Zacki on My Mind

By Ed Lowe

On the evening of Friday, March 31, Georgia Maas returned from Main Street in Huntington to the front door of her Melville home and stood face-to-snout with a tanand-black terrier, as far as she knew. It looked something like a smaller version of an Airedale terrier, with a stout body, a long, rectangular snout and a short beard.

It was getting late, and the darkening clouds threatened rain. Georgia and Charlie Maas already had a dog, Katie, a standard schnauzer they had gotten from breeder Leona Mintz, of Jericho, around eight years ago, when Prince, their Chihuahua, was 9 or 10 years old. The two dogs got along so well—save for Katie’s tendency to torment Prince—that Georgia called them “The Odd Couple.” Katie was disconsolate when Prince passed on. Perhaps, thought Georgia, Katie
would enjoy the company of an overnight canine guest.

Georgia and Charlie saw no alternative to housing the frisky little dog at least for the night. On Saturday, they would call around to shelters and pounds and see if anyone had reported losing so well-behaved, well-fed and well-groomed an animal. Georgia noticed that the dog wore a collar, but the collar bore no identifying information. She knew enough about purebred dogs (Katie was an American Kennel Club [AKC] registered show dog) to suspect that this visitor might
have an identifying bar-coded microchip imbedded beneath her skin somewhere, and she resolved to find a veterinary hospital equipped to read it the next day.

Despite the busy schedule the couple had planned for Saturday, Georgia found time to leave telephone messages at the answering services of nearby animal shelters and then learned from her veterinarian, Fort Hill Animal Hospital in Huntington, that Selmer’s Pet Land, across Jericho Turnpike from the Huntington Townhouse, had a scanner.

“Before I could get her there,” Georgia said, “the dog was out the backyard and half gone. Though I didn’t know it at the time, Welsh terriers are known to be escape artists. I had to chase her down the block.

“I did take her there, though, and they did get a reading. It was from somewhere in Lancaster, Pa. Their computer system was down, so they couldn’t contact the people. I left my cell phone number with them, and I got a call from Lancaster on Saturday night.”

The microchip had identified the dog’s owners as Rie and Joe Hull, of Windy Hill Welsh Terriers, in Lancaster, Pa.

Rie made the call. She said that she and her husband would drive to Melville the next day, Sunday, April 2, and take the dog home. She explained that, in January, they had “given” the dog to people from mid-Nassau County on the condition that they give the dog a home, while the Hulls would retain the rights to breed her. When they arrived on Sunday afternoon, they further explained that the dog, Zacki—Champion Windy Hills Zacki—was a show dog, named after Zacki Murphy, a former University of North Carolina cheerleader and later a fashion model and cookbook contributor.

Rie said that the dog’s mother’s name was Georgia—Champion Windy Hills Georgia on My Mind—which freaked out
Georgia Maas. Rie did not think to tell them that Georgia had been sired by an English dog named Ray Charles—Champion Saredon Ray Charles—though she said later that she thought about it all the way back to Lancaster. The Maas couple seemed very nice, and their dog, Katie, had clearly enjoyed her two days with the visiting Welsh terrier.
Rie and Joe reminisced about their years with Windy Hills Georgia.

When they were first married, 37 years ago, they had raised weimaraners. “Then we had our daughter,” said Rie, “then a cat. Then we got into sailing boats, and after our older bitch died, we decided it just wasn’t time for raising dogs anymore. When it was time again, we decided to go with smaller dogs. Joe’s great uncle, George Hartman, was a
famous breeder of fox terriers and a founder of the Lancaster County Kennel Club. He was an AKC judge who judged Best in Show at Westminster twice. So, we thought we’d get a fox terrier, in his honor. But, when I went to my AKC breed book, there was a bookmark on the Welsh terrier page. I said, ‘These are cute. Let’s get one.’”

Late last month, Rie and Joe Hull—and Zacki—attended a dog show in Baltimore, where they set up a booth next to one occupied by dog groomer/dog handler Roslyn Mintz-Fosco, of Bethpage. Mintz-Fosco liked the looks of Zacki and asked what breed of dog it was. Rie told her: Welsh terrier.

“Oh, a Welsh terrier!” exclaimed Mintz-Fosco. “I have friends on Long Island who just recently had a Welsh terrier appear at their doorstep, Georgia and Charlie Maas.”

“Yeah, well this is the dog, right here,” Rie said. “She spent two days with them and their schnauzer, Katie.”

Mintz-Fosco’s mother was the breeder from whom Georgia and Charlie Maas had obtained Katie, the groomer told the Hulls. She had heard that Katie’s disposition had plummeted after the visiting Welsh terrier departed.

Rie and Joe talked about this during the ride home to Lancaster. “I don’t think Charlie and Georgia found Zacki,” Rie said distractedly. “I think Zacki found them. Isn’t it something that Zacki’s parents were Georgia and Ray Charles? You know, we got Georgia on April 4, right around tax time,” she said to Joe, an accountant. “So it’s years later, and Zacki shows up at their house at the same time. I think it’s fate. I think I’m going to ask them if they want to keep Zacki.”

When the Hulls arrived home from Baltimore, Rie checked her e-mail and found one from Georgia Maas, asking if the Hulls might consider giving Zacki to them.

“I believe in fate,” said Rie. “Some things are just meant to be.”