Talking to Strangers About Dogs

I almost didn’t write this…but she would have wanted me to.

It was over a decade ago when I began talking to strangers about Belle, my chocolate lab.

Specifically, to students in public yoga classes.

We were required to open each class with a “Dharma Talk”––a short sharing of the spirit of yoga philosophy through the personal lens of our experience.

I never planned on it, but more and more I found the best embodiment of yoga philosophy––from “Living in the Now” to “Letting Go”––in Belle.

I even wrote a short, picture-filled book about it––UPWARD DOG––which you can download as her gift HERE.

UPWARD DOG has resonated with lots of people.

Endorsers (i.e., Belle’s celebrity fans) include fellow supermodels, legendary meditation master Sharon Salzberg and even PETA’s founder Ingrid Newkirk.

Chocolate labs have an average life expectancy of 10.75 years.

Belle was 16.25 when she died this week.

It was time.

And it was sad, intense, and beautiful.

Some memories…

Her life was fuller than most people’s.

She grew up in Connecticut, lived in our Lower East Side loft, then briefly LA, San Francisco, Vancouver, 2 summers in Florida, 5 years on the Upper West Side, and finally hipster Bushwick.

She not only drove across the country and up the California coastline to Canada, but she also flew across the USA by my side six times.

And her birthday parties––with bacon cupcakes––were legend.

I’ve already framed her ruffled collar.

(She really loved fashion).

Yet I can’t stop looking for her out of the corner of my eye.

And I’m beyond certain I’ll write more about it––there’s certainly a lot to process––but since she has so many friends that I’ve never met, it felt appropriate to share now.

Finally––in the “Life Goes On” category––here’s our friend Leo, who was essentially an animated teddy bear at the beginning of quarantine.

He’s now grown into the most devilishly handsome 90-pound dire wolf.

Just FYI, Leo transformed our last photoshoot together.

He bounded in, full of curiosity and passion, and confident of his immortality.

Sometimes…especially during sad times…it’s really, really necessary to have a puppy around.

I’m not sure how to end this, except to again invite you to read more about what Belle taught me HERE…and maybe to remind us of what Franz Kafka (of all people!) had to say:

All knowledge, 
the totality of all questions and answers,
is contain in the dog.

I couldn’t agree more.

Namaste for Now…