125. Ollie

This Okay listener shares how one hyperactive dog at her job brings her joy every week, despite the scratches he leaves.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

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INTRO MUSIC

 I’m Nora McInerny, and this is It’s Going To Be Okay, a podcast and group project where every day we bring you a small okay thing. Not necessarily a wonderful thing, not necessarily an amazing thing, but an okay thing. We named the podcast It’s Going To Be Okay because, I mean, is everything going to be okay?

Not really, but something will be. And probably the best part of this show is hearing your okay things. Today’s email comes via Today’s okay thing comes via email from a listener named Sousa. I work at a dog daycare. It’s a small business run out of my boss’s home. On any given day, we can have up to 30 dogs in this small, historical three bedroom house near downtown Phoenix.

Pause while I look this up, cause we need that. It is chaos. It’s cacophonous. Some days the barking is endless and I want to cry. Some days I sit on the floor and I am swarmed by licks and fuzzy bodies to snuggle and every dog vies for my attention and affection. Some days I don’t want to leave, and other days I cannot wait for the quiet of my car ride home.

Being able to work so closely with a variety of animals of the same species has really granted me an insight into personOlliety. It is fascinating how different everyone is, and at the same time they all have the same basic drives. We have one boy in particular, Ollie. Ollie is a relatively young golden retriever who sort of grew faster than I think he reOlliezed.

He is mouthy and very easily excited. Because most people do not enjoy being chomped on as a sign of love, we work together to learn that holding a toy keeps him from accidentally nibbling. So now, when he is overwhelmed with joy and excitement, he scours the room for anything he can hold in his mouth.

Sometimes it is very clear that he is bursting at the seams to be pet, but he knows that the most important thing right now is to find a toy. Unfortunately, the other dogs don’t quite understand why he almost always has a toy, and they try to play tug with him. He does his best to keep it away from the others with booty wiggle and a shake, but it doesn’t always work.

He has a favorite toy that is almost the exact size of his mouth, which makes it harder for other dogs to grab onto, but sometimes the only toy he can find is the nyla bone that has been shredded on both ends, and I, and And I end up scratched to heck. Sometimes the only toy he can find is the giant active chewer, destruction proof, heavy rubber tug toy that I end up with blunt force trauma to the knee.

But every day that I see Ollie frantically looking for something to hold so he doesn’t nibble, and then wriggling in pure joy, physically incapable of sitting his butt for more than a second at a time because his tail is wagging so much. I remember even when I’m overwhelmed, even when it is loud and I am tired, Ollie chooses joy.

Ollie chooses love. Every second of every day, Ollie chooses to be happy. And every second I look at him, I know that it’s going to be okay. P. S. He also makes the most adorable grunts of pure bliss, and I’ve included the link to a video in case you are willing or able to play that. Yes, we are. Yes, we are.

AUDIO OF OLLIE AT THE SHELTER

Yes, we are. I love the insights that you have about dogs are also insights about people. We all have the same basic drives, and we are all unique. and also the same. And we all just want to see, be heard and noticed. And I don’t think most of us want to hurt a person. And if we have to hold something to prevent us from accidentally hurting another person, I think we would do it.

I think we would do it. Ollie has so much, more than joy, Ollie is choosing self awareness. Ollie is choosing self awareness and we love that in a man, even if that man is a dog, maybe especially if that man is a dog. 

I’m Nora McInerny. This is It’s Going To Be Okay.

OUTRO MUSIC

CREDITS