong emotional connections. Sure, we love our dogs. But have you ever thought about how incredible it is that the feeling is…mutual? I mean, we are two different species!

By researching dogs’ hormones, brains, and even heartbeats, Wynne has proven that you are much more than just a walking treat dispenser to your dog. There is a reason that Bette wants to be next to me or sitting on top of me and looks heartbroken every time she ends up on the wrong side of the door. She is heartbroken. According to Wynne, our dogs experience love in a similar way that humans do. Being left alone is one of the saddest things that can happen to a canine.

I thought about the many Friday nights Bette had spent alone while I was out looking for human love (which I did eventually find, by the way), and a pang of guilt fell over me. I decided it was time to step up my game. I brought her a beautiful bouquet of fresh sticks, a nice bottle of water, and some hot dogs (she’s a cheap date). Next, I threw on a movie and snuggled on the couch with my girl. Sure, Bette was snoring before the previews were over. And the scents coming from her were no Le Labo. But for once, I didn’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing or shoveling too much food in my mouth or spilling on my shirt. I didn’t have to stress about being too clingy or wonder whether my date loved me as much as I loved her. All I had to do was relax on the couch and feel relieved that the only game this animal was capable of playing was fetch. Bette snuggled her head in my lap and my heart filled with joy. I had another animal that really did love me back. She loved me exactly as I was. Sitting right here on the couch next to her.

This was an excerpt from Fern’s book Adventure Dogs: Activities to Share with Your Dog— from Comfy Couches to Mountain Tops, out now with Chronicle Books and available everywhere books are sold.