Zoey was a salty old broad to the end, and the departure of her larger-than-life presence has left us with a huge hole in our world; I can’t believe how much I miss her. Of course in thinking about her constantly, (without her incessant barking to distract me from such thoughts), I realize that losing her has given me a new outlook. Zoey was a far greater teacher than I ever understood; if she were here today (and could type) these are some things she would tell us about life:
1) Never bark when a growl will do. Zoey had about 15 variations of the growl…the
“stop bothering me” growl, the “something is fishy” growl, the “unrecognized
noise” growl, the “I’m-still-here-in-case-you-were-wondering” growl…and none of
them sounded exactly the same. The girl
had TONALITY. She understood that a
well-placed growl could pre-empt a lot of unnecessary barking, and she doled
them out judiciously. HOWEVER:
2) There is no shame in barking! Again, there were many variations on this
theme, but her preferred bark was robust, full throated and frankly piercing. Like most Corgis, her insane barking was just
as likely a signifier of joy as of alarm…you should have heard her go at it
every time the UPS truck drove down the street.
This is not because she feared or was angered by the truck…it’s because
she and our UPS guy were IN LOVE. Which leads me to her next bit of wisdom:
3) Relationships
are the bedrock of a happy existence. Zoey
was a shameless flirt and had many admirers (though none as ardent as that UPS
guy). Flirting got her pets and treats
and all kinds of attention, and she was damned good at it. When we lived in Virginia she had our
handsome young mailman wrapped around her little paw, and he was always
threatening to carry her away to the glamourous life. Being engaged by people means you like
yourself and enjoy others…and you are still open to all the possibilities of
life. Like maybe riding around in a
mail/UPS truck with a box of milk bones and a smitten dude. Zoey understood this because
4) You have to
know the difference between being shameless in your passions and not having any
pride. Yes, she was a girl with gusto and endless
appetites (for food as well as men who deliver parcels) but she was also a dog
with dignity. She had perfected the “I
meant to do that” posture to answer any question you might have about her
feelings regarding knocking something over or “missing her mark”. Zoey was a lady and never let us forget
it. Don’t you know it’s impolite to
stare at someone as they inhale their food??? Because
5) Food is
AWESOME. Zoey 100% approved of you
eating what you like because she literally never met anything edible that she
didn’t enjoy; gluttony is a well-known Corgi trait and all of our vets over the
years marveled at her consistently trim figure.
Her huge appetite was never an issue because Zoey realized
6) Exercise is
crucial. Okay, okay, so MAYBE she
is the only dog in the history of the world who actually HID when she saw her Mom
get the leash…but to be fair to her, my legs are very, very long and hers were
very, very short, so pace may have been an issue. Also, I take very long walks. A LOT of very long walks. Anyhow, she was slim...
7) But pretty
isn’t everything. Zoey, again like most of
her breed, was a pretty little thing…but she knew it was her BRAINS that made
her stand apart. I trained that dog like
the Type-A person I not so secretly can be, and got frequent compliments on how
GOOD she was…from people who didn’t REALLY
know her. To know Zoey was to
understand…a full 98% of the time when she wasn’t either sleeping or eating,
she was figuring out ways to work around
the rules. I have never been more
certain in my life that a dog fully understood what was expected of her. And I have never been more certain in my life
of the kind of pleasure she so obviously derived from “outsmarting” those
expectations. With her, I found myself
quoting the ill-fated Velociraptor wrangler from the first Jurassic Park film on a regular basis: "Clever
girl". Because Zoey was more than
willing to take the lead…
8) Don’t be
afraid to take charge. Corgis are herders, and
they are bred to be in control of not only animals much, much larger than they
are, but also in large numbers. Zoey had
absolutely no problem taking command when she saw such a thing was called for…herding
can be incredibly useful when you have a lot of small children running about,
frankly. She instinctively ran in
circles around the errant group, barking her very own version of a camp
counselor’s whistle… she was not intimidated by size or numbers BUT she also
knew
9) It’s okay to
be vulnerable with people who love you.
Zoey was terrified of thunder and would break any house rule to get
close to us if a storm broke out. She
also hated aggressive dogs and would cower between my legs if approached by
one. As much of a fierce little badass
as she was, Zoey had her fears and phobias and she knew just where she could
bring them to…
10) There’s no place like HOME. There is a reason children call the safe zone
“home” when they are playing tag. Home
isn’t a place, it is a feeling. We all
have relationships, routines and yes, locations where we feel at home. This is where we go when we feel out of
sorts, afraid or lost. Zoey had her safe
people, behaviors and places and she knew how and when to utilize them. I hope and pray that she is truly HOME
now. Some place with plenty of food, no
thunder and lots of gentlemen delivering affection and treats.
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