Lucy Provides Pug Love for Shearwater Inn
The face of Westover Inns is . . . wet-nosed and furry in much of the company’s marketing. A seasoned model is Lucy, an 11-year-old Pug who has starred in the ads for Westover’s Shearwater Inn in Lincoln City, and who lives with Heather and Steve Zink, their two children Daniel and Amy, a German Shepherd named Duchess and Laverne the black cat.
According to Heather, Lucy is the perfect model — thanks to her food obsession her photo shoots are incredibly easy, she says. “She is so food motivated that I can stand behind the photographer with a biscuit and make her head go pretty much any way I want. She’ll sit still while she just follows that biscuit with her head and eyes.” Biscuits work well for photo shoots, but the one food that really gets Lucy going? Bananas. “She’s all about the bananas,” Heather says laughing. “She just whimpers and cries to eat a banana.”
The Zinks have had Lucy from puppyhood and, while small, is “a big part of our family,” says Heather. Typical of the Pug breed, Lucy is generally easygoing. “We can dress her up, hold her like a baby,” says Heather. “She loves people and always wants to be next to someone.” During Halloween festivities, Lucy has dressed up “as kind of a strange-looking ladybug,” says Heather, and as a princess to match the youngest daughter’s costume. “She’ll pretty much let you put anything on her.”
Not too keen on toys or tricks, Heather says Lucy can do something a little unusual for a Pug: “You can take a little bit of food — and of course Pugs don’t have much of a nose — and balance it on that little bit of a nose and get her to wait.” Once Heather calls “Okay!” Lucy flips the treat off her snout and catches it in the air with impressive Pug prowess.
Mostly, says Heather, Lucy is just in it for the cuddles, which the family happily provides . . . although there is a limit. “She used to sleep with me,” Heather says, “but her snoring is so loud that my husband can’t take it. So now she sleeps with my son.”
Learn more about pet-friendly lodging at all the pet-friendly Westover Inn properties at WestoverInns.com or by calling 503-682-1737.