Zoe, the amazing, black puppy-girl

Zoe is the reason we speak "Hawaiian" at my house.  Ever since Zoe was a puppy, she was worthy of a much longer name..."Zomana-Koolakana" is one of her favorites.  But there's also, "Zoka-looka-lana,"  and "Petu-nia," and "Zoma-Nana."  All of them, she answered to with a wag.

Zoe was born on June 2, 1994.  She became our puppy around the 15th of July.  Born on Tchoupitoulas, she was one of three black pups.  When we arrived at the house to check out the puppies, 2 of them ran behind the refrigerator and Zoe walked right up to us and looked at Lynn.  She came home with us because we had 3 adult cats, an adult red Dachshund, Rusty, and an aging Golden Retriever, Digger.  We needed someone to hold her own.

Why did we NEED another dog, you ask???!!  Well, Rusty had several back surgeries and near-death problems due to his weight and orthopedic issues.  Zoe was "gotten" to put a little life into our old, red boy!  And did she ever!!!  Rusty was a puppy again and never looked back at his back issues.  When he was killed in 2004, he was in the best shape of his life thanks to Zoe!

Zoe came home with out a name.  Everyone gathered around (well, Jean, Rosie, Stiliani, Lynn, and me).  We threw out names from Chloe to Sophie (ironic)...but we settled on Zoe. Zoe means "life" in Greek.  It has been an appropriate name for this girl.  Even recently, at 16, while walking, the 3 "young" dogs would plow through a puddle of water.  Not Zoe...she would leap and clear up to an 18" puddle without a splash!  The girl has always had spunk!

Our very first impression of Zoe with another pet of ours was with Digger.  We brought her to Digger and we held her in our hands.  Digger came over to gently lick her on the head.  We looked down at her and every one of her razor-sharp-baby-teeth were exposed!  She has always had that spunky nature.

After many months of watching her have little strokes and set-backs, we have decided to bring her tomorrow to be put to sleep.  It is a difficult decision.  She has been around for Sophie's entire life.  She was our baby girl...long before Sophie.  She is the pet that everyone asks about when they haven't seen us in a while.  She has been a constant of 16+ years in our 17 year relationship.

One of the funniest Zoe stories happened about 15 years ago.  I was working for the LDE through LSUHSC.  One of my hats was the regional Pre-K special ed coordinator.  My counterpart in another region of the state was a woman with braids, a turban, a very NY via Washington, DC accent, and an attitude of, "the only good pet is one that is far away from me..."  So she came to meet me at my house.  I made sure to keep the cats and Rusty and Digger away from her.  I didn't think tiny Zoe would go near her, given the fact that she was spewing, "keep away from me you mangy animal" vibes!  I'm not sure why I was still in a pre-shower state, but I had to excuse myself to finish getting ready.  When I came out and was ready to go...I looked at the woman, and atop her turban-wrapped braids, was my small black dog.  Zoe had crawled up onto her head, chewed on a few of her braids, and settled in for a nap.  The woman was just kind of frozen...in a catatonic kind of way!  I DID NOT laugh...on the outside!  I retrieved Zoe...all was well!  Just recently, Lynn and I ran into this woman.  We had not seen her in over 8 years...her first question..."How's Zoe!?"

That kinda sums up her little life...a little life that had a big impression on us!

Zoe 2010-16 years

Zoe with Ann and Rose---2000?

Zoe 2009 at Jean and Becky's

Zoe-August 2010

Thank you for allowing me to share a little bit of Zoe with each of you!

I don't have a scanner (loser) and all of her puppy pictures are on film!  If I can scan them, I will post them soon.


XOXO