My Letter of Intent for Bergin University's MS Program
Envision this. Bill, an American male in his early 40’s, has struggled with weight issues all his life. Bill is depressed and uses junk food as an emotional anesthetic. He gets up in the morning feeling dread, and comes home from work each night with fast food to the empty calories of Reality TV. Bill is crippled by a lack of motivation to do better for himself. His negative, sedentary lifestyle has become a disability with which he needs serious help.
Envision this. Bill, an American male in his early 40’s, has struggled with weight issues all his life. Bill is depressed and uses junk food as an emotional anesthetic. He gets up in the morning feeling dread, and comes home from work each night with fast food to the empty calories of Reality TV. Bill is crippled by a lack of motivation to do better for himself. His negative, sedentary lifestyle has become a disability with which he needs serious help.
Now, imagine this. Bill has decided to stop the
downward spiral; he has qualified for a Fitness Assistance Dog through Frisky Fitness Assistance Dogs, Inc.
Today is his first day of a two-week long Frisky
Fitness Boot Camp. Here, he will be paired with a specially trained,
athletically inclined service dog, whose job it is to help Bill get active, move
forward, become balanced, and learn a healthier way of being.
The Fitness Assistance Dog’s training takes
advantage of her boundless energy, her primal need to migrate, and her evolved
instinct to connect with a human partner. Bill’s dog is trained to heel at
varying speeds from walking to sprinting (without planting or pulling). She is
trained to hike, climb, and run alongside rollerblades, a bike and a
skateboard. To help with motivation, she is trained to fetch her leash, bring
it to Bill and nudge him until he gets up and takes her for a walk. She behaves
as a perfect unobtrusive helpmate around all manner of gym equipment. Not only
is Bill’s dog trained to perform physical actions that motivate him and enable
his physical activity. But in keeping with the curriculum from FF Boot Camp through a continuing online
class, Bill feels a sense of community, and stays motivated as he works toward positive
lifestyle and weight loss goals.
Bill is empowered by having confronted his lifelong
battle with emotional eating. With this special dog by his side, Bill processes
his feelings honestly and productively during long walks and runs. Bill now
wakes up to the happy nudge of his dog, prodding him with the leash in her
mouth saying Let’s go! There is life to
be lived and we don’t want to miss a minute of it! Because of his early
successes with weight loss during Boot Camp, Bill is now eating better and
taking pride in his appearance. He is more confident, and so takes more risks
in getting out and meeting people. He ends each day feeling proud of himself,
and thankful for the exercise partner who never skips a day, and always helps
Bill in his resolve to keep going.
To create this brand
new type of assistance dog -- with the
amazing Bonnie Bergin’s guidance – is going to be the opportunity of a lifetime
and a dream come true. I will study part-time on the Bergin campus in Santa
Rosa, while living and working on full-time experiential research in
Bakersfield. My goal is to proactively address the health epidemic of obesity
and all its manifestations within individuals, families, communities, and
society as a whole. For these and countless other reasons, I cannot wait to
begin my Master of Science program in Canine Life Sciences at Bergin University
of Canine Studies.
Dog Speed,
Liz R. Kover
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