All About
Zoey
Zoey is our spoiled dog. We got her in March 2002 from an Australian Shepherd rescue group. Zoey is a mutt, and although she may have some Aussie blood in her, she looks to be mostly border collie with something a little bigger mixed in. She weighs in the neighborhood of 65 pounds.
Zoey was born near Corvallis, Oregon in early October 2001. When she was just over six weeks old, Zoey was brought in to the animal shelter with the rest of her litter by dog control. She was emaciated and had fleas, a tape worm, other worms, a coccidia infection, and puppy vaginitis. She weighed 3.8 pounds.
Zoey was rescued almost immediately by a woman named Irma who fosters dogs in Oregon. Irma did a fantastic job nursing Zoey to health and teaching her how to be a good puppy. Irma had her own dogs before she took in Zoey, and although these dogs did not hurt Zoey, they made it clear that they were not friends. Irma decided that she had better move Zoey to another home.
On February 3, 2002, Zoey moved from Irma's house in Corvallis for a one-day stay in North Bend, Washington with a woman named Heidi. Heidi is active in a rescue group that specializes in the Australian Shepherd breed, and on the evening that Zoey arrived, Heidi attended a meeting of the Australian Shepherd club of Washington in Seattle. At that meeting, a woman named Linda agreed to take care of Zoey until Heidi could find a new home for Zoey. Linda continued the good work of Irma. Linