Memories with Queso

Write a detailed portrait of a particular animal or object (but not the subject of your Natural History Essay). Use specific, concrete nouns and strong, active verbs to bring this animal or object to life for your reader.

    For the last 3 years, I have been blessed to live with my 3 years and a half old westie (Western Highland Terrier). His name is Queso or Cheese in English. He is a very short bone color dog with a pitch-black nose and eyes and oversized ears. I have an overabundance of memories just in the short time we have lived together. So I thought I would share some with you. I would first like to give a little bit of context as to who is Queso? It is very hard to summarize him into just a few words. I would probably call him a cat in a dog's body. I know it sounds strange however it's never been closer to the truth. He fully embodies all the characteristics one, from sleeping over half the day to his sometimes sociable and loving nature to being completely unsociable and staying out of sight. He isn't the smartest either, but that adds to his likeability, and who could forget his silly antics. 

    My sister and I have wanted a dog like most kids for most of their life. Surprisingly I had been very scared of dogs for most of my very young life until I turned 7 or so. But that had given me more appreciation for the animal when I decided to overcome the fear. My mother's parents owned 2 old dogs in Uruguay, one Shih Tzu (he was definitely a mix now that I look back on it) and one Westie, the Shih Tzu named Chili, named that way for his face that looked like he just had a really nice bowl of it. As well as the other named Chester, him being the westie. Sadly they had both passed in the same year 6 years ago, one at 15, one at 10 but that is nothing to dwell on. My sister and I loved Chester, he was an old soul. He was truly one of the most loving animals I have met. He didn't bark, he didn't complain, he was obedient, he loved the simple things in life one of them being hot dogs, he would also bask in the Uruguayan sun for hours and whenever even someone walked near the leashes he would radiate happiness jumping and running around. These dogs formed my main understanding of what a pet was. My sister and I had wanted a dog for a year or so before the dogs had passed. I don't remember why but my sister was adamant on the name Queso and the breed being a Westie. There was some childish joke with the name Queso between me and her for the longest time and it kind of just became the mutual agreement that his name would be Queso from that point on. 

    During the summer of my 7th-grade year, I was hanging out with one of my friends to the shock of being called by my mom saying we would be driving for 5 hours to a breeder to see if we want to adopt a Westie. I was in complete shock after hearing this, and I thought it was a joke until my time with my friend ended and I went straight on a 5-hour journey through the farmlands of Illinois to reach some very small town and were talking with a breeder. There were three puppies, all being around 6 months of age they were all like little clones of one another, the one that stood out was lightly marked with a blue dot, to this day my family isn't sure why he stood out. My dad at the time used the word "inquisitive" when describing him however they were all doing the same thing running around meeting all the new people. 

    We shortly decided on the "inquisitive one". I for some reason felt so guilty buying from a breeder. My sister and mom had been checking all adoption places for several hours every week scanning for westies however there were none. We knew the dog that we wanted and that it would fit our family well, and the breeder was very reputable so I am not sure why I felt so bad about that aspect. Another reason I felt bad was the fact that we just took one of the dogs from his sister and brother but once again I can't change the past nor would my family adopt 2 or more dogs. We spent a bit of time outside before going on the bumpy back home. We had the very young, tired, and kind of dirty Queso in a small plastic box with a few inches of towel to pad him. 

    On our way back home Queso's poor stomach never having ridden in a car before couldn't handle turns and bumps, he quickly got carsick and threw up not once or twice but over 6 times, we gave him 5-10 minutes of rest so he could calm down for the ride between each time he got sick. However, after we got home he quickly adapted to the new environment smelling and investigating every corner of my house/kitchen. We went outside so he could start to get a grasp of where he was and that he was safe. He definitely seemed to enjoy it because he was running around for twenty minutes.

     After his several attempts at chasing down our local rabbit community, he calmed down and started to get tired falling asleep moments later before we could even take him inside. For me at this time it truly had not set in that I was now a dog owner, I just couldn't comprehend the fact that this little twelve-inch tall puppy would be with me until I was over 20 years old myself. Over the next few months, we had some great memories. One of my favorite things that we did together was his basic training. He completed the course even though he would only do tricks for treats but that's just him being smart. 

    As you can see he is very content with his performance, his current favorite trick is "paw", where we ask him "paw?" and he lifts his left arm the same height at the same speed like it's tradition. I think he loves it because it means free food. Since we had adopted him we have been able to watch him grow from his measly twelve-inch height to an impressive fifteen-inch height which is still very short for a westie. It was actually very interesting to watch this process because every time I would wake up and take him for a walk he would be ever so slightly taller or his ears would slowly start to fit his head and he would look more like a westie. Aside from him growing up we have had some other fun memories. One of the most memorable things we have ever done together was trick or treating for Halloween a few years ago. Since his name is Queso we only found it fitting that he would have a taco outfit that he fit perfectly in. It made several neighbors laugh and chuckle, every year or so we have provided him a new variation of the costume all having similar effects. I would go door to door and my little sidekick would follow right next to me and be the star of the show. 

    Queso has made my family and I's life so much better, he does the funniest things all the time and anything he does creates some form of entertainment, whether it's him army crawling across the floor in happiness when we come home from school/work  (Yes he actually does this, he slides around on his belly pulling himself around with his arms). Or him spriting to any door of the house the second the lock or doorknob is even touched. Or maybe the fact that if he is given a pizza box or Amazon box he will just obliterate it by sitting on it and bitting corners and the floor of the box and tearing huge chunks out (he knows when he is allowed to do this by the way so he doesn't just make huge messes). He has just been such an important part of my life, he may not be the most cuddly all the time but he sure does make it up with his antics. I'm sure anyone who gets to spend a day with him would also enjoy his presence.