Tonight's picture was taken on October 13, 2008. Mattie was two months into treatment and next to him is Linda, Mattie's child life specialist. Linda is the reason we started the Mattie Miracle Child Life Program Fund at the Hospital. It was in thanks to the countless hours Linda spent with Mattie and our family. She helped in so many indescribable ways. Went way beyond a job description. We met Linda during Mattie's first week at the Hospital. Linda caught onto Mattie's needs immediately and she appreciated and understood him. In turn, he had a great fondness and turned to her for support. That day, Linda invited Mattie into the child life playroom, which was closed to patients and families. It was closed because she received a huge toy delivery and needed that room to process everything. Nonetheless, she invited Mattie in and gave him the task of sorting toys. Mattie LOVED tasks and having responsibility. Linda was smart, because she picked up on that need right away. So much so that on the weekends, Mattie was in charge of feeding the fish in the Hospital's fish tank. Another task he took seriously. I love this photo because I caught these two buddies in action!
Quote of the day: Your most valuable asset can be your willingness to persist longer than anyone else. ~ Brian Tracy
This evening, I was walking Sunny, and bumped into my neighbor who has a puppy. He was telling me that male dogs tend to bond better with their female owners. I had never heard of this before, but if Sunny is any indication, I would say that theory is absolutely correct. But you know me? I couldn't let it go. So I started Googling the topic to see what I could find. Low and behold, people are actually doing research on dogs and the genders they are attracted to! At the end of the day, it appears that researchers have debunked the myth that dogs are attracted to any gender.
The study referred to in the article below found that neurotic owners and neurotic dogs appear to be sensitive to each other’s needs, and spend more close time together than non-neurotic pairs. This had me LAUGHING hysterically. Why? Because one could classify me as partly neurotic. Neurotic is characterized as experiencing unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, and vulnerability. That's me, and I also think that is Sunny. Sunny is super sensitive to his environment and for a dog, has very visible moods.
I particularly love this quote in the article:
“Owners scoring high on neuroticism may mainly regard their dogs as being a social supporter and thus will frequently interact with them and reinforce spatial closeness with their dogs.”
That sums up Sunny and me! Now of course, one could say that Sunny is bonded to me because I do the primary dog care...... food, clean up, walking, and grooming. All of which meet his biological needs, but Sunny is much more complex than this and you can't just evaluate him and his actions without also taking into account his behaviors and emotions. A complex dog for a complex girl!
Do dogs prefer men over women? https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/11/20/human-canine-interactions.aspx
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