Zoe is the snuggliest dog in the world. I say this from the esteemed position of having owned three dogs in my entire life.

Zeeke’s comprehension of cuddling is shoving his head into your stomach, then possibly keeling onto his side to demand that you scratch his tummy. And if he’s feeling especially cuddly, he may refrain from gnawing on your arm while you’re doing it.

With Oreo I used to wake up with her nose beside me on my pillow. I’d snuggle up close to her and put my arm around her. She’d wiggle further away, but in a casual manner - the cliche’d yawn-and-stretch to get your arm around a girl, but in reverse. She’d allow herself to be hugged and cuddled, but it was just that: she allowed it to happen, and she did it for my sake. She loved me, no doubt about that… she just prefered to have her own space.

Now Zoe, on the other hand… When I get down on my knees and put my arms around her she turns into a huge wiggling body of esctacy. She’s a joy licker - where some dogs lick you because it seems you have salt or other tasty scent on your fingers, Zoe licks for the joy of licking. She puts her ears back and closes her eyes and licks frantically like you might take the object away from her at any moment and she simply must get as many licks in as possible. Licklicklicklicklicklick. She quivers as she does this, shaking with excitement. Doesn’t matter if it just happened 2 minutes ago or two weeks ago, the results of the lick-fix are the same. So when I get down and cuddle her close to my body, burying my face into her soft fur, any part of my body that is within tongue-distance is licked thoroughly. Meanwhile her tail is wagging joyously and her feet beat a tap-dance on the floor as she squirms around.

It truly is an uplifting moment. A Zoe hug is truly like no other.