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<DIV>Three Cheers for Holly!!<BR><BR>By: Dr. Ron Milliman<BR><BR><BR>As a
university student, one has to take a few courses, maybe even a lot
of<BR>courses that tend to lack intense interest. Okay, let's just say it
the<BR>way it is. Some courses are just plain boring, the book is boring,
the<BR>class is boring, the professor is boring; everything about it is
boring.<BR>Now, if they are boring to you and me, and we are supposed to
be<BR>intellectual scholars seeking every little possible morsel of
knowledge<BR>with the utmost enthusiasm, can you imagine how boring,
totally<BR>uninteresting, those courses must be to our guide dogs?
<BR><BR>I was working on my Ph.D. at Arizona State University, majoring
in<BR>marketing with supporting areas in economics and quantitative
systems.<BR>Now, how exciting does that sound? Okay, admittedly, some of
the econ and<BR>stat courses left a bit of excitement to be desired.
Anyway, I was<BR>enrolled in Dr. Plantz's Advanced Macro Economic Theory
course. Just the<BR>name of that course should put you in the party mood,
right? Well, maybe<BR>not. <BR><BR>Anyway, Dr. Plantz had the habit
of totally ignoring the bell when it rang,<BR>signaling the end of the
class. He would just keep right on lecturing,<BR>like he was totally tone
deaf of the bell's ringing frequency. My guide<BR>dog, Holly, would lie
next to my chair at the end of the row. She would<BR>just sleep or
whatever guide dogs do during an Advanced Macro Economics<BR>Theory class.
Holly was an exceptionally good dog. She was an<BR>exceptionally quiet
dog. In fact, I very, very rarely even heard her bark.<BR> Oh, she
would snore when she was sleeping, and sometimes in class, I would<BR>have to
nudge her with my foot to arouse her from that dream of catching<BR>squirrels in
the woods or whatever dogs dream about. <BR><BR>Dr. Plantz was lecturing,
telling us about how the Gross National Product<BR>was correlated with the
movement of the prime interest rate or some such<BR>theoretical construct when
the bell rang, telling us that the class period<BR>was over, and it was time to
go to the next class, go graph a hotdog, or<BR>whatever the students did when
leaving Dr. Plantz's classroom. But, Dr.<BR>Plantz just kept right on
lecturing, drawing a graph on the chalkboard,<BR>changing the prime rate from
six to five percent, and showing how the GNP<BR>would go up by some
amount. <BR><BR>Then, it happened!! Holly got up and shook her
harness as loudly as she<BR>could as she looked directly at Dr. Plantz.
She was tactfully, that is, as<BR>tactfully as an 87 lb. long-haired, German
Shepard could be, telling Dr.<BR>Plantz that the class period was over, and it
was time to go home and get<BR>some doggie treats or maybe a hotdog from the
student union. Dr. Plantz,<BR>however, just kept on lecturing, ignoring
the bell, and even worse,<BR>ignoring Holly's tactful reminder to Dr. Plantz
that the class was<BR>officially over, at least, as far as she was
concerned. <BR><BR>After a few seconds, Holly simply said: "Enough is
enough, Dr. Plantz. I<BR>have heard all the Advanced Macro Economic Theory
that I can take for<BR>today!" She started barking as loudly as she could,
louder than I ever<BR>heard her bard before or since! Dr. Plantz,
literally, ran to the far side<BR>of the room, and while frantically waving his
arms, he yelled: "Class<BR>dismissed." <BR><BR>We all filed out of the
room and over into the elevator. My classmates<BR>were all saying: "Good
dog, Holly; Way to go, Holly; three cheers for<BR>Holly." After that day,
Dr. Plantz was mysteriously able to hear the bell<BR>when it rang at the end of
class!!<BR><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>