CJ and Cheeks are brother and sister. Same litter. Born minutes apart. Number one and number two.
Kim was the breeder, so these two little characters have been part of the family from the very beginning. They are spirited. They are curious. They are full of life.
And they are apparently responsible for protecting our home from every squirrel in the Pacific Northwest.
It’s a big job.
We Are Under Attack
Right outside our front door is a row of those very tall Northwest trees. The squirrels love them.
CJ and Cheeks do not.
One squirrel appears outside the front window and you’d think somebody had breached the perimeter. The littles race to the window.
Barking. Scrambling.
SQUIRREL!
When the dogs are in the backyard, it’s even worse. The squirrels have figured out exactly how this works. They sit on top of the fence. Safe. Watching.
I’m pretty sure they’re laughing.
CJ and Cheeks are below, absolutely losing their minds while the squirrels torment the daylights out of them.
Five minutes later?
Crisis over. Nap time.
There may be something in that.
They Are Not Wellness Experts
I watch these two and sometimes think dogs have figured out a few things we’ve made unnecessarily complicated.
CJ and Cheeks have never counted a macro. They don’t know their step count. They have no idea whether their walk was Zone 2. They’ve never worried about whether they got enough deep sleep last night.
They wake up and stretch. They run when something makes them want to run. They play. They rest. They get excited about going outside even though they’ve been outside approximately 14,000 times before.
And when they’re tired?
They sleep.
No guilt. No thought that perhaps they should be doing something more productive with their afternoon. Just...
I’m tired. I’m going to lie down now.
I admire that.
But let’s not get carried away and pretend dogs possess some ancient wisdom we’ve lost. Because Cheeks is also our resident vacuum cleaner.
Everything on the floor goes into her mouth.
And recently we put dog-safe snail pellets around Peggy’s dahlias. Apparently CJ considers them a delicacy.
So much for instinct always knowing best.
Sometimes your body sends you useful information. Sometimes your body apparently says:
Eat the snail pellets.
A little judgment still comes in handy.
Maybe We Don’t Need to Optimize Everything
That’s really what watching these two makes me think about.
We’ve become very good at measuring ourselves. Food. Sleep. Steps. Heart rate. Blood sugar. Exercise. Recovery.
There can be value in all of that. Information can teach us things we might otherwise miss.
But I wonder if sometimes all that measuring makes us forget to experience the thing we’re measuring.
A walk becomes 6,342 steps. Dinner becomes 37 grams of protein. Sleep becomes a score. Exercise becomes calories burned.
And pretty soon we’re not living.
We’re collecting data about living.
CJ and Cheeks don’t have that problem. When there’s something interesting outside, they notice it.
Granted, they then bark at it until the rest of us consider moving to another state.
But they noticed it.
Then There’s Dinner
CJ and Cheeks aren’t always models of good behavior.
Until I start filling their food bowls.
The transformation is remarkable. Two dogs who moments earlier may have been defending civilization from a squirrel suddenly become perfect little angels.
They sit tall. Quiet. Patient.
Those innocent little faces look up at me.
Who, us? We’ve been sitting here peacefully all day.
Sure you have.
But watch them when those bowls hit the floor. They aren’t thinking about yesterday’s dinner. They aren’t worried about tomorrow’s breakfast. They aren’t checking their phones while they eat.
For that moment, dinner is the greatest thing that has ever happened.
Then it’s over. And they’re off to whatever comes next.
Maybe That’s What I Want to Keep
Not the barking. Definitely not eating everything that hits the floor. And I’ll pass on the snail pellets.
But I don’t want to become so focused on living correctly that I forget how to love being alive.
I want to stay curious. Notice things. Move because there’s somewhere interesting to go. Rest when I need it. Play. Enjoy my food. Get outside.
And occasionally become ridiculously excited about something that probably isn’t important at all.
We talk a lot around RiversZen about staying capable as we get older. Strength matters. Balance matters. Mobility matters.
But those things aren’t the destination.
They’re what allow us to keep participating.
That’s the destination.
Maybe that’s one little thing CJ and Cheeks can teach us. Not that dogs know better than doctors. Not that instinct is always right. Certainly not that anything scattered around Peggy’s dahlias should be considered an appetizer.
Just this:
Pay attention to your life while you’re living it.
There’s probably something interesting happening right outside the window.
And if you’re lucky... it might be a squirrel. 😂
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