Benji Is One Down Dog

Benji has the square, earnest jaw of a high school quarterback who’s about to win state.

本吉有着一张方正而认真的下巴，就像一位即将赢得州冠军的高中四分卫。

His eyes are the rich, liquid brown of a half-melted chocolate bar.

他的眼睛是半融化的巧克力棒般浓郁的液体棕色。

His distinguished salt-and-pepper fur is very soft, silky against your hands when you stroke the fuzzy slope of his back or when you bury your face in the crook of his neck and coo that he is a good boy, the best, and also an angel.

当你抚摸他背上毛茸茸的斜坡，或者当你把脸埋在他的颈弯里，咕咕地说他是一个好孩子，最好的，也是一个天使时，他独特的椒盐皮毛在你的手上非常柔软、丝滑。

He’s like George Clooney, if Clooney were shorter and hairier, had a sense of smell that was 100,000 times better, and pooped along a north-south axis in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field, as dogs are suspected to do.

他就像乔治·克鲁尼（George Clooney），如果克鲁尼更矮、毛发更多的话，他的嗅觉要好10万倍，并且沿着与地球磁场一致的南北轴拉便，就像狗被怀疑的那样。

He would like to sit in my lap, if that’s all right.

如果可以的话，他想坐在我腿上。

Benji, a six-year-old, forty-pound blue heeler, is the canine companion of YouTube yoga celebrity Adriene Mishler .

Benji 是一只 6 岁、40 磅重的蓝色高跟鞋，是 YouTube 瑜伽名人 Adriene Mishler 的宠物狗。

We meet outside one of his and Mishler’s favorite coffee shops, in East Austin, on an overcast morning in May.

五月的一个阴天早晨，我们在东奥斯汀他和米什勒最喜欢的咖啡馆之一外面见面。

The decor is all clean lines and pale wood and concrete, the coffee beans sustainably sourced.

装饰线条简洁，采用浅色木材和混凝土，咖啡豆来源可持续。

Benji himself is dressed tastefully but minimally, in a navy-blue harness that flatters his broad chest and shoulders, and a faded navy rope leash with elegant brass accents.

本吉本人穿着雅致但简约，佩戴一条海军蓝色安全带，衬托出他宽阔的胸部和肩膀，一条褪色的海军蓝绳带带有优雅的黄铜装饰。

This is basically the extent of Benji’s regular wardrobe.

这基本上就是Benji常规衣柜的范围了。

He doesn’t enjoy collars or bandannas, so except for his harness and leash—which he is required to wear periodically, both for personal safety and in compliance with Austin’s leash laws—he prefers to greet the world au naturel whenever possible.

他不喜欢项圈或头巾，所以除了他的安全带和皮带——为了个人安全和遵守奥斯汀的皮带法，他需要定期佩戴——他更喜欢尽可能地迎接自然的世界。

The world is happy to greet Benji in any state.

无论在什么州，世界都很高兴迎接 Benji。

Ever since he first appeared in Mishler’s life—in a box beneath a Christmas tree in 2014, as a gift from a then boyfriend—he’s been a beloved staple of her social media posts and her wildly popular YouTube channel, Yoga With Adriene, which she launched in 2012.

自从他第一次出现在米什勒的生活中（2014 年，作为当时男友的礼物，装在圣诞树下的一个盒子里）以来，他一直是她社交媒体帖子和广受欢迎的 YouTube 频道“Yoga With Adriene”（她于 2012 年推出）中最受欢迎的主题。

Now the channel has over 9.9 million subscribers, many of whom have watched Benji grow from a potato-size puppy into a poised, laid-back adult who steals scenes in Mishler’s videos.

现在该频道拥有超过 990 万订阅者，其中许多人目睹了 Benji 从一只土豆大小的小狗成长为一个泰然自若、悠闲的成年人，他在米什勒的视频中抢走了镜头。

Sometimes he’ll pad in front of the camera while she holds a boat pose, or he’ll languidly recline in a corner of the studio as she moves through a sun salutation.

有时，当她摆出船的姿势时，他会在镜头前走动，或者当她做拜日式时，他会懒洋洋地斜靠在工作室的一角。

These cameos are, for some viewers, reason enough to spend twenty to forty minutes folding their bodies like napkins at a fancy restaurant.

