Wimp of the year

It's official, my sweet Zoe has been chosen as the official wimp of the year. The other day she wanted to go outside so she did her usual; she came up to me, stood at my feet, and started to sort of snort to get my attention. If you ignore her snorting, she will quietly bark. If you ignore that, she will hit your leg with her front paw, which is pretty funny so we ignore her until she does that-just for giggles. Yesterday, instead of hitting me with her paw she growled at me. My sweet little dog who would acquiese to a mouse actually growled! I was so proud of her!! So I thought it might be funny to growl back. She didn't think so! As soon as I growled at her, she put her head and tail down and laid on the floor, apparently forgetting that she needed to go outside. Oh poor Zoe, you need a bit of a backbone!

I can't imagine a sweeter, more gentle animal anywhere, but I'm not sure it always serves her well. But I sure love her. When you pick her up, she actually melts into you and hugs you back. The boys wish she'd be more playful, but I think she's not because she is intimidated by the toys. Seriously.

I can't imagine paying someone to cut her hair and bathe her, etc. when all the hair cutting in this house gets done in this house. If we don't pay for humans to get their hair done, why would we pay for a dog's haircut? So a few weeks ago I tortured Zoe with a very long grooming session. I plucked her ears clean, gave her a hair cut, brushed her teeth, trimmed her nails, the works. Then I bathed her and blew her hair dry. She is always so patient that she stays right with me until I say "ok" and she runs off, knowing she's done. When I said "ok" after that long session I was sitting on the floor. Instead of running off she stood on her hind legs and hugged me!

I don't know if it's just her breed or if she was mistreated at some point? But I wouldn't change her for anything.