Last year, as most of you know, Mary and I brought a Coton puppy home. That’s her – Frosty – in the picture. Yes, she looks a lot like Belle, and in truth they are the same breed and from the same breeder in Wisconsin. When we left the air port we took the puppy car seat (actually a strap/harness) out of her travel bag and placed her in it. Then we attached it to the care seat belt and drove home.
She didn’t like it! Really, she didn’t. She squirmed and whined a bit, but after a few miles she settled down the rest of the way home. Two days later we strapped her in again and took her to the vet for her first “well puppy exam”. Again she fussed a little and like the first time was sleeping a few minutes later.
Now, compared to Belle and most puppies I have seen, Frosty is very hyperactive. If she were a child her teacher and her parents would be begging for Ritalin. You know my feelings about “drugging kids with medicine”, so I’ll not repeat that now; sometimes I am tempted to go against my own advice, but I have resisted and Frosty has begun to respond to behavioral therapy without drugs or beatings.
We just came in from a long drive and neither of us heard a peep out of her. So that’s the last right thing I have done. And if you have a puppy get him into a dog seat belt with its first ride.
Same goes for your kids! Never out of a belt means always in a belt today, tomorrow and the rest of their lives. Don’t let them form habits they’ll have to change later in life! (Next week I’m going to talk more about seat belts and car safety, but let that suffice for today.)
As long as I’m confessing my “brilliance” in making good decisions I want to tell you about three other right decisions I made which have great life-long consequences.
First, I decided to go to medical school and become a pediatrician. I could not be happier professionally.
Second, I made the very best decision of my life at age 22 when I married Mary. No need to comment here, she is the best.
The third decision wasn’t made until I was half a century old. I decided to move to the South! And, some 15 years later I augmented that decision by moving to Nashville.
My big regret in life is that I didn’t move here when I left the United States Air Force in 1967.
That sums up my life. Enjoy yours and your family. Keep them all safe in their car seat belts.