对于一些观众来说，这些客串足以让他们花二十到四十分钟折叠身体，就像在一家高档餐厅用餐巾纸一样。

As one YouTube commenter put it, “Sometimes I show up for myself, and sometimes I show up for Benji!

正如一位 YouTube 评论者所说：“有时我是为了自己，有时是为了 Benji！

Because he is so cute!”

因为他太可爱了！”

He has become famous enough in his own right that when she travels, Mishler sometimes gets messages from people who’ve spotted him and his various dog-sitters (friends of Mishler’s, usually) around East Austin without her.

他本身就已经足够出名，以至于当她旅行时，米什勒有时会收到一些人发来的信息，这些人在东奥斯汀发现了他和他的各种狗保姆（通常是米什勒的朋友），而她却没有在东奥斯汀。

“I’d be on the road or in another country, and I’d see a photo like, ‘Benji’s at Tamale House!’ or ‘I just met Benji at Kinda Tropical!’ ” Mishler is used to sharing the spotlight with him.

“我会在路上或在另一个国家，我会看到一张照片，比如‘Benji 在 Tamale House！’或者‘我刚刚在 Kinda Tropical 遇见了 Benji！’”Mishler 习惯于与他分享聚光灯。

Interviewers often ask her whether they can greet Benji.

采访者经常问她是否可以向Benji打招呼。

“I get it,” she shrugs.

“我明白了，”她耸耸肩。

“He’s a star.” Even her therapist occasionally gets distracted by Benji, Mishler says, laughing.

“他是一个明星。”米什勒笑着说，就连她的治疗师有时也会被本吉分散注意力。

Benji is comfortable with the attention.

本吉对这种关注感到很舒服。

At the coffee shop, he signals that he would like to be in my lap by sitting upright and placing his wide gray paws gently but insistently on my legs.

在咖啡店里，他坐直身子，将宽大的灰色爪子轻轻但坚持地放在我的腿上，以此表示他想坐在我的腿上。

His gaze is polite but frank.

他的目光彬彬有礼，却又坦率。

It is the look of someone utterly at ease in his own fur, confident that wherever he goes, everyone will be thrilled to see him.

这是一个穿着自己的皮毛完全放松的人，相信无论他走到哪里，每个人都会很高兴见到他。

He wears his celebrity lightly, even though he’s one of the most famous dogs in America right now.

尽管他是目前美国最著名的狗之一，但他并没有表现出自己的名气。

And the field is more crowded than ever.

而且这个领域比以往任何时候都更加拥挤。

Gone are the days when only high-powered studio execs could pluck a dog (and several of its look-alikes) from obscurity and thrust it into the spotlight, à la Lassie, Wishbone, Beethoven, and even Benji’s namesake, Benji.

只有权力大的工作室高管才能将一只狗（以及几只与它相似的狗）从默默无闻中拉出来，并将其推到聚光灯下的日子已经一去不复返了，就像莱西、威什伯恩、贝多芬，甚至是与本吉同名的本吉一样。

Now any cute pet whose owner has a smartphone and ambition is a potential social media sensation.

现在，任何拥有智能手机且有野心的可爱宠物，都可能成为社交媒体上的热门话题。

But few dogs have ascended to the vertiginous heights of canine stardom that Benji currently occupies.

但很少有狗能够达到本吉目前所占据的犬类明星的令人眩晕的高度。

Giggy, the beloved Pomeranian of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules, probably came close before his tragic passing in 2020.

吉吉（Giggy）是《比佛利山庄的真正主妇》和《范德庞普规则》中深受喜爱的博美犬，在 2020 年不幸去世之前，他可能已经接近这一目标。

Then there was that terrier, Uggie, from The Artist —but that was a decade ago.

还有《艺术家》中的那只小猎犬，乌吉，但那是十年前的事了。

And Benji’s star is still rising.

而本吉的明星仍在冉冉升起。

There’s even a cartoon in the works, which Mishler code-names “Benji TV.” She won’t share much about it yet, but she does say it will include lessons about mindfulness and breath control.

甚至还有一部动画片正在制作中，米什勒将其代号为“Benji TV”。她还不会透露太多相关内容，但她确实表示，其中将包括有关正念和呼吸控制的课程。

“Who knows?

“谁知道呢？

Maybe Benji TV could be a series someday,” she says.

