Zoe

         

Zoe

I remember the first day I saw Zoe in the pet store; she had these large ears and big brown eyes staring at me through the glass door. I knew that I would buy her there and then, as we was wanted a dog and as soon as we bought a house of our own that was going to be first thing on our list. Zoe was a Cattle x Boarder Collage, she had the height of a Cattle dog and colour "Blue". But her fur and face was Boarder Collage. A lot of friends and even Dr Harry Cooper who came out here on a tour, told us you should never buy a working dog for a pet, but I didn't care I fell in love with her that day in September 1998.
My son was 18 months old and sitting in his pram that day and I tried to put Zoe in the trolley of the pram to walk home, but she keep jumping out and I was scare she run on the road. So I had to put her on of the pram and push the pram home with one arm, while the other was on Zoe. It was hot and hard going, but we made it home. I took her outside to see her new home; she had fun running around and sniffing her new surroundings. Our house is raised up on brick pillars and our veranda was open up underneath so Zoe could run under there. I was worry she might get bitten by a spider or get a nasty nail in her foot, so I lock her up on the veranda so she was safe.
On the weekends when the girls and Peter came home it was a great surprise for them. The girls loved her and gave her hugs and pats. We took her to the vet for her first free visit (yes free visit when you buy from the pet shop) to get her needles and check up. We keep her in the kitchen at night with lots of newspaper and plastic bags down on the floor. She cried a lot and we needed to be strong and not go to her, it was so hard for me. She soon settles down and we got our peace and quiet back.
The girls were still going to School and Pre-School at their old school and staying with my mum and dad during the week and coming home on the weekends. They would start at their new school in 1999. Sometimes Peter would stay with them to help my parents with the girls. When he did come home, as his job was over at Thornleigh and he had to travel there every day in the car, until we had out Car stolen two months of moving to Mt Druitt. Then poor Peter had to catch the train and a bus to work. On the times he came home Zoe and I would walk to the bus stop to great him. Zoe loved to watch the people getting off the bus. She would get very excited when she saw Peter jumping up and down wagging her tail and barking hello to him.
When we finally got a new car it was off to Blacktown to puppy school; they won awards for the first few weeks, but Zoe was unable to be taken off her lead like the other dogs, as she take off. She wasn't very friendly to the other dogs. The children and I use to sit on the benches to watch them as she was too strong for us to hold her. It was a shame we had to stop the classes as we had started going to bible study on the same night.
As a puppy she loved to dig in the garden, especially the daffodils she went as far to dig up the blobs and eat them; so no daffodils the next spring. My dad told me when they finish their seasons we should dig up the blobs and put them in a cool place until they were ready to plant. We learnt a lot of things about what plants to plant that was dog friendly, but nothing about how to stop Zoe from digging. In summer Zoe would dig up the grass to make a dirt bath so she felt cool on the stinky hot summer days.
Zoe loved to play ball we throw it she bring it back, we throw it she bring it back and this went on until you could no longer throw the ball as your arms were too sore. But Zoe was never content of playing with her own ball, she want to join in with the children and take their ball and run under the house (no we never did get around closing in under the veranda). Zoe was great at playing cricket she would do all the running around; the only problem was her slobber all over the ball, so if you were the bowler it was a wet job but we had fun. Zoe didn't just like chasing the ball she loved to round up the children by nipping at their hells when they ran around the backyard. Anything that moved was fair game according to Zoe, the lawn mower, the wheelie bin even bikes. The children had to ride their bikes out the front. Even though she would get nick by the wiper sniper, it didn't faze her.

Zoe loved chewing her tennis's balls until she split them in two, so we had to find her thicker and bigger balls and that's when we found out about Zoe's soccer talents and it became a great past time. There were the long walks we take, as a family and sometimes just the two of us. There were naughty things she did like been able to jump the fence into the neighbor's yard to the point we had to chain her up to the clothes line until one day she jump the fence where correlated iron was sitting against the fence and Zoe cut her left back leg badly and was rushed up to the vet to be stitch up. Jumping fences was not fun after that. Barking became a habit for Zoe, barking at birds that landed on the clothes line, shadows on the fence even hers. We tried everything, even buying her a toy full of treats she had to find a way of getting them out, but nothing work, so we called "Dog Buster", who cost a fortune. We were too throw down small chains down to make noses to distract her and say Ba so she knew who was boss ha, ha, what a joke Zoe was boss, but soon she stopped the barking and our neighbors were happy. Thank goodness.
In later years we became owners of another dog Harry. Harry belonged to a neighbor two doors up, who use to escape and wander off causing habit. So we took him in as they were going to put him down. Zoe and Harry got on well, except at dinner time so we had to separate them. Harry never escape from our place, he was Border Collage x Collage and he had a very gentle nature. He died three years ago to cancer.
The backyard is empty without our dear girl. Yes we still have our two small dogs Jako and Bobbie who are small dogs. They have only been around five years where Zoe celebrated her 18th birthday last month (August). She had been here from the beginning of our life here in Mt Druitt. She has left her footprints stamped on our hearts forever.
         

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