Zuni came to us with her personality pretty well in place. Thankfully, she also came to us pretty well trained. She knew sit and stop, and come and stay, which is about all you really need for a small dog. When it came down to it, if Zuni wasn’t doing what we wanted, we just scooped her up, typically as she grumbled at us for doing so.

We thought about teaching her “lay down”; Zuni couldn’t be bothered. Nick was determined, however, to add “sit pretty” to her repertoire. I’m not positive the term “sit pretty” ever registered with her, but she picked the move up quickly enough.

And, she learned she could use “sit pretty” to her advantage. It got to the point that, as soon as you were in the general vicinity of the treat cabinet, she was up on her hind quarters with her front paws tucked into her chest. It was an impressive trick, given the length of her body.

In general, Zuni sat when she wanted a treat, stayed when you asked, and dropped whatever she was doing if you frantically screamed “Stop!” She probably would have stopped without the screaming, but I couldn’t tell you for sure. Generally, “stop” got invoked when she was doing something that completely freaked me out, leading to a ear-splitting, “Zuni, STOP!”

The most terrifying example came as Nick and I walked up Shawmut Ave. to our condo one evening. At the corner with Berkeley, we lost grip of her leash and she blissfully continued trotting into the street to get home.

“Zuni, STOP!!!” We screamed in unison.

Zuni stopped dead with her tail tucked, crouching down a little as if we were going to chuck something over her head. Thankfully, so did the pickup truck coming down the road! Our shout of “Stop” was so frantic, I’m sure the driver tucked his tail a little bit, too!

The only exception to the effectiveness of “stop” was on our first trip to Franklin Park.

We finally decided that Zuni knew her new name and recognized us as her new pack. So, we drove out to Franklin Park where she could have her first off-leash wandering time. We trundled through the woods and around the fields, coming to a trail that bordered the golf course.

It was a lovely sunny day, and golfers were out on the course, wheeling their golf bags behind them. In an instance, it happened! Zuni spotted a particularly big, black golf bag scooting across the golf course and took off like a shot, leaving Nick swinging an empty leash and watching in shock as she dashed away.

I can’t imagine what was going through her head. Did she think it was a large animal she could best? Was she simply curious? Perhaps it was just instinct. Who knew, but whatever the reason, she turned on the turbo and ran straight onto the course.

“Zuni, Stop!” we screamed.

“Zuni, Come!”

“Zuni, ZUNI!  STOP!”

She never even broke stride, too curious about the unknown “creature” trolling across the golf course. We continued shouting after her as she ran, a little black speck careening across the well manicured green. When she got close enough to catch the golfer’s attention, he stopped and turned to watch her run at him, bringing the “creature” to a halt.

With the bag and man no longer moving, Zuni realized they were of no real interest. Again, without breaking stride, she hooked a neat u-turn, and high-tailed it back to our voices.

She arrived panting, happy as a clam.

“Did you see me?!”

Snap…back on went the leash.

Yeah, we saw you.

Punk!

Want to read more? Well, I want to write more! So,please, donate to my 2014 Boston Marathon fundraiser for the Animal Rescue League of Boston! Every time the money raised goes up $100, I’ll add a new chapter to the Zuni’s Diaries.