也许 Benji TV 有一天会成为一个连续剧，”她说。

Benji, meanwhile, lifts his leg to casually scratch his ear, as if to convey how nonchalant he feels about his potential TV debut.

与此同时，本吉抬起腿，随意地挠了挠耳朵，似乎在表达他对自己可能在电视上首次亮相的漠不关心。

This is just the sort of thing that happens for Benji.

这正是发生在 Benji 身上的事情。

Benji was born on November 5, 2014 (a Scorpio: intense, mysterious).

Benji 出生于 2014 年 11 月 5 日（天蝎座：热情、神秘）。

His likes, according to Mishler: tennis balls; carrots; a bagel-shaped toy he was recently gifted; his dog friends Panda and Willa.

据米什勒说，他的爱好是：网球；胡萝卜；他最近收到了一个百吉饼形状的玩具；他的狗朋友熊猫和威拉。

Dislikes: fart noises, which he finds scary; plastic bags on the side of the road, which he also finds scary.

不喜欢：放屁的声音，他觉得这很可怕；路边的塑料袋，他也觉得很可怕。

He was supposedly the runt of a litter of blue heelers born right outside Round Rock, but you wonder if someone said that just to make him seem more relatable, like when a Victoria’s Secret model says she was actually really awkward in middle school.

据说他是圆石城外出生的一窝蓝色高跟鞋中的矮个子，但你想知道是否有人这么说只是为了让他看起来更亲近，就像维多利亚的秘密模特说她在中学时真的很尴尬。

When Mishler’s boyfriend surprised her with Benji, it wasn’t a great time for a new puppy, both in an immediate sense—Mishler was hosting a big holiday party that night—but also in a larger, existential sense.

当米什勒的男友用本吉给她带来惊喜时，对于一只新小狗来说，这并不是一个好时机，无论是从直接意义上——米什勒那天晚上正在举办一场大型假日派对——还是从更大的、存在主义的意义上来说。

As lovable as Benji was, Mishler wasn’t sure she was ready to open her heart to another dog.

尽管本吉很可爱，但米什勒不确定她是否准备好向另一只狗敞开心扉。

Before Benji, there was Blue.

在Benji之前，有Blue。

Mishler got him when she was in college, in 2005, after she saw a newspaper ad for blue heeler puppies.

2005年，米什勒在读大学时看到了报纸上的蓝跟幼犬广告后，就得到了它。

Blue was by her side for most of her twenties, and when he died, in April 2014, Mishler was devastated.

在她二十多岁的大部分时间里，布鲁都陪伴在她身边，2014 年 4 月他去世时，米什勒悲痛欲绝。

She still isn’t totally over the loss.

她还没有完全从损失中恢复过来。

So when her boyfriend showed her this little puppy under the Christmas tree who looked so much like Blue, she says, “I remember being like, ‘No. Nothing can replace Blue.’ I didn’t know if I could fall in love like that again.”

因此，当她的男朋友向她展示圣诞树下这只看起来非常像 Blue 的小狗时，她说，“我记得当时的感觉是，‘不。没有什么可以取代 Blue。’我不知道我是否可以再次像那样坠入爱河。”

Her concern was short-lived.

她的担忧是短暂的。

That evening, at Mishler’s annual all-female holiday party (a ritual she’s since discontinued because it became too big and popular), a tiny Benji was anointed by this powerful sisterhood, passed from woman to woman under the glow of Christmas lights.

那天晚上，在米什勒一年一度的全女性节日派对上（她后来停止了这种仪式，因为它变得太大和太受欢迎），一只小本吉被这个强大的姐妹情谊所涂油，在圣诞彩灯的照耀下从一个女人传到另一个女人。

She and Benji quickly became best friends, and she says that, from a spiritual standpoint, the two of them were meant to be together.

她和本吉很快就成了最好的朋友，她说，从精神的角度来看，他们两个注定要在一起。

“This is a good lesson and, I think, pertinent for where we are in the world right now,” Mishler muses, as she rubs the little white splotch between Benji’s ears, his eyelids drooping contentedly.

“这是一个很好的教训，我认为，它与我们现在所处的世界息息相关，”米什勒一边沉思着，一边揉着本吉耳朵之间的白色小斑点，他的眼睑心满意足地耷拉着。

“We heal,” she says.

“我们痊愈了，”她说。

“We will love again.

“我们会再次相爱。

We will reunite again.

