Category Archives for "School"

0 How to Support the Younger Generation to Shape Their Future

Fabeenajeeb asks: In what way we can support our younger generation to shape their future?

Ah, Fabeenajeeb, you are a human after my own heart! This whole website is devoted to just that! All I’m here for is to support the younger generation (of humans!) to shape their future. So if you ask what you can do to help that, my first answer is: tell them to join and read AskShirelle.com!

But what else can you do? Wow, there are thousands of things. But here are a few off the top of my furry head:

1) Provide a Full Education. Kids notoriously avoid doing their schoolwork… until they find something that really interests Continue reading

0 Who Is Shirelle’s Teacher?

ChrisFoxx asks: Who is your teacher?

You mean my obedience teacher? Oh Handsome is usually my trainer, though I was in an obedience class when I was a puppy. The teacher of that was very nice, but neither Handsome nor I remember his name now. The best thing about him was that he taught the humans never to strike their dogs, just to train the dogs to focus, using treats! So training was something I looked forward to, instead of dreading it as most dogs do.

But if you mean who teaches me the things I write here – wow, that’s a simple Continue reading

0 How to become famous at school

Anand asks: How can I become famous in my school?

That’s a fascinating question, Anand! Thanks!

I definitely understand you wanting to become famous in your school. I had the same frustration once! In my obedience class, I ended up being the best student there – I learned the most, and did my tricks the best on the last day. But I’ll bet there’s not a single dog there who remembers me. You see, they were all way too focused on the treats their owners had to pay me much attention!

In a funny way, it’s really the same in human schools, isn’t it? Everyone there is worried about all sorts of things – wanting to do well on tests, wanting to be liked, wanting to fit in, wanting to stay out of the principal’s office, wanting to get out of this annoying Continue reading

0 Advice for teenagers who feel they don’t fit in at school

Ashley asks: Do you have any advice for teenagers who have trouble fitting in at school?

Hi Ashley. I have tons and tons of advice for teenagers who have trouble fitting in at school. In fact (and I know this sounds crazy), every word I’ve ever written to teenagers is for ones who have just that trouble. Because every teenager has trouble fitting in at school!
I know, it’s hard to believe! What about the head cheerleader, or the football quarterback, or the kids who do all the plays, or the straight-A students, or just those ones you always see walking together and laughing? Crazy as it sounds, every one of those kids feels like an Continue reading

0 How to find a long-lost best friend

Wisky asks: I was having a best friend, but now I am not in touch with her; what should I can do to contact with her?

Thanks Wisky!
You know, I’m not sure if you mean that you and your friend have just lost contact, or if something bad happened to your friendship. If it’s just that time and distance have separated you, then you’re in luck – all you need to do is to sniff her out. Do you know where she is? If not, you’ve got something great that no one had until about ten years ago, which is the Internet. If you did a search for her, you might be able to find out where she is (if you don’t know how to do that, just ask a parent or older friend to help you). You could also do the “old-school” method by phoning Information and asking them to help you her.
But if it’s the other way, if something has hurt your friendship, then I’ve got to admit: this is one of those areas that we dogs just never Continue reading

0 Why it hurts when our best isn’t enough

Asmaok asks: Why is it that what hurts me most is when I can not give more than my best?

Wow, Asmaok, it sounds to me like you’re just a great person with a wonderful work ethic. For those who don’t know, “Work Ethic” means that you really value how good a job you do on the tasks you do. Like a student who doesn’t like to turn in work that isn’t really good, or an adult who doesn’t like to be lazy.
The problem is that, as good as a Work Ethic is, it can become too much, and it can get you feeling bad instead of good. The trick to handle this is simple: Give Yourself a Break!
For example, I think my most important job is Squirrel Control. I spend most of my Continue reading

1 Fun things for kids to do on a bus trip

Bow Wow asks: This saturday me and my friends are going on a trip,in a bus…how can we have fun inside the bus?

Hi Bow Wow –

Well the easy answer is that the most fun thing you can do on a bus is
to bring a dog along! Or better yet, lots and lots of dogs! Just
imagine how fun a long bus trip could be if you had, I don’t know, 67
puppies running around! It’d be great! They’d be playing, licking
everyone, nipping at your ankles, tug-of-war-ing, all great for the
first ten minutes or so. Then they’d start… uh oh… throwing
up… and Continue reading

0 What to do when friends tell you another friend is betraying you.

crobat asks: I’m confused if my “friend” [Henry] is really my friend and if my X-friend [Daniel] caused it. You see, ever since I introduced Daniel (this is when we were friends)to Henry, I’ve been told that Henry’s betraying me or that Daniel’s tricking me by other kids in the neighborhood. I’ve tried to figure it out on my own. Even though I found a couple things that might have proven that Henry’s innocent, I still didn’t have anything to prove that Daniel’s wrong. What do I do…

Oh Crobat, this is always so hard!  When one friend tells you another friend is betraying you, you never know who to believe, or how to react!  Shakespeare wrote a great play about this called “Othello,” which you’ll probably read sometime in school.  But it sure doesn’t tell you what the right thing to do about this is (“Othello” ends REALLY badly!).  So it’s no help to you today at all.  So I’ll do better than Shakespeare and help you out!!

We dogs don’t really have these same problems in our lives.  The closest we get is when another dog steals our food.  Once I saw – through a window – another dog eating out of my dish.  Well the first chance I had to get inside, I went right up to that dog and got on top of her and Continue reading

4 Why Does School Teach So Many Useless Things?

Lovesblackcats asks: Why don’t we learn really useful things in school like how to fix a flat tire or balance a checkbook? Why do we need to spend time finding the diameter of a circle or doing calculus?

Hi LovesBlackCats!

Boy this question gets asked all the time. I’ll bet they asked it in Ancient Egypt, and it’ll still be asked a thousand years from now. “Why do I have to study stuff that means nothing to me?”

When I was a puppy, I really cared about a few things. Biting, chewing, playing, food, making friends, and whether Handsome liked me as much as I liked him. That’s about it. I wanted to spend all my time pursuing those things. If I could have had my way, I wouldn’t have even slept! And Handsome would ruin my good times every day by insisting on Continue reading

0 How to deal with someone who rejects your friendship.

JLL asks: I take a drama camp and there is this girl named Emerson. At first she was really nice to me but, one day my friend Bailey and I went up to her and asked, may we please look at your necklace? She said no! in a very rude way. The next day a girl named Sue was wearing a very similar necklace , I asked Emmerson, is Sue wearing your necklace? She said, don’t talk to me! in a very rude way. Later, I told the teacher and I asked Emmerson, what did I ever do to you? She simply said, your annoying. She also said that she didn’t want to be friends. And I’m fine with that but I have the feeling that she will still be mean to me and turn people against me. I don’t want to be friends but I still want to get along with her. What do I do?

Wow, JLL, this is a tough one.  I don’t know if you’re still in drama camp (Handsome left town for a while, and I wasn’t able to post anything while he was gone – sorry about that!).  But even if you’re not, this sort of problem will happen again – it happens to adults all the time.

What you’re dealing with is that you’re trying to “play by the Continue reading