Animals: the natural mood lifter

Jennifer Vanderau
Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter

(10/2018) It’s possible I may have found a totally natural drug to lift moods.

A few Saturdays ago, I attended the Puppy Paddle at the new Chambersburg aquatic center. In the pouring rain. Yeah. Bummer, right? The crazy thing is, this outing was absolutely amazing.

Let me try and set the scene for you.

First of all, have we had a soggy summer or what? Between the rain and the blinding humidity, I’ve been pretty sapped these last few months. Ugh.

So when the day of the Puppy Paddle dawned gloomy and wet, I sighed to myself and thought, "Man, one of my favorite events wrecked by rain."

Little did I know…

I assumed (and if you’ve ever seen an old episode of the Odd Couple, you’ll know the dangers there) that the weather would keep people away and the event would be a bust. Surprisingly enough, there were, I’m betting throughout the course of the day, probably more than 50 dogs there.

Now, naturally, had the weather cooperated, it would have been packed, but given the relatively steady rain, I’d say the turnout was pretty impressive.

The other really neat aspect was the people. They all said, "The dogs don’t mind the rain and this event really is for them."

One lady said she had promised her dog they would go and she didn’t want to disappoint him.

Animal-lovers. There’s really nothing like them.

So the humans stood with umbrellas and raincoats and the dogs – as predicted – acted like nothing was amiss. They frolicked and pranced in the water (both in the pool and coming out of the clouds) and generally had an amazing time.

I parked myself under a canopy near the front and settled in to watch. As I let myself go, something really awesome happened. I started treating the scene before me kind of like a television show and the longer I watched, the more relaxed I became.

First, there was a group of dogs – mostly black labs, but there may have been a poodle in there – that almost created a little gang, ala West Side Story. The four of them would race and rip (even in the grass outside the pool) and there were two in the group that I’m convinced became best friends.

It could have been a children’s book, "The Best Friend I Made at the Pool This Summer." Seriously, they would actually look for each other and follow one another around everywhere. (I’ve seen the same kind of thing in our dog park behind the shelter – it’s really a joy to watch.)

The new aquatic center has a shallow pool for wading and to watch the dogs literally leap like deer through the waves was hilarious.

We also had contests – Longest Leap, Quickest Retrieval, a swimsuit competition and a doggy paddle across the width of the pool.

Because of the weather, the swimsuit competition didn’t really happen, but I’ve seen some doggie bathing suits in the past that were way too cute.

The truly memorable moment came during the doggy paddle across the pool. Essentially what happens is someone stands on the one end of the pool with the pup and another person is on the other side of the pool calling the canine. Whichever dog makes it to the other side fastest gets the prize.

Four dogs competed in this, one of which looked like a golden/lab mix. So as soon as "go" was called, the humans on the other side started waving their hands and hollering for the pups. Two dogs jumped, one completely refused and our aforementioned golden/lab found another way across. There is a kind of bridge (that I think has a filter for the pool) in between the section for swimming and the one for diving. The golden/lab noticed the humans using this bridge and you could almost see him thinking, "Yeah, I’m not jumping in there," and across the bridge he went.

He was incredibly excited to walk up to his dad on the other side.

I actually laughed out loud.

There’s a saying I found a few years ago on Facebook: "Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass – it’s about learning to dance in the rain." That could have been the motto for this year’s Puppy Paddle.

Isn’t it funny that my initial reaction to the day was to be bummed out because it was raining and one of my favorite events would be "ruined." By the end of the day, my attitude had completely changed. It makes you wonder if maybe our preconceived notions can actually alter our experiences.

Instead of assuming the rain would make everything terrible, what if I took life as it was – not good, not bad. What is it that makes us predisposed to think the sun is good and the rain is bad? Considering what all the rain does for us, labeling it bad or in this case ruinous doesn’t seem exactly accurate, does it?

If a rainy Puppy Paddle can turn into something quite extraordinary, what else in life could be different just by accepting everything as it is? It’s an interesting thought.

All I know is I found a surefire way to boost any gloomy spirit – just find yourself a happy, frolicking group of dogs and settle in for the show. You will be witnessing pure, unadulterated joy and if you can tune into that energy, I swear it rubs off.

Animals: the natural mood lifter. Experience them today.

*****

Jennifer Vanderau is the Director of Communications for the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter in Chambersburg, Pa., and can be reached at cvasoc@innernet.net. The shelter accepts both monetary and pet supply donations. For more information, call the shelter at (717) 263-5791 or visit the website www.cvas-pets.org.