我们会再次团聚的。

Everyone knows you can’t go around heartbreak—you just have to go through it.

每个人都知道你无法逃避心碎——你必须经历它。

But you will.”

但你会的。”

Mishler credits Benji with being a grounding influence for her in her thirties.

米什勒认为本吉对她三十多岁时的影响深远。

He’s very chill.

他很冷淡。

She suspects people think she’s lying when she says that—heelers are working dogs, after all, bred to chase and herd 1,500-pound cattle—but she swears she’s not.

她怀疑当她这么说时，人们会认为她在撒谎——毕竟高跟犬是工作犬，是为了追逐和放牧 1,500 磅的牛而饲养的——但她发誓她不是。

Part of Benji’s chill is just his nature: Mishler says he was a “very sweet, very calm” puppy.

本吉的冷漠部分源于他的本性：米什勒说他是一只“非常可爱、非常冷静”的小狗。

But part of it was his being carefully, strictly nurtured.

但部分原因是他受到精心、严格的培养。

Mishler was serious about his training—creating structure, including through crate training, and establishing her dominance.

米什勒认真对待他的训练——创造结构，包括通过板条箱训练，并建立她的统治地位。

It was effective.

这很有效。

So effective that friends have asked her if she would consider writing something about how she raised Benji to be so well behaved.

如此有效，以至于朋友们问她是否会考虑写一些关于她如何养育本吉如此乖巧的文章。

She’s not sure about that.

她对此不太确定。

“I just kind of gave it my best shot,” she says.

“我只是尽了最大努力，”她说。

As if to illustrate what a good job Mishler has done, Benji stoically restrains himself from leaping forward and gobbling the cinnamon roll that a towheaded toddler, having waddled over to say hi, waves in front of him.

仿佛是为了说明米什勒做得有多好，本吉坚忍地克制住自己，没有向前跳跃，狼吞虎咽地吃掉一个黄头发的小孩，摇摇晃晃地走过来打招呼，在他面前挥手致意。

Benji’s self-mastery would impress even the most uncompromising ascetic.

即使是最不妥协的苦行僧，本吉的自制力也会给他留下深刻的印象。

The key to Benji’s success is routine.

Benji 成功的关键是常规。

He and Mishler wake around seven or eight, and after breakfast they’ll either walk to a coffee shop or go on a trail run.

他和米什勒在七八点左右醒来，早餐后他们要么步行去咖啡店，要么去越野跑。

If it’s an office day for Mishler, Benji will spend most of it napping on the couch behind her, distracting whomever she’s talking to over Zoom.

如果今天是 Mishler 的工作日，Benji 会花大部分时间在她身后的沙发上打盹，分散她在 Zoom 上交谈的人的注意力。

If it’s a filming day, he’ll drift in and out of the frame, making cameo appearances whenever he feels like it.

如果是拍摄日，他会在画面中进进出出，只要他愿意就客串一下。

In the afternoon, he goes on another stroll, and most evenings, he moonlights as Mishler’s sous-chef, shadowing her around the kitchen before passing out in either her bed or his.

下午，他又去散步，大多数晚上，他都会兼职担任米什勒的副主厨，在厨房里尾随她，然后睡在她或他的床上。

Benji also maintains a rigorous exercise regimen.

Benji 还保持着严格的锻炼习惯。

He’s something of a jock—trail runs, runs around Lady Bird Lake, wild sprints after tennis balls (ball is life for Benji, as Mishler puts it).

他有点像一名运动员——越野跑、绕伯德夫人湖跑步、打网球后疯狂冲刺（正如米什勒所说，球是本吉的生命）。

He’s a cardio guy.

他是一个有氧运动的人。

Athletic as he may be, though, he’s not the young pup he once was.

尽管他可能很运动，但他已经不再是以前的小狗了。

Last February, right before the world locked down, Benji had to undergo surgery on a worn-out left ACL.

去年二月，就在世界封锁之前，本吉不得不接受磨损的左前十字韧带手术。

At first, Mishler was worried he would never run again.

起初，米什勒担心自己再也不会参选了。

Not only did he make a full recovery, however, but in the process, he became the unofficial face of the Lick Sleeve, invented by the vet who treated Benji.

然而，他不仅完全康复了，而且在这个过程中，他还成为了舔袖的非官方代言人，舔袖是由治疗本吉的兽医发明的。

(Dogs can wear the sleeve, an alternative to the dreaded “cone of shame,” on their legs post-op to keep them from licking or pulling at their stitches.)

