ZOE DOG

She’s a Golden Retriever, but she’s more red than gold. She’s always been a big girl, but in recent years has gotten a tad bigger. A short walk outside is enough for her and then it’s back inside to rest from all the exercise. The red face has turned more white than red as age has come. She likes to sleep a lot, finding places where she’s near the family…but out of the way. That way, she can still see, and hear, things going on, but still get her ‘cat naps’ as needed. Her vision is failing, she has several lipomas (fatty tumors) and she passes gas that’ll peel wall paper.

Zoe (pronounced ZO---E) Marie, is our lovable old Golden. Friday will be her 11th birthday. As with most families with pets that have been around many years, she isn’t our ‘dog’…she’s one of the family.

Zoe came along at a time when our black lab, (Layla), was in need of company…or so we reasoned. When we got Layla, our girls were 15, 11, and 8. Layla was good company for them as they were at ‘that age’ of teen or about to be teens. They wrestled with Layla, dressed her in people clothes, made her run, made her speak, made her shake hands, “now the other hand”, loved on her and grew up with her.

Six years later, as Layla began to slow down, a friend of Cindy’s asked if we would like to have a new puppy to keep Layla company.

NO!...was the answer.

But one night Tam brought 5 golden pups over to the house. They were little bundles of the softest fur I have ever felt on a dog. They romped with the girls and sniffed at Layla and ‘wanted’ her to play, but she really wasn’t interested. The girls fell in love with the one temporarily named ‘little Zoe', (named after her mother). Before you could say "what the heck are we doing?"…little Zoe lived at our house.

True to our schools’ colors, (Purdue’s black and gold), we now had a ‘black and gold’ living at the Clark house. Zoe was indeed good for Layla. Zoe put a little spark back in Layla’s spirit and Layla helped to run some of the ‘puppy’ out of Zoe and teach her how things ran in the Clark house.

Two ‘big’ dogs in the house was no easy task to put up with. Layla was probably 80 pounds while Zoe grew to a svelte 115. They took up their space and if they got to playing and running in the house…GET OUT OF THE WAY!!! And the yard bombs were everywhere! But we loved both of those big varmints. They were great for the girls…loving and loyal.

Layla has been gone for some years now, surviving to nearly her 10th birthday. She lays buried in a corner of our garden. We still mention her name many times when a thunderstorm passes by…Layla hated thunder storms.

Zoe became the queen of the house. When the grandbabies came along, she just accepted what they would do to her…wrestle, pull hair, ride her like a horse and play with her toys. She would never harm a hair on their head and became that loving, loyal dog to them, that Layla had been to their mothers.

One day, Zoe will rest in the other corner of the garden with Layla…and since she hates thunder storms too…we’ll think of her AND Layla when one passes by.

Cindy and I have gotten stronger as we have aged. There will be no more dogs after Zoe (we won’t let any friends drop by with puppies to show off.) We’ll hire a super vacuum company to come in and vacuum all the dog hair out of the house that’s accumulated in corners and places we can’t get to. And we’ll smile and probably shed a tear and remember our two special dogs.

But for now, we’ll still love around on and talk to our good buddy Zoe. We might even put a little icing on one of her dog bones for her special day. Zoe Marie…our big little Golden.


Dan