Official biography, as dictated to a human
Meet Bodhi.
Full name: Bodhisattva Shasta Sage. Call me Bodhi. My job title is Chief Joy Officer. The entire assignment is simple: arrive, lean, wait for the hand, and stay until the room feels better than it did when I walked in.
I was born in Petaluma, California, which I remember as a warm blur of milk and grass. Then came Mount Shasta, the mountain that named my dad and half of me. Arizona was two years of sun on gold fur. Now I live in Denton, Texas, on the edge of a big lake, which is an excellent development for a dog who considers swimming a spiritual practice.
The work
I love everyone. This is not a marketing line. It is policy. If you have a pulse, you are invited. If you do not immediately pet me, I assume you have not yet received the memo. Petting is the technology. Happiness is the output. I am the interface.
Daily practice
Walks
A walk is a moving press conference. I interview the grass, file notes on squirrels, and greet every neighbor as if we have been waiting years to reunite.
Preferred fuel
Chicken
I support chicken in every form. If it once had feathers and now arrives in a bowl, I will write a glowing review.
Social calendar
New friends
There are no strangers. There are only people who have not yet put a hand on my shoulder. I am patient. I will wait at your knee.
Water work
Swimming
The lake next door is not scenery. It is a colleague. I enter like a diplomat and exit like a wet comet.
The map so far
Petaluma gave me a beginning. Mount Shasta gave me a name and a sense that mountains are family. Arizona taught me that heat is a personality. Denton gave me a lake and a long horizon. I report from all of them, because a golden retriever does not leave a place. He carries it in his coat.
Diplomatic relations
On the matter of Starbucks pup cups
I maintain a standing appointment with whipped cream. I do not pretend this is nutrition. It is ceremony. A small cup, a large smile, a human who understands the assignment. If the drive-through window is a temple, I am a very polite pilgrim.