（狗可以在术后将袖子戴在腿上，以替代可怕的“耻辱锥”，以防止它们舔或拉扯缝线。）

When you’re a star, everything is potential PR—even orthopedic surgery.

当你是明星时，一切都有可能成为公关——甚至是整形外科手术。

Of course I let Benji onto my lap.

我当然让Benji坐在我腿上。

I place my hand under his haunches and hoist him up.

我把手放在他的臀部下面，把他举了起来。

From his elevated seat, Benji watches the comings and goings around us, panting happily.

本杰坐在高高的座位上，看着我们周围的来来往往，高兴地喘着气。

Occasionally he repositions himself to get more comfortable or rests his broad head on my shoulder, as if we’re some sort of interspecies Mary Cassatt painting.

偶尔，他会重新调整自己的位置以变得更舒服，或者将宽阔的头靠在我的肩膀上，就好像我们是玛丽·卡萨特的某种跨物种画作。

Benji makes missteps, seemingly as a reminder that stars are just like us.

本吉犯了一些错误，似乎是在提醒我们，明星和我们一样。

There was the time he ate twelve tamales, husks and all, that were defrosting on Mishler’s kitchen counter, and the time he accidentally ran into her face while she was weeding, fracturing her nose the day before before she was scheduled to appear on the Today show.

有一次，他吃掉了米什勒厨房柜台上正在解冻的十二个玉米粉蒸肉，连外皮什么的都有；还有一次，在她预定出现在《今日》节目的前一天，他在她除草时不小心撞到了她的脸，导致她的鼻子骨折。

But Mishler easily forgives him when she sees the pacifying effect Benji has on his fans, both in person and online.

但当米什勒看到本吉对他的粉丝（无论是在现场还是在网上）所产生的安抚效果时，她很容易原谅了他。

She believes he can bring together people who might not otherwise see eye to eye, including some who don’t share Mishler’s views.

她相信他可以将那些可能意见不一致的人聚集在一起，包括一些不同意米什勒观点的人。

“I’ve worked really hard to keep people around the same table that are not like-minded, and Benji is a great tool for that.

“我非常努力地让志同道合的人坐在同一张桌子上，而 Benji 是一个很好的工具。

It sounds so silly, and I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but he’s like a golden ticket for connecting people who wouldn’t ordinarily connect,” Mishler says.

这听起来很愚蠢，我简直不敢相信我竟然这么说，但他就像一张金票，可以让那些通常不会联系的人联系起来，”米什勒说。

“I’ve seen people unite over Benji and joke about how they may not like my politics but they stick around for Benji.”

“我看到人们为了本吉而团结起来，并开玩笑说他们可能不喜欢我的政治观点，但他们会为了本吉而坚持下去。”

Mishler is probably onto something.

米什勒可能有所发现。

At a time when celebrities are constantly putting their feet in their mouths and, as so many did last March, making embarrassing videos of themselves covering John Lennon songs , a star who can’t voice his opinion on health care—who can’t even tweet—has a natural appeal.

在名人不断把脚放在嘴里的时代，就像去年三月很多人所做的那样，制作自己翻唱约翰·列侬歌曲的尴尬视频，一位无法表达自己对医疗保健的看法——甚至不能发推特——的明星具有天然的吸引力。

It’s pretty hard to cancel a dog.

取消一只狗是相当困难的。

Suddenly, a truck trundles down the road behind us.

突然，一辆卡车在我们身后的路上缓缓行驶。

Benji leaps off my lap and rushes over to Mishler’s feet.

本吉从我的腿上跳下来，冲到米什勒的脚边。

“That’s okay,” she reassures him, stroking his worried face.

“没关系，”她安慰他，抚摸他忧心忡忡的脸。

And then, more quietly, to me: “He’s a bit of a scaredy-cat.”

然后，更安静地对我说：“他有点胆怯。”

It was a startling sound, to be fair.

公平地说，这是一个令人震惊的声音。

George Clooney probably would have jumped too.

乔治·克鲁尼可能也会跳起来。

This article originally appeared in the July issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Down Dog Rising.” Subscribe today .

本文最初发表于《德克萨斯月刊》七月号，标题为“下犬崛起”。立即订阅。