Bode Miller the skier! and Bodie Miller the Doodle!

[Lynn Antonoplos]

We are proud folks here! 

Bode Miller (he spells it Bode, but for ease of understanding when naming our pup I added an i ) the skier is killin' it in Sochi so far!! This is Bode Miller's 5th Olympic games, he is 36 years old, and after three training runs he is in first place in the downhill. I watched his last run this morning and it was magnificent!! He is completely in control on what appears to be a course designed to blow world class skiers right off the mountain! Bode Miller is not known for controlled skiing,,he is a wild man on the slopes,,,apparently age and a serious injury a couple of years ago have matured him as an athlete...just in time. Go Bode Go!!

Bodie Miller the dog is about to embark on a new adventure. Next week he will begin training to be a certified therapy dog. Having a therapy dog is something I have wanted to do for many many years. I volunteer at an equine therapy center that works with mentally ill teens. I had my older horse at the center for a couple of years working directly with the kids. I moved him out of the program a couple of years ago as he wasn't responding as well as he had been in the past and I felt he really needed to retire from holding any job besides just being my buddy. ( he is a retired eventer, and spent 6 years competing before I got him). I still work at the center off and on working with the horses and love it,,,but I would like to get Bodie up to speed as a therapy dog so I would have an opportunity to interact more with the clients than just the animals. 

I had intended to train my toy poodle as a therapy dog, she is little, super cute, hypoallergenic and easy to transport,,,however she just doesn't have the personality for it. She is not snappy nor yappy as some tiny dogs can be, but she is also not empathetic. In fact she is quite put off by neediness and illness! If anyone is sick or hurt she won't come near them,,,when I have the flu or an injury ( I fall off horses once in a while and tend to break things!),,she will just sit across the room and give me dirty looks until I am well enough to make the world revolve around her again!

Bodie on the other hand seems to be a very empathetic dog. At 7 months he can be over enthusiastic at times, but for the most part is very calm and totally tuned in to his humans. He is amazingly hypoallergenic, he has absolutely no doggie smell, even when wet or coming home from doggie preschool, and has never shed a hair!

We had a wonderful Golden Retriever, Sturgis, that died of old age last year, he was the kindest dog I have ever known. I never put him in training to be a therapy dog as he shed so horrifically I just didn't have the time to groom him enough to make it feasible( even with professional trims and constant brushing he still shed his body weight in fur every week!!!), and his habit of going into the woods and rolling in the stinkiest substance he could find didn't help much either!!  A dear friend went through 4 years of treatment for breast cancer, she lost her dog about a year after beginning her cancer journey. She called and asked me if I would bring my poodle up to see her as she was bed ridden and just needed to cuddle a dog. I brought both dogs up for the weekend ( she lives 300 miles away ), my little dog Too! (toy poodle) wouldn't go within 10 yards of her,,,,Sturgis walked into her house, climbed up on her bed and except for the occasional food or potty break never left her side for 3 days. he laid in her bed perfectly still while she wrapped her entire body around him for days. We made the journey to her home four times a year until her recovery,,,she made the trip to our home to be with Sturgis when he died,,,she credits a big part of her recovery to her weekends with Sturgis and his ability to give her the will to go on!

Bodie appears to be the same type of dog. He is even smarter and more trainable than Sturgis was and definitely shows signs of deep empathy and the desire to please his humans. He will begin training soon to be a therapy dog for cancer and hospice patients. I think he will be amazing with it!! 

It is cold any gloomy here in the north woods today,,,so I am off to shovel manure! A fitting activity for this type of day!

[Ginger LeMasurier]

I have a Bode Miller too! Our daughters were ski racers and at USNationals back in 2002, THE Bode Miller was quite flirty (big shock!) with my daughter, Kate. When we got home we "inherited" (left at our house) our Chocolate lab who arrived with the name ScoobieDoo (who names a big male lab ScoobieDoo??!) so we began teasing him by calling him "Big handsome Bode Miller" and it stuck! Sadly our Bode is not doing too well and yesterday we had the "talk" with our vet. We came home with some pain meds and we have a week to think about our decision. This is just so difficult but we know we don't want him to suffer. Our Bode is not an official therapy dog, but my husband has cancer and underwent a bone marrow transplant last year and our Bode was by his side constantly and I feel like he was the best medicine my husband had. We have a 20 month old rescue Goldendoodle we got in Nov. who has fit in beautifully and Bode has been surprisingly patient and excepting. Best of luck with your Bodie and his therapy training. You are doing a great service!

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

I love Bode Miller the skiier, one of my favorite athletes of all time.  And congrats on Bodie Miller the dog.

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

What a story about Sturgis. Good luck with Bodie and his training!

[Miss Ellie]

I am balling now...what is it with those amazing Golden Retrievers...they are just such sweet, loving and very in tune with people's feelings...we lost our beloved golden this past February...miss him every day...he would have absolutely loved our sweet puppy Ellie...so happy to hear that Bodie will be helping to comfort other people just like your sweet Sturgis!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Looking forward to hearing about your progress with the therapy endeavor.  I can only believe Bodie will be a shining star!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Your story about Sturgis brought tears to my eyes. We had two Goldens before our doodles and honestly they were just like that. One of them got my DD through her divorce. He truly was the only one who could have. He died at 10 and we had a stream of grieving friends coming over the last day of his life. He was such a jewel. Both of our Goldendoodles are very empathetic and spend most of their days lying in the darkened room with our disabled daughter. I hope all goes well in training Bodie to be a therapy dog. I'm sure he will shine.