A couple months back while I was returning from an early season morel mushroom hunting trip, I saw a small creature cross highway 97 near the Columbia River in E WA. Took a second or so to process what it was, pulled off to the shoulder, jumped out of the truck, threw my arms up to stop the rapidly approaching highway traffic and proceeded towards the dog, the dog was now running towards me! It had no reservations about being picked up by a total stranger.
After knocking on a few nearby doors to inquire about who might own her, the adrenaline of jumping in front of traffic sort of wore off and I realized how really skinny and how badly matted this little dog was. Right then, I figured she had been neglected too much to bother looking for the original owner any more. Her spine was so curved and exposed, her ribs so bare of meat or fat, her hair so matted from nose to tail, she was so skinny, that the neglect was impossible to dispute.
I brought her home and told my better half to not get attached, and, that we just needed to find her a very good home. About a week later, I brought her with me while I headed East again to search for morels. The "plan" was to meet up with a long term friend and his wife who had recently lost their dog, a yorkie, to old age. Well, when/while I was heading his way, he/she canceled.... Hmmm... What the hell? So, Zippy(my other dog), Girl(still hadn't named her yet) and I hunted for morel mushrooms for the next 10 days. Camping, searching the woods, driving to new locations and doing it again. Her fun loving excitement and affection was non-stop, the amount of energy was bottomless in comparison to mine.
I think it was a day after that 10 day trip that I named her. She has this high pitch whine when excited or bored, tail wagging. It reminded me of this stuffed doll character, Esmeralda, on an old kids' show, JP Patches, that used to be available in Seattle 40 years ago. Esmeralda, Ezzy for short, is now part of the Reed Family.
She seems to be a lhasa apso, almost elongated ferret like body, golden eyes and what I'm told is a "red nose"(brownish)...... She's so tiny!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasa_Apso