September days and nights in the Hill household typically consist of long days away from home in school followed by late nights of activities/sports in Sparta and surrounding towns. For most people their day ends right after they get a ride home from school but for the Hill family the day just begins. I have two sisters, my twin Marcella and Alexia who is in 7th grade. We are all involved in multiple activities/sports so our lives are busier than the average family. Marcella is involved in the Pass It Along Club, the Sparta High School Girl's Volleyball and Lacrosse teams, a club volleyball team outside of Sparta, and she attends classes at a dance studio where she student teaches as well. My little sister, Alexia is a basketball player for the Sparta PAL, a track runner for the Middle School and a pitcher for the Sparta Diamonds which requires pitching clinics, batting clinics, and team practices. Then there is me! I am a part of the Sparta High School boys Lacrosse and Basketball teams, I play on an AAU basketball team and I am involved in the Pass It Along Club and Student Council at the school. All of these activities lead to my parents running all around multiple towns after working their full time jobs. Sometimes I am surprised by how they they manage all of our schedules. While everyone is out and about there are still 2 hearts beating in the Hill House: Lucky and Lulu! Roof! Roof! Roooooof!
Lulu is a female black and white mini Australian Shepherd who is 1 years old. Her birthday is October 4th so Lulu will be turning 2 soon! She had a tremendous amount of energy and loves to play but is also afraid of most things. She is a handful but was a wonderful Christmas surprise!
Lucky is a white and brown male Dachshund Terrier mix. Lucky however looks like a Jack Russell and a Beagle but according to Lucky's vet, Dr. Hamlin, he is a Dachshund Terrier Mix. Lucky is seven years old. Lucky was my sister's birthday present. He taught us how to love dogs.
Before we got Lulu, Lucky suffered with separation anxiety and would drool excessively in his crate and pant from the moment we left until we arrived home. It was so bad we had to try medication. Just an example as to how stressed he was. Lucky, who would do anything for steak with us all home, would leave a piece of steak untouched in his crate until we arrived home. He would pant and be fixated on missing "his pack"-US rather than eating his favorite treat. That all changed with the arrival of Lulu. Lulu made Lucky's separation anxiety better for a bit however both dogs are "concerned" when someone leaves the Hill House. Online school is actually a lot healthier for my dog Lucky, so he does not have to stress out all of the time when we leave the house for 8 hours in the middle of the week. The dogs are so used to the first day of school for us being the toughest day of the year for them. After a long summer together, the sight and sound of the bus pulling up to our house causes them stress but this year's first day of school was a dream come true for the dogs.
Lucky and Lulu are having the time of their lives being free to roam the house all day and especially because they have availability to their food and water bowl throughout the full day! Most importantly, they get to spend time more time with the people they love! The dogs also get let outside hourly so they don't have to hold in their...you know what! In addition, Lucky and Lulu have physical contact with each other as well as access to their toys. They are FREE! Think about being in your room for 8 hours not being able to eat, get a drink or play with anything but one toy/book for 8 hours. I am pretty sure we would all get very bored and extremely hunger and thirsty! Think about it...most dogs have to do this for more than 180 times a year! I definitely know I would not want to be stuck in my room for 8 hours for more than 180 times a year. Instead, during online school my dogs are able to go around my house from my basement to all of our bedrooms. My two dogs spend majority of their time in Marcella's room where they lay on her bed and sometimes bark at people through my sister's computer on Google Meet. Lulu will sometimes go to Alexia's room and has been known to snore loudly during her Google Meets. As for me, the dogs wait for me after my day ends and happily greet me when my Google Meets are over.
While there are many arguments against online learning, I choose to think about the positives and to reflect on what I may be missing. Dogs are the first ones to provide comfort to people when they are upset and they are the first ones there to protect their owners. Starting off the year with online school has not been ideal but again, there are positives. DOGS benefit from having their family home and maybe it is time to put your dog first and appreciate all of the hours your dog has protected you and waited for you. So while we await school to reopen, I choose to spend time appreciating Lucky and Lulu who are ecstatic that we are learning online within the walls of our/their home.
I love how you viewed this topic! I'm sure many dogs are happy to have their people home. One day in class I saw one of your dogs on Marcella's bed and he was looking right at the camera! It made me smile!
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