Meet Lex: Lodestar Second Responder
Hi. I'm Lex.
I'm a trained Lodestar Second Responder. It’s a title I find appropriately serious for the work I do and appropriately open-ended for everything else I am.
My Official Journey to Lodestar’s Second Responder Team
The official version: I'm an extensively trained service dog who travels with and works alongside Dr. K and the Lodestar team. I participate in Lodestar Second Responder (L2R) engagements, conferences, leadership and professional development programs for all kinds of humans who are doing extraordinarily hard work in extraordinarily difficult conditions.
My job is to do what even the best teaching or framework or slide deck cannot: be a steadying presence in rooms filled with people who are holding a great deal, be available for the ones who need me most, and lean on them until something shifts.
It works. I don't understand why humans are surprised by this. Pressure is regulating. Presence is regulating. I have both in considerable quantity.
(Good looks and charm are just a bonus)
Now, My Unofficial Journey with Lodestar
The unofficial version: I am now two-and-a-half (I’m told the “half” matters at my age) years old and I live on Dr. K’s farm in Illinois with four boys, three Great Pyrenees livestock guardians who have varying degrees of commitment to the job, a bloodhound who, at one-and-a-half years old, has not yet developed a personality beyond “large and very enthusiastic,” and a cardiologist who claims he grew up in the city and has been, as far as I can tell, thoroughly corrupted into a country boy by his wife.
I sleep inside. The other four-legged animals do not. I have thoughts about this arrangement and all of them are favorable.
When working, I am focused. Patient. Steady in rooms with humans who are carrying far greater loads than they should. I can feel it even when they don’t, and I’m glad to do my part of the lift.
When not working, I am very fast and extremely difficult to catch, a fact the other four dogs will confirm with great displeasure should you ask.
How I Ended up With the Lodestar Team
I was “discovered” in Slovenia after an eight-month search. My trainer crossed the ocean on a quest for a dog who could do very specific work with great flexibility and tolerance under a wide range of conditions, from burden lightening in rooms full of professional humans, to traveling for weeks at a time, to the chaos that is farm-life when we’re home. I am told the search for me was specific and the standards were high.
I find this both accurate and appropriate.
I've now been tasked with sharing updates from the road, observations about the humans I meet, and occasional commentary on life in general. Mine is good, meaningful work. I take it seriously.
One More Thing
Oh. One more thing.
Everyone seems to want my full name. Humans are quite … unique … in their attachment to names, origins and what they mean. Perhaps I’ll provide a K9 perspective on the psychology of that later. Meanwhile, my full, given name is:
Aleksander Varuh Zvest Straža Lodestar Sarachova.
This translates (roughly) from Slovenian through Canine into English as:
Alexander the Guardian, Faithful Sentinel of Lodestar Sarachova.
Of course, the family has feelings about this. I have no comment.
I go by Lex.
I know Dr. K generally signs off reminding everyone to hydrate. Solid advice, even if odd in its necessity.
I’ll add my own bit of wisdom: Everything is better after a nap.
More soon,
Lex
