DEAR PET LADY,

Roxann, a Welsh corgi, drives from Tacoma to Bellevue to sit in her favorite chair at Shoe Forest & More of Bellevue while owner Brian Stanley shops for shoes.

Customer of Shoe Forest & More

DEAR PERSON,

The Pet Lady is perplexed by your note. Have you a question? And really, ought your dog to be operating a motor vehicle? The Pet Lady’s perplexedness is so profound that she can only delegate to the Pet Secretary the task of telephoning this mysterious sylvan shoe shop to get to the bottom of this, whilst she herself has a champagne cocktail and puts her feet up.

Pet Secretary: I understand you have some sort of enormous leopard-print shoe on the premises there.

Manager Dell Gibson of Shoe Forest & More: Well, actually it’s a funny little story. I have a daughter named April, and she goes by Apes—she created the store, built the racks. She just loves her nickname. The whole store is done up in a jungle print. It was her dream.

“Apes,” as in the primates?

Yes.

Do you encourage people to bring their pets into the store to sit on the giant shoe?

Well, no, but if they want to, they sure can.

Do you have a photographer available to take pets-on-shoe photos?

No, we just keep a camera here at all times.

Do you know Roxann?

Yes, she’s the same kind of dog the Queen has.

And do you think she ought to be driving a car?

[Laughter] Well, they come here a lot!

Is there actually a forest of shoes AND more at your shop?

Actually, there is. We have shoes, purses, jackets, coats, car blankets, greeting cards. We do a bit of everything.

Do you carry those mules with the feathers across the toe? I think the Pet Lady needs some.

No, but I do have some leopard shoes.

The Pet Lady wears a size 95. Send feathery and/or leopard mules, pet photos, and letters to The Pet Lady, c/o Seattle Weekly, 1008 Western, Ste. 300, Seattle, WA 98104, or e-mail the petlady@seattleweekly.com.