Get Your Happy Back: Give Your Dog the BEST.DAY.EVER.
Cowboy Renee Ross: 6/1/2010 - 5/4/2025 and ALWAYS in our hearts.
A post from November 2014:
A few Sundays ago, we decided to give Cowboy the BEST.DAY.EVER. and I just have to tell you...it impacted me in BIG ways I had not anticipated.
It all started when I was rounding up the family for a hike. The leaves had turned here, and it was too beautiful outside to be inside—or grocery shopping.
My 8-year-old daughter asked if Cowboy could come with us. Honestly, the last thing I wanted was to be carrying a child on my back AND managing the dog.
I felt like we SHOULD take Cowboy....so I told her he could come if she was in charge of him and held his leash.
She told Cowboy he was going to have the "BEST DAY EVER!" And this slowly turned into our theme for the entire day.
We kept repeating to him, "You're going to have the BEST DAY EVER, Bud!!" Each of us came up with ideas of how to make this happen. It had us all thinking, "What would his BEST DAY EVER look like?"
We took him for a LONG hike.
Some of us wore pants.
After the hike, we spread out our picnic blanket and gave Cowboy the crusts of our sandwiches.
After the picnic, we brainstormed, "What else does Cowboy like?" and we decided he loves PEOPLE. We headed to the wineries near our hiking spot. Wineries here in Missouri are like restaurants on beautiful land with great views, local and not-so-local wine, and a full menu.
Even though it made my husband nervous, I took uber-friendly Cowboy off his leash by the vineyards. He made no less than 80 new friends, trotting from table to table while we had a glass of wine and the kids played. He looked so HAPPY! He was literally frolicking with a huge dog smile on his face.
We brought a tennis ball and threw it down the hill for him to fetch. He started dropping his ball in front of new friends, too.
We heard, "HE IS SOOOOO CUTE!!!" A LOT.
But we didn't stop there because the kids yelled, "COWBOY LIKES ICE CREAM!!" on the way home. So we took a detour to the ice cream place and got him his own cone....before dinner, nonetheless.
Giving Cowboy the best day ever felt so good. It united us as a family with a common goal, was weirdly fun, and was so cheap.
I found myself seeing and appreciating things through our dog's eyes. I started scanning the world for the positive instead of thinking about the negative (all the things that needed to be done,.dusted, figured out, etc.).
I felt way more appreciation for the beautiful day and amazing scenery than usual. I felt more connection and positive feelings for the people (even strangers!) who surrounded us. I even got teary talking to my husband about how great of a dog he is as we watched him run down the hill by the vineyards with our kids.
Dogs have this wonderful way of forcing us to focus on gratefulness…and the things that REALLY matter.
All of this got me thinking: If you have the resources to give your dog the best day ever, you probably have everything you need to give yourself the best day, too.
Research on happiness agrees. Most of us assume that our outside world predicts our happiness levels; that happiness is on the other side of success, completion, or more. This formula is broken and backward. Actually, 90% of happiness depends on how your brain processes the world, and only 10% is based on what's in your world.
Nothing UBER-fantastic happened on this day; we weren't at Disney or on a beach vacation. But it was seriously one of the best days with my family that I can remember.
Ways to RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN for HAPPINESS
Gratefulness: Write down three things you're grateful for every day.
Write a thank-you note just because.
Create a meditation practice.
Exercise. Don’t make this too hard: walking works, and dance parties in your kitchen work.
Do some random acts of kindness, even for your pets.
You already have all the ingredients to give yourself the best day ever.
You deserve more best days,
