Day 275

2/15/23

I want to be as inquisitive as my Goldens! Every noise, every smell, every sight...EVERYTHING piques their interest!

Since I did not deem it necessary to don my ice skates for a walk this afternoon, I headed out on my typical three excursions.

My first walking buddy was Sam. We headed out and didn't make it down the driveway before the engagement began:

*A car went by, so Sam stood at attention to watch the possible villain pass by.

*Next, we turned at the bottom of the driveway to join the sidewalk. Sam stopped for a full minute to see which male, neighbor pups had left a calling card of sorts on the wall.

*Then, a plane had the audacity to approach us from overhead. My boy had to stop and gaze skywards until something else grabbed his attention.

*Finally, there needed to be a stop at the hydrant! What a wealth of messages had been left there!

All this engagement with the senses and we hadn't even gone 20 feet down the sidewalk! It was a LONG walk with our youngest!

Gus was next. Poor baby was distracted by my training efforts for his obedience class. That seemed to get in the way, but all senses were fired up and going strong!

Finally, Lilly and Ranger had a turn. Not only do they stop to question, but these two littermates seem to interact with each other whenever they encounter something of interest. I imagine their conversation went something like this:

Ranger: Hey, Lilly! Get over here! Jack was by in the last hour or so and I think they changed his dog food!

Lilly: Oh, Ranger...who cares? As long as Mommy and Daddy keep the food coming to us, all is well with my world!

Ranger: Hey, Sis! Look there! I bet you could distract Mommy and I could grab that bag of "Yum!" I bet some school kid dropped it! I could share!

Lilly: My brother...that looks nasty. Don't touch it. Let me investigate first and see if it is worth the effort.

Ranger: OK! You're in charge! Whatever you say!

These two or so funny together. They do seem to communicate on some type of doggy level. I wish they could talk!

It is my theory that being inquisitive keeps the brain from resting on its laurels. Being a natural life-long learner, I was thrilled when my phone could instantly produce the answer to most every question imaginable. That was a thrill until I realized my brain was not problem-solving, hypothesizing or even trying to come up with plausible answers to my questions. Now, I pause before I say, "Hey, Google"... and give myself time to at least make a prediction as to the answer. Then I check with my little rectangular buddy to see how close my brain had brought me!

Ask questions! Brainstorm possible answers! Hypothesize results! Your brain will thank you! As for me, I will continue to do just that AND watch my Goldens for inspiration!