By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 5, 2021 | Dogs have always been part of our family life. Now after six months of not having a dog in the house, we have recently adopted one.
We have written before about Hercules, who was with us for 16 years. What a great dog! We miss him still.
Our new dog comes with the assistance of the Gwinnett Humane Society. They had us check out two previous dogs, but somehow, we didn’t click.
Not with the new dog. Time we saw him wagging his friendly tail and easily approaching us, we were hooked.
While Hercules was wirey, slender and tall for a terrier, this one is short, squat, fat and our minister said looks like Winston Churchill…..so we re-named him Winston. The vet says he weighs 18.6 pounds, and picking him up, he’s heavy.
Winston
He’s a shih tzu-mix, a breed we had to look up to spell. It’s a relatively new breed in the United States, which came originally from Tibet. Winston is seven years old, comes trained beautifully, and is easy on the leash. He even lets us know regularly when he wants to go out. Once outside, he seems to give his quiet bark just for the joy of living.
We’ve always had dogs, and it was lonely in our house without one. Our first efforts in finding a dog was looking for a younger one. But at seven years old, we find Winston is a delight. After all, seven is middle age for a dog, who likes to rest a lot, like we do now.
While he likes to play, he’s not one to chew on a chair leg or shoe. Actually, he’s more content to laze around. However, once he returns from the back yard, he’s ready for playful activities, full of pep. He’s adopted all of Hercules’ soft toys, merely playing with them, not ripping them up.
We knew little about the breed shih tzu. We immediately learned one small characteristic that is great: this breed doesn’t shed his coat. His fur is soft and curly. Now that we have had him about a month, it’s obvious time to consider a trip to the doggy parlor for a clipping. We don’t anticipate to allow him to have the long, long hair of show shih tzus.
His breed means “Little lion.” But as one website pointed out, this pooch is a lover, not a hunter. Show dogs of this breed are groomed with long body hair reaching the floor and the dog can barely see out of the hair around the eyes.
Winston is certainly an affectionate, happy and outgoing dog. The breed is well known as a comfortable lap dog. While out walking, his short legs walk amazingly fast without getting into a run. Should Winston meet other dogs, he’s stable, wagging his tail, and wanting to interact with them. He loves to be friendly, as well, with people.
He’s rather quickly settled into our family routine, and happily, sleeps easily long hours throughout the night.
Yes, it’s a delight to have Winston as part of our family.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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