Be More Like Your Dog

Life lessons from my yellow lab.

I’ve talked about Rosie, my 13-year-old yellow lab, here before.

Specifically, how we both have a similar anxiety disorder.

Rosie’s favorite restaurant is Filson as The Banks in Cincinnati

If you missed that, you can watch this quick video about it:

@calledforadventureMy yellow lab has an anxiety disorder. I do as well. Like any puppy she enjoys a long walk. This is about the life lesson that Rosie and I both are learning and how it helps me stay present. #anxiety #labsoftiktok #doglover #mentalhealth #adventure #meaning

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I’ve been thinking about another lesson I’ve learned from Rosie and her late dog-brother, Charlie.

Rosie with Charlie, the OG Boyd dog.

I’ve been traveling this week.

I will get home tomorrow afternoon.

And that will be the single-most unfathomable amazing moment in Rosie’s life.

It will top all the moments she has ever had in her dog life.

Until I leave and come back again — then that will be the best moment of her life.

And it doesn’t matter if I leave for five minutes to get the mail or for two weeks on vacation; her reaction is the same: unbridled excitement.

Oh, please don’t spoil my sentimentality by reminding me of the evolutionary reality that we are a codependent species and that her reaction might just be that the person who feeds her has returned.

I like to think she loves me.

A dog that lives an average life span has about one week on earth for every day that a human with an average life span has. For those of us who are dog lovers, this can be a sad truth.

But here’s the thing.

A dog’s innate capacity to stay in the moment is much higher than ours.

While I may live seven times the amount of time of Rosie, it is worth asking: Am I really living while I am alive?

There’s a Bon Jovi joke here somewhere.

Might it be possible that Rosie will end up packing more in-the-moment living in her limited amount of time than I did in mine?

It makes me think about how self-consumed I can become.

I could greet those I love with a bit more gusto.

Not like a dog…that’s a straight-up SNL sketch waiting to happen.

But I could greet those whom I love a little more like my dog greets me.

I could be like 10% dog when it comes to greeting people.

I could be content just to sit next to someone I love with no agenda.

I could nap more.

I could stretch more.

I could go for a walk with no agenda except to eventually come home.

I could be more “here.”

So could you.

As you go about your life, when you find yourself not fully present, remember what Rosie taught us:

13 years of being present is better than 81 years missing your life as it unfolds.