Moai /ˈmoʊ.aɪ/

Photo by James Sturz

This is Moai, a Chilean terrier my wife and I met in Coyhaique, Chile, in Patagonia, where it gets pretty cold. Moai doesn’t like the cold, so he moved north with us. He is named after the sculptures on Easter Island, which is part of Chile, too. What Moai likes most is hunting crabs and geckos, eating meat (maybe mixed with a little squash, followed by a Greenie for dessert), watching TV (particularly nature shows or advertisements for products in the shape of animals), sleeping in, and having his belly rubbed once he is awake. He also likes to run, and then to stop and sniff. He’s very good at making tight circles and at napping. He’s amenable to getting into the water up to his haunches, but not really any deeper, because that interferes with his barking at the fish. I don’t know if he likes poetry, but he has never gotten up and walked away midway through a reading. So here is one by Emily Dickinson, called, “I Started Early—Took My Dog,” although, as Moai would tell you, nothing prevents you from leaving a little later.