It's Official! We're A Therapy Dog Team!

Xingxing is now a certified Therapy Dog, which makes him my better half.  It is all about him, especially when we're out doing our thing. But we are a team -- that's what our certificate from Therapy Dogs Incorporated says, anyhow.  Gail and Xingxing, Therapy Dog Team.
So what's the difference between a Therapy Dog and a Service Dog?  Basically, a Service Dog provides specific assistance to a specific person -- in Xingxing's case, me. A Therapy Dog provides love and happiness to lots and lots of people, many of whom are in hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes. Xingxing and I have just begun to volunteer for Hospice of the Valley, a non-profit hospice organization here in Phoenix, Arizona.
Therapy Dogs don't have the same privileges as Service Dogs. They can't go in restaurants or use public transport or fly free of charge -- although of course, they can visit places like hospitals.   This is kind of silly, as Therapy Dogs (unlike Service Dogs) have to pass an actual examination and be accredited by a certified, national organization.
Xingxing and I made our first visit last week.  It was wonderful to see the look on the face of the gentleman we visited.  He'd always had dogs, he loved dogs, and you could see how pleased he was to have a dog on his lap again.  Xingxing loved it, too.  We're going to see our new friend again, on Friday. I believe in "giving back" and this is a lovely way to do it.
People who complain about "fake" service dogs are apparently agitating for legislative change and increased government control over service dogs.  And let's face it:  There are people who do falsely claim their (usually) small dogs are service dogs, mostly so that they can fly without paying the exorbitant fees the airlines currently charge for having a dog in a carrier bag under your seat.  But instead of establishing yet another bureaucracy which will cost the American taxpayer millions of dollars, I have a better idea.  Why not allow Therapy Dogs whose owners can prove they are volunteers fly free, just like Service Dogs? Encouraging more Therapy Dog Teams can only be a win/win situation.
Moreover, I would imagine that the fantastic, positive publicity that any airline espousing this policy would get would be worth more than the fees they are currently charging people who are trying to evade them.  And it might encourage more people to become half of a Therapy Dog Team, which can only be a good thing.
Any comments?

Xingxing Goes To Mexico

The requirements for bringing a dog into Mexico are quite specific. If you are arriving by car, you are allowed to bring two dogs (or two cats) into Mexico, per car. You also need to have an International Veterinary Certificate, which is only valid for 30 days and costs about $70. Those are the rules. However, they are rarely enforced.
I own an ocean-front condo in Puerto Penasco (also known as Rocky Point) and we drive down there  every six weeks or so. And yes, it is perfectly safe. It is an easy, four-hour drive. We cross the border at Lukeville, a sleepy little Arizona town that probably wouldn't exist if it wasn't at the border. Unlike places like Laredo and Nogales, people don't get shot at Lukeville. There's a parking lot, a gas station, a post office, a restaurant and a shop. That's Lukeville.
When you cross the border  -- after the border agents on the American side ascertain that you're not carrying weapons or more than $10,000 -- you come to a sign that flashes green or red.  If it's green, you just keep going. Welcome to Mexico!  If it's red (which hardly ever happens to me) you have to pull over beneath a metal canopy and they ask you where you're going and sometimes, they want you to pop your trunk.  They are unfailingly gracious and polite. Then, Welcome to Mexico! They really do make it easy, especially at Lukeville.
So what about your dog?  In the seven years I have been going to Rocky Point, nobody on the Mexican side of the border has ever asked to see my International Veterinary Certificate, which is just as well because although I used to have one, I no longer bother to renew it.  If you're green-lighted, it doesn't matter.  I have been red-lighted a few times, but on those occasions the agents have always been more interested in what I had in the trunk than in the dog sleeping on the front seat.
If you're flying in and going through Customs at a Mexican airport, you might need the International Veterinary Certificate.  (I'll be doing that in January, and I'll let you know) But I think if you're driving, a copy of your dog's vaccination record is probably enough.  And you do need to have proof that your dog's rabies shots are up to date when you come back into the United States -- although nobody has ever actually asked me for that document, either. However, it would be very irresponsible to take a dog whose rabies shots aren't up to date to Mexico, as there are lots of stray dogs running loose.
If you do hit a snag, be courteous and contrite.  And smile a lot.  In my experience, most Mexicans will bend over backwards to help you, if you're nice. And Mexico is really beautiful.

La Costa Without the Crowds

On Monday, everyone went home.  The jazz musicians packed up their instruments, the bride and groom went off on their honeymoon, and the wedding guests decamped. It was beautifully, blissfully quiet.  The sky was blue, the sun was shining and I planned to spend the next two days meditating, doing yoga classes and exploring La Costa. 
First of all, there are the shops.  Of course, if it's not a pet shop or a butcher shop, Xingxing doesn't want to know about it.  So I put him in his stroller and let him wonder at the ways of human beings  while I explored the Marketplace complex and the little boutiques.  I've gained a bit of weight and clothes don't look good on me at the moment, so although I tried on a top I didn't buy anything.  But I don't necessarily need to buy things. I like looking.
The Deepak Chopra Center also has a shop -- lots of really interesting books, CDs, Ayurvedic medicines and yoga clothes.  I browsed, and because all that money I hadn't spent on clothes was burning a hole in my pocket, I bought books.  That's one of the nice things about books. You always look good carrying one and you can never be too fat to read one.
We continued on to the Spa, a self-contained entity of its own.  Of course, there was a shop. More lovely things. Loose, floaty things, that looked good on me. Expensive things. I perused the Spa Menu, which wasn't nearly as pricey as I'd expected it to be -- and contemplated a facial.  But what I was really enjoying was walking around the beautiful grounds and looking at things. Just being able to be outside was a treat for me, and for Xingxing, too. People who don't live here in Scottsdale don't understand how terribly, unbearably hot our summers can be -- and what a treat it is simply to be outdoors at midday.
On our last day (where did the time go?) I paid a visit to what used to be the fat farm, back in my mother's day. Now it's
 been re-branded as the Premier Fitness Camp, or PFC for short. The Chief Fitness Consultant (whom, like Deepak Chopra, we didn't meet) is Dan Isaacson, who has helped to get the likes of Tom Hanks, John Travolta, Meg Ryan and Johnny Depp ready for their big roles.  PFC has an army of trainers, nutritionists, chefs, behavioral therapists and support staff. A sample day's schedule included things like Spin and Sculpt Class, Extreme Beach Boot Camp and Max Muscle Weight Training.  All meals are included.  Ideally, you burn up to 5000 calories a day and only consume 1300 calories. This could work for me.  I wouldn't mind having a body like Meg Ryan.
However, I wasn't so sure about the Extreme Beach Boot Camp.  I mean, at my age? So I spoke to a consultant, who assured me that every program is individual and customized.  If I wasn't up to spinning and sculpting, they'd find something else for me to do.  And you're never too old to pursue the body beautiful.  Last month, they had a guest who was 84 years old.
I dunno.  If I live to be 84, I think at that point I'd just kick back and enjoy my hot fudge sundaes. But meanwhile, I suppose I could drop a few pounds. I'll meditate about it.

Meditation and Why Dogs Don't Need It

We spent Saturday and half of Sunday at the seminar.  I squirmed on an exquisitely uncomfortable and ergonomically incorrect chair, while Xingxing slept at my feet.
Primordial Sound Meditation involves using a mantra that reproduces the sound the universe was making at the moment of your birth.  You are given the mantra in a special, private session. You're not supposed to tell anyone what it is.  When you meditate, you close your eyes and repeat it over and over again in your mind.  It doesn't mean anything. That's the point -- to make your mind stop thinking, and slip into what Deepak and David call "the gap" and the Dalai Lama calls "calm abiding", being totally in the present moment. This is also known as mindfulness.
I have been trying to establish a meditation practice for years, unsuccessfully.  But this worked, and nobody was more surprised than me, because after sitting in that (expletive deleted) chair through an excruciating, two hour presentation by a 36 year old divorced, ex-basketball player, my back hurt so much that I could barely stand up. There is a certain irony in going all the way to America's Number One Wellness spa to wipe out your back.
However, I am now meditating twice a day, sitting for 30 minutes morning and evening. That is something I never thought I would do in this lifetime.
Xingxing thought it was all a bit of a yawn.  Dogs don't have to meditate. They are naturally mindful, and usually live in the present moment, except when you do something that makes them think of the immediate future, like opening the refrigerator or picking up the car keys. Dogs don't seem to spend a lot of time fretting about the past, either. In fact I often think that if mindfulness is a step along the way to Enlightenment, our dogs are already ahead of us.

Xingxing Goes to La Costa Spa and Doesn't Get to Meet Deepak Chopra

What a great idea for Memorial Day Weekend! I thought.  And what a good excuse to get out of the scorching, Scottsdale summer heat for a few days.  It seemed incredibly inexpensive for a seminar with Deepak Chopra, so I signed us up for the weekend course on Primordial Sound Meditation at La Costa Spa, in Carlsbad, California.
I hadn't been there for decades.  My mother and her second husband (who had millions of dollars and a chronic weight problem) used to go there for weeks at a time, back in the days when it was basically an expensive fat farm. I remember when I once visited them, sitting with them in the restaurant at the "spa table" and not being able to order any real food because it would have upset everyone.
It has been extensively renovated and enlarged since then.  My first impression was of acres and acres of blooming flowers.  Big, yellow lilies, red and orange and yellow bedding plants, bougainvillea, hibiscus, palms -- it was like a gigantic botanical garden.  And not just at the hotel entrance.  There were banks of flowers and cascading, blooming hibiscus and ceramic pots of annuals everywhere you looked.
White stucco, two-storey buildings with red tiled roof are nestled throughout the property, so that you almost feel as if you're in your own apartment or condo rather than in an ordinary hotel room -- which in a sense, you are.  Winding walks through flowering borders take you anywhere you want to go. And if you get tired you can hitch a ride in one of the little electric carts that cruise the property.
La Costa Spa is not exactly dog friendly, but dogs are allowed under certain circumstances.  You have to negotiate this when you're making your reservations. And if your dog is accepted, there is a $150 charge for having a dog in the room. Just so you know.
Carlsbad is just north of San Diego and the weather was perfect. La Costa was hosting the San Diego Jazz Festival as well as a huge wedding, so the place was packed with musicians and jazz lovers and wedding guests. It was a relaxed, happy crowd, and the jazz was non-stop. If you closed your eyes you could almost imagine you were in New Orleans.
The plan was to attend the seminar Saturday and Sunday, and then spend a couple of additional days enjoying the ambience and the weather.  Having arrived late Friday afternoon, we set off on a walk around the grounds to check out the Deepak Chopra Center, which has its own, separate building.
You're going to meet Deepak Chopra, I told Xingxing.
It was not to be.  He was away on a book tour, it was explained, and the seminar would be conducted by other people. I was disappointed, but it was my own fault. I should have read the fine print. After all, what had I expected for $295?  
You know what?  I didn't really care all that much. It was so lovely to simply be able to be outdoors, which is something you can no longer do here in Scottsdale after the sun rises. Xingxing didn't seem to mind, either. There were rabbits hopping around everywhere, and grassy lawns and lots of exciting, new smells  After a delightful walk we went back to our room and sat on our balcony and watched the sun set.  It was heavenly. And we didn't even need air conditioning!

The Bears of Banff (9)

We head back to Arizona tomorrow -- and we still haven't seen a bear.  I have mixed feelings about this. I would have sorta kinda liked to see a real, live bear, but preferably from the bus and definitely not during one of our morning walks.
Our first stop this morning is the Banff Gondola, just a few hundred feet further up the road from the Rimrock Hotel.  "More mountains in a moment than most see in a lifetime" or so they say.  We soared over the treetops to the Banff Skywalk, 7,486 feet up.  Lots and lots of mountains.  Little boardwalks lead from one viewing platform to the next.  Mountain goats, but no bear. Xingxing has now experienced travel by air, bus, boat, train and gondola.  What's left?
As we prepared to disembark from the gondola, there was an Australian girl snapping photos, which -- of course -- were for sale. And expensive. Even so, I thought it would be nice to have one. But you've got to get both of us in the picture, I told the girl.  Me and the dog. Snap!  She cheerfully beheaded us both.  So I didn't buy it, which made absolutely no difference whatsoever to her.  It wasn't her camera, it wasn't her business and she couldn't have cared less.  But as I say, she was Australian.  Most of the staff at the Rimrock seemed to be Australian, as well. I lived in Australia for 32 years, and I always recognize the accent.
Our next stop was Surprise Corner, where we were treated to a picture postcard view of the Fairmont Banff Springs, which is enormous.  It looks like an enchanted castle, rising out of the forest. That's where we should have stayed, I told Xingxing.  He wagged.  He is a very agreeable traveling companion.
We saw the Hoodoos (oddly shaped rocks) and several more of those brilliant, turquoise and emerald lakes nestled among pine trees, and finished up at Minnewanka Lake, where we took a boat ride narrated by an extremely knowledgeable young forest ranger.  The lake is surrounded by thousands of acres of virgin forest, and someone asked about forest fires.   To our surprise, we were told that a forest fire was just what was needed, because the forest -- although magnificent -- wasn't really healthy, on account of the mature trees taking all the light and making it impossible for the saplings to grow. We always think of forest fires as bad things, he told us, but in fact, they are a part of the natural process. I suppose they are.  I just never thought of it that way.
Xingxing and I had a late lunch of fish and chips in Banff and caught took the bus back up the mountain.  We still hadn't seen a bear.  The bears of Banff were obviously taking the day off! Or maybe there aren't any bears.  Maybe it's all tourist hype.
Bears or no bears, Canada is beautiful. I hope we can go back, one day.