… and he’s a real mix. How real? Here’s the breakdown:
28% Miniature Schnauzer
16% Miniature Poodle
10% Pembroke Welsh Corgi
9% American Eskimo Dog
8% Bichon Frise
5% Chow Chow
5% Wolf
4% Catahoula Leopard Dog
4% Chihuahua
4% Rat Terrier
4% Coyote
3% Pug
We rescued Vesta when she was 7 years old in 2009. She never liked having her photograph taken (she often ducked her head or walked away when a camera came out), so this is a rare portrait of her sitting calmly. We named her Vesta, the Roman goddess of hearth, home and family, for she was the warm center of our home life. Though we most often called her “Vesta,” and we didn’t correct people when they called her “Vespa,” we also called her “Vester,” “Vestela,” “Vesta-girl,” “Wag-a-muffin,” “Good girl,” “Little One,” “Wagster,” and many more. And though these words can’t say enough, she was a good dog, a close companion, and loving friend.
I recently uploaded some photos to Google Photo Backup. One thing it does is automatically group images with similar content and then label them things like “Food” or “Flowers” or “Beaches.” There’s even a “Dogs” one, which features plenty of photos of my dog. And then today I discovered a new one, also featuring my dog. Here it is:
Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I was a little kid, this book seemed to be more my older brothers’ speed. It was longer. It was more complex, and it had a sense of danger about it that I didn’t truly understand as a young reader. When I finally did read the book, I thought it was really cool. I felt like I accomplished something, and I couldn’t understand what had made me apprehensive about reading it in the first place.
Anyway, ZZ died a few months shy of his 19th birthday, about six months after the photo of him was taken.
I’ve just been thinking about the little guy today and missing him.
