My dear little Pooka The Perfect Puppy!  Okay, so I’m a bit partial to my little buddy who is a red Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I drove up to just outside Quebec City to adopt the wee pooch at 8 weeks old from his breeder and he’s been a dream dog! He was easy to raise, to housetrain, to teach, to love, to live with – he gets along with everyone, doesn’t bark too much, rides with me in the car absolutely everywhere, greets new people with enthusiasm, and is a pure joy that brightens every day. His Daddy Ron says that Pooka is a Momma’s Boy and…okay, he is! He’s completely adorable.

    At feeding time, Pooka becomes a Wolverine! His vocalizations sound absolutely vicious; thank goodness he's all talk! He has lots of nicknames, a few of which are "Pooka Peylay" (for the socker player), "Badger Dog" in reference to how he sounds when putting the other dogs in their places, "Pookadero", "Slug-a-bed" (for how he likes to sleep) and I often call him my little "Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie Guy". And he regularly gives voice to the most wonderful “Woooooooowooooos!” you’ve ever heard!

    He's quite charming and makes friends wherever we go. He loves going to the pet store so that he can say hello to everyone. When we're outside, he loves nothing better than to play with his multitude of balls from his soccer ball to his squeaky ball to his hard ball; if we remove those, he grabs his frisbee. He will play tirelessly in the yard. He enjoys jumping in and out of his wading pool in the heat of summer when he picks up the nickname "Mud Puppy."

    When Phoenix arrived in the autumn of 2006, Pooka was not a happy dog! Pooka was quite clear in his contempt for and jealousy of the goofy little upstart. So, while I doubt that Pooka likes Phoenix even now, at least he is tolerant of the other Corgi (we think maybe Pooka has ‘tail envy’! LOL); of course, when it comes to sharing his toys or bones, Pooka is still a ‘dog in the manger’. Thankfully, both Corgis know and abide by the rules so while they make a lot of noise (thus, they have the joint nickname of the Badger Boys) trying to steal each other’s bones, we haven’t had any injuries.

    Other than that, though, Pooka is still my little darling who sleeps at my feet while I’m typing, hides behind my legs when he’s nervous, and gives the best, most dainty little doggie-ki

sses in the whole world.

    Recently, Pooka became one of the stars in a book! When I wrote my children’s book ~ Rainbow Bubbles & Whirling Lights (click on the illustration for more information about the book) ~ I knew that I wanted animals for the ‘narrators’ and who better for one of those roles than my precious Pooka. And he’s done a fine job indeed! <wink>

P.S. Pooka (or Phooka, Pookha, Bookhas, etc. - various spellings) means "mischievous Welsh fairy" (or Irish goblin, but the Welsh fairy 'version' seems to definitely have a more pranksterish nature according to lore) and his registered name ~ will o’ the wisp ~ refers to a mysterious light often seen dancing in the distance.