[Dailydrool] Heart dog

[Valerie]

> My first heart dog was Sherman, a scottish terrier, the dog of my twenties and early thirties. I got him as a pup after I graduated college (an impulse buy at a pet store--ah, the things we didn't know, but Sherman was a star) and he saw me through several jobs, graduate school, a lousy boyfriend, moves through five states and as many apartments, right up to my marriage. Sherman came into my life in 1970. The world was different back then with respect to dogs-allowed-places, and Sherman  went everywhere with me. My first job was as a teaching assistant at a college. I had an office on the third floor of an academic building. Sherman slept under my desk until the bell for change of classes rang. At this point he would leap up and race to the door to the back stairwell, knowing a flow of students would be going through and doors would be opening. From there he would race down one floor and through the opening door of a large lecture hall, down the flight of steps through the center and out another door into a hallway, then through the outer door into a courtyard. I timed him once. Two minutes from bell to freedom. This opportunity occurred maybe once an hour. Once free, Sherman would roam with wooded hills of the campus. When he was tired, he'd return by the front door of the building when it opened, head to the elevator, get in when it opened, then ride up and down looking out at each stop. When he recognized the third floor he'd disembark, trot down to my office and return to his place under my desk. And of course he attended lectures with me, sitting behind the podium if I was speaking, or under my chair if I was assisting.Older and wiser now, I would never allow a dog free range like this, but Sherman never got hurt or dognapped and had a great time. He was a fixture on campus. Students loved him and he returned their affection. At other jobs, so long as they were not at health centers, he'd sleep under my desk and we'd go on long lunch hour and after work walks. Loving, loyal, well-behaved, gentle, and extremely smart, Sherman was the dog of a lifetime. Now, I would have to say my heart dog is Harley (Shhh. Don't tell Bo).