Zari

Meet Zari - the most adorable small-ish dog ever! I first met this gorgeous canine just under four years ago, and I've had many happy times with her (except for when she spread her fleas like a wildfire!). She belongs to my beautiful friend Rox, and currently lives with her mother Vovo in sunny Port Stephens.

Every time I see Zari she still behaves like she hasn't seen me in years. It doesn't matter whether it's been a few months or a matter of an hour, Zari will start whimpering and shaking as soon as she knows I'm nearby, and then when she sees me is uncontrollable. The routine usually goes like this: I'll open the door and try to step outside to say hello, but then she immediately lays on her back beneath the foot I am placing on the ground (one time I stood on her because she slipped under me so quickly!). I'll then stumble over the top of her and find some ground to stand on that she isn't laying on, and then I rub her on the belly and behind her ears. She'll then jump up as soon I stop, and find the nearest ball or toy that I can throw for her - and so begins a session of throw and retrieve in her small backyard that sees her leap into the air and almost run into fences and get down very low to the ground... She is amazing! I remember when we would take her for walks to the park near her last house, and she was so fast at catching even the furthest thrown balls... She also loved running up the slippery dip, and wouldn't stop even if she was exhausted and heaving... Zari is one in a million!

Zari is an eight year old blue cattle dog x King Charles Cavalier and something else... in the words of her family, "she's a mutt". She comes from Queensland, and was driven from the sunshine state to New South Wales when she was a pup. She had mange at the time, which wasn't great news for Rox who nursed her the entire trip - and subsequently contracted mange herself. Delightful.

For those interested, mange (according to that fountain of reliable scholastic knowledge, Wikipedia) is "a class of persistent contagious skin diseases caused by parasitic mites. The term is sometimes reserved for the infestation of domestic animals... These mites embed themselves either in hair follices or skin... They generally infect... dogs and cats and also other canines, livestock, wild animals and even humans (such as scabies)." This intense research also helped me learn that scabies is colloquially referred to as "the seven year itch". Fun facts all round!