The Adventures of Captain
Jack—Explorator™
July 2018—Episode 7
Our Nonprofit of the Month
Reading Education Assistance Dogs
Word of the month—Respect
(1) To feel or show deferential regard
for or esteem and value of another, allowing them the dignity to validate themselves.
(2) To avoid violation of or interference
with another.
(3) An act of giving particular attention to show
consideration of another.
Quote of the month
“One of the most
sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.”
--Bryant H. McGill
Read more about respect at the following: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/respect
Recap from Episode
6: Sarah shared her harrowing experience
with a shark and how Amber had saved her life. Stephanie, Robert, Penelope,
Allen, Captain Jack, Horace, Sarah, and Amber were having a great time. Then
Captain Jack swam out into the ocean to play with a jellyfish. For a second
after he caught one of the jellyfish floating in the ocean, he was very happy
and excited. Then—almost instantly—a sharp pain shot through his entire body,
and he couldn’t move. The puppy blacked out. All he could hear was crying and
screaming and people yelling, “Get him! Get him!” Captain Jack was floating
farther out on the waves faster than they could run or swim. The puppy was limp
and couldn’t move at all. He could hear Amber barking excitedly. He could smell
Amber’s breath very close to him. The last thing that went through his mind was
the smell of lunch on Amber’s breath. Then Captain Jack blacked out again.
Episode 7—July 2018
It
turned out the big, goofy black-and-brown dog that Captain Jack had thought was
named Horace also had another name. The puppy found out the dog’s real name
that day when he blacked out after encountering the jellyfish. The big dog’s
name was actually Hero.
That
fateful day as Captain Jack floated farther out to sea, Hero saved him. Hero
jumped into the water and swam faster than he could have run. He was an excellent
swimmer. Since Captain Jack had a harness on, the big dog grabbed the harness
with his mouth and swam valiantly back to the shore with the harness held
tightly in his mouth, dragging the puppy along to safety. Amber had initially
been the one to swim to Captain Jack’s rescue, but it was Hero who actually
dragged the paralyzed puppy back to the beach.
Once
Hero, Captain Jack, and Amber were back on the beach, Sarah immediately
performed puppy CPR on Captain Jack, and the puppy began to breathe and move
normally again. Captain Jack checked to see that all his limbs were still there
and working. They were, and his tail was still in place too. The puppy wagged
it just to see if it still worked, and it did. To all who were watching, it
appeared that no great harm had been done.
Earlier
at Stephanie and Robert’s home, Captain Jack had made one friend that was both
a hero and a survivor: the big black-and-brown dog named Hero. Today he had
made another friend named Amber. Like Hero, she was not only a hero, but also a
survivor. In the puppy’s eyes, they were both amazing dogs. Amber could do
anything any dog with four legs could do. She could run, jump, swim, and play
catch. And she loved to play Frisbee. It was pretty amazing how she had learned
to adjust to her life with only three legs. She was really an inspiration, and Captain
Jack found that he respected her in another way as well. The puppy respected
the ways she carried herself, never gave up, and never thought less of herself
just because she had lost a leg. In fact, it was almost something she was proud
of. She definitely didn’t feel any less capable than any other dog. And you
know what? Sarah, her owner, was the same way. They were the perfect
human-animal companion bonded pair. They both inspired others and gained
respect wherever they went.
Captain
Jack’s harrowing, experience turned out to be nothing more than having tangled
with what humans called a jellyfish. It looked like something that would have been
fun to play with in the water. Boy oh boy, was the puppy ever wrong. Nothing
could have been further from the truth. It turned out the jellyfish puts out a
toxin whenever it is touched. The toxin causes great pain and temporary
paralysis. Well, guess which puppy will never
go near another jellyfish. You guessed it: yours truly
Sarah
and Amber had one more surprise in store for all of us. She had another dog. They
all went back to her home to meet him. He
was also a tripod. But he was not quite the same type of dog as Amber, who was
missing a back leg. Instead he had come from an abusive situation where he had been
severely injured. The injury had necessitated that his front leg be amputated. His
personality was not nearly as friendly as Amber’s. In fact, he was not very
good at socializing with other dogs or people. Boy, someone must have been
really mean to him in the past. Sarah told us he was a “work in progress” and
said he had already improved greatly since he had come to her home and spent
time around Amber.
He
was a nervous type of dog and because of that, he made Captain Jack nervous too.
The puppy decided he wouldn’t bother with Sarah’s nervous dog and would just
focus on Amber and Hero as friends for now. Sarah’s other dog didn’t seem
disappointed by that at all. In fact, it seemed as though he had never had a
friend before and didn’t really know how to make friends. All of them decided
that maybe he just needed to be around some nice dogs and people. He could
watch them for a while until he became more comfortable. The dog could learn by
watching them as they played and enjoyed being with each other. They all
decided it would be best to show him respect
and not try to force themselves on him. They gave him all the space and
time he needed to heal mentally, emotionally, and physically.
I’ll
bet you can’t wait to find out more of Captain Jack’s saga. Look for what
happens next in the eighth exciting blog episode about Captain Jack—Explorator™
next month.
Humane Education Follow-up
Activities:
Make a list of things people who are respectful say to
others. Examples include the following: “Please.” “Thank you.” “Excuse me.” “May
I hold the door for you?” “I’m sorry if I offended you.” “Could I help you by
carrying that?”
Make a list of things people do to show respect. Examples
include the following: listening carefully without interrupting, picking up
after themselves, holding a door open, putting trash outdoors into receptacles,
following the rules of the road when riding a bicycle, not cutting in line in
front of someone, using appropriate voice volume for the environment, following
classroom rules, being on time for classes or games or practices or events, turning
a cell phone’s ringer to silent in a bank or store checkout line or hospital,
being silent during a concert or play or program or speech or church service,
placing flowers or candles or letters at memorials, writing a special story to
honor someone, attending a graduation ceremony or an awards ceremony for
someone, or telling a military person or a veteran thank you for their service.
What would you do if someone were disrespectful to
you? How would you act? What would you say? Role-play a situation when this
happened to you. Then role-play it in a different way.
Keep a journal of actual times when you showed respect
for someone or for a pet and when someone showed respect for you. Include the
date when each event happened. Keep this journal to read later to remind you of
these meaningful, positive, inspiring times that illustrate the meanings of the
word respect.
Story Discussion
Tips:
1)
In
what ways did characters in this episode demonstrate respect toward one
another?
2)
How
did Hero help Captain Jack in the story? Why did Captain Jack respect Hero and
Amber much more after what happened in the ocean?
3)
What
did Captain Jack find out about Hero’s past that showed ways in which the big black-and-brown
dog really was a hero?
4)
How
would you feel if you ever became physically unable to function on your own?
What do you think you would do? How would you react?
5)
Have
you ever witnessed a person or an animal being saved from a life-threatening
situation? What happened? What emotions did you feel while it was happening?
What emotions did you feel afterward?
©2017
Heddie Wittlin-Leger
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