How to beat gas prices, improve life and fill the world with happy, healthy dogs. by Ronald Siemer

(Yellow Springs correspondent for the Xenia Gazette, Xenia, OH)

Woke up the other morning, wolfed my fat doughnut, turned on the radio to snarl at the obese, immoral, polluted, politically corrupt, economically insane world, pocketed my half-discharged cell phone and my fully charged Gameboy, donned my Grateful Dead baseball cap backward, and stepped out into the world I'd spent another fitful night lamenting as lost for sure.

What greeted my rheumy eyes was something they hadn't embraced since the godawful good days of moiling for magic metal on the lower slopes of the Denali range (which, of course, I've experienced only as an aftereffect of a couple of godawful, gloomy days in the lower bars of Chicago's Near North Side).

Mushing down the street before me at a pace just under the speed limit was a team of Huskies pulling a sled mounted by this big guy--a scene I'd long relegated to images belonging to Jack London novels and gold rush posters I'd seen in childhood libraries and museums.

I knew just what to do. With uncharacteristic alacrity I bolted back into the house and, not bothering to shed cap or electronics, I dove into the comforting reality of my unmade bed.

As I warmed up for a second try, the retinal impression began to clarify. There'd been only one dog pulling the sled, which had wheels, and the big guy, who was on board, this time without the second dog had indeed been a client, or rather a client's pet. Well, great, that explained everything. . . .

The Real Jonas Byrnes

Byrnes is a big guy. I had that right. And his dog, Taz, is half Husky (also right, as he looks more Husky than anything else), one quarter Pit Bull, and one quarter wolf. The wolf part, it strikes me, doesn't hurt this story a darn bit and is, in fact, quite delicious.

Jonas Byrnes, the prospector apparition, is actually Jonas Byrnes the dog influencer (some other guy already used "whisperer").

As a child in Wisconsin he spent as much time as he could with dogs, using a skateboard as an exercise tool. "I was a great hobby," he said, "for me and the dogs. As a kid I'd exercise neighborhood dogs with my own dog doing most of the work pulling the skateboard around town, holding onto my dog's lead and letting the other dogs--maybe two or three at a time--run alongside while I held their leashes with the other hand."

Now 31, after 15 years of working in restaurants, Byrnes moved to Yellow Springs, where he has resided for two and a half years. He has been working at The Winds restaurant, where he developed a friendship with Susan Schiff.

Schiff owned a dog, of which she was very fond. When her dog succombed to cancer, she turned grief into activity and for about seven months she invited neighbors and friends to leave their dogs with her for daily "play days."

She also did pet sitting and dog walking and soon she was conducting structured exercise for dogs.

After about two years of the exercise program, it made sense to make the exercises a regular business. She and Byrnes formed a partnership, calling their business "Paws."

"It was the logical thing to do," said Byrnes. "It was fun, we were good at it, and we'd noticed there were a lot of dogs in Yellow Springs that obviously needed both exercise and discipline. So we decided to feature the things dogs need most--group socialization, pet sitting, and personalized exercise."

. . .

"Our aim is to influence each dog owner to relate to his or her pet in a way that promotes the dog's health, good behavior and happiness. We help them to see the results of discipline, effective exercise and discipline routines. "For example," he went on, "people give their dog affection at the wrong times. Petting and comforting a dog that has just displayed fear or agitation is exactly the wrong response. It rewards the dog for negative behavior. "If you enter a room and your dog suddenly dashes around the room in a state of frantic excitement, let him calm down before you pet him or give him a treat. When he calmly walks over to sniff your hand, that's the time to reward him."