Raising Addie

My Zoe

Remembering memories of Zoe, our purebred Dachshund, so that I never forget all of the little things that she did that brought joy to our lives.

• She loved pup-peronies, bones, treats...
• She loved to swim. Zoe would "clean" the dead leaves out of whatever lake or pond she was in by pulling them up in her mouth from the bottom and placing them on the land.
• When Zoe was 1 year old, we had her out for a walk in a park. As we were walking near a pond, all of a sudden Zoe took off running and jumped right in the water. From that point on, any time she saw water she had to be swimming in it.
• Zoe loved to play with little mini tennis balls that had a bell in them. 
• She loved any type of toys that made sounds or vibrated. She loved stuffed pull toys and would keep pulling the string until it would break.
• She loved to roll on her back. I would call it  her "happy wiener" roll. 
• She loved to play with helium balloons. I would fill up a balloon, tie another empty balloon to the filled one to weight it down a bit so it floated close to the floor and off she would go to play with it. She would take them and try to place them in her food bowl.
• Zoe had a favorite chair in the living room. In her younger days she would jump up on it for naps. When she started having trouble jumping up on it she would go to the chair and bark until my husband would come and place her in the chair. She would do this as soon as he would get home from work, before I got home.
• She had the best nose EVER! She could find a treat anywhere in the house. If we would leave a package open, but not sealed she would know it and would bark until she received a treat.
• In Zoe's younger days, we would go on walks all the time. In Germany, we would walk through the beautiful gardens and ride the train back home. In Texas, we would explore different parks and go off the paths to explore. As Zoe aged she liked walking less and less. She would let us know she was done walking by sitting down and not moving. When she did decide to move, she would turn around and head back to the house. We then put together her wagon so she could go on long walks with us.  She loved to go for a ride.
• Zoe loved ice cream! When we would get ice cream cones from DQ, Ron would never finish his so Zoe would get to finish the ice cream and eat the cone. She also loved frosty paws. In her younger days she would carry her little cup around in her mouth from room to room until she finished it.
• She loved to go for a ride in the Blazer. I set up the back seat with a foam cushion so that she could see out the window. She loved the wind in her face.
  

My Very First Memory of Zoe...

We purchased Zoe on the economy in Germany. The person that we purchased her from spoke very little English so a friend of mine that was fluent handled the sale for us before hand. At the last moment that raised the price on her by $200 but we didn't care. We would have paid anything that they asked. When we went to pick her up, we met this gentleman in an office. We had not seen her ahead of time. We had no idea what her parents looked like. All we knew was that she was purebred Dachshund. When I saw her for the first time, I took her and cuddled her in my arms. I looked at my husband and said, but she doesn't have long hair. My husband chuckled and said, she will. Thinking back at this story always makes me laugh. I don't know what I was thinking. It didn't take Zoe long to fall in love with me. On the ride home, Zoe looked up at me, looked me in the eyes and then gave me a few kisses. That was it. I was completely in love with the cutest Doxie ever.

Unpleasant Vet Trips
(These happened before we lived in Texas and before we found Family Pet Care)

• When Zoe was about a year and a few months old we lived in Alabama. My husband was in the Army stationed at Fort Benning, GA. I had not found a job yet and we only had one car which he used to get to work. I took Zoe for a walk one day. On the walk, all of a sudden she stopped walking. I looked at her and her face started to swell up. I immediately picked her up and rushed her to our apartment. I took a good look at her and found these tiny little ants on her. I called a friend of mine that had a car and she rushed over so we could get Zoe to the vet. Zoe's face was so swollen that her eyes were shut. We later found out that Zoe had stepped on a red ant mound and they just went crazy on her. See in Pennsylvania where I grew up, we didn't have a lot of red ants. I learned a valuable lesson that day. They gave Zoe a shot and she was fine.
• One Vet that we were taking Zoe to stated that she was dehydrated. They injected pockets of water into her skin. I was not permitted to observe this or I would have taken her out of there running. When they gave her to me she had huge lumps all over her. We never went back there.
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Zoe
June 16, 1994 - January 15, 2009