The Pulse
Feb. 11, 2022

Bea Bohm-Meyer has combined her success as a business mentor and coach with her "crazy love of dogs" to write a book called How Dogs Make Us Better Humans.

The self-published book, which achieved best-seller status on Amazon, was born when Bohm-Meyer's consulting work dropped off at the beginning of the pandemic, and like many others, she suddenly had more downtime.

"I was sitting and watching my dogs play outside. They came in and I was a little bit sad, and one of them just came to hug me. I was thinking how happy they made me and all of the things that they taught me throughout my life," she told Taproot.

"So I started writing what I felt about them and some of the stories around loss and learning and I thought ... these dogs really have taught me so much about life and how to show up in the world."

As Bohm-Meyer began reflecting about her own dogs and gathering stories about others, she quickly found that there was no shortage of tales to tell. On a survey she put out to owners through her partner's business, The Leash Team, the overwhelming answer to "What do you think a dog's purpose is?" was "unconditional love."

That's a feeling she has experienced with all of her dogs, including an eight-year-old rescue named Buckley and a Great Pyrenees-Maremma named Eddie, who helped her recover from the loss of her border collie Charlie.

One of the stories Bohm-Meyer shares in her book is about sports psychologist John Dunn, who talks about never punishing your dog for the sake of learning.

"(Dunn) had a service dog that he took with him everywhere. He was late for meeting and he went out and called his dog, and his dog wouldn't come. And it was because (Dunn) was upset," she explained. "He realized that, so he calmed himself down and went out and his energy was great, and his dog came right away."

Bohm-Meyer's work focuses on building corporate cultures through compassionate leadership, which she quickly realized is closely linked to what she's learned from her dogs. While she didn't want to tell people exactly how to show up in the leadership world, Bohm-Meyer includes a summary at the end of each chapter that has a subtle lesson about how to be a better human being.

"So it dances between our love of dogs and how they make us better. And if we're really present, they help us become not only better human beings but better leaders."

• The Edmonton Oilers have dismissed head coach Dave Tippett and associate coach Jim Playfair, replacing them with Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson from the Bakersfield Condors. Woodcroft is the 17th head coach in Oilers franchise history and will be the fifth of Connor McDavid's seven-season career.
• University of Alberta researcher Julian Faid told Edify that there could be issues with fleets of electric autonomous vehicles on city streets. Widespread deployment of AVs could result in a lot of energy use as they roam city streets waiting to be hailed. "The way to plan for autonomous vehicles is to plan for flexible and adaptable cities," he said.
• A 116-year-old building that was once south Edmonton's first Catholic school is on the market for $6.6 million. The Catholic school board is hoping to sell the St. Anthony building — which is on the corner of 84th Avenue and 104th Street — as a cost-saving measure.
• City council will consider options for implementing its own vaccine passport program at a special city council meeting this afternoon.
• The University of Alberta will continue to require masks when staff and students return to campus for in-person learning on Feb. 28, president Bill Flanagan has announced. Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides sent a letter to post-secondary institutions on Feb. 9 to say that he expects them to follow the province's COVID-19 policies, including the removal of mask mandates.
• Alberta's lifting of COVID-19 restrictions could cause undue anxiety for many as worries and uncertainty persist, researchers say. It could also embolden the convoy protestors.
• Health Minister Jason Copping said that Alberta's vaccine QR codes will stick around, but the app that lets businesses scan them will no longer be available for download.
• An Alberta Health Services staffer at Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre was given 18 months probation and a $5,000 fine for accessing 189 individuals' health information a whopping 985 times over just two years. Marie Mushinski pleaded guilty to two counts of gaining or attempting to gain access to information under the Health Information Act.

This weekend's calendar includes a lot of outdoor festivals and activities (let's hope it gets a little bit colder!), as well as brunch, music, and a market.

• Feb. 11-21: Silver Skate Festival
• Feb. 11-28: Canadian Birkie Ski Festival
• Feb. 12: Black History Month Brunch with Black Canadian Women in Action
• Feb. 12: Snowshoe and Stargaze at Elk Island National Park
• Feb. 12-13: Wholly Handmade Market in Sherwood Park
• Feb. 13: Heart of the City Music Program Concert Series at the Art Gallery of Alberta

The Silver Skate Festival is set to return to Hawrelak Park on Feb. 11. (Marc J. Chalifoux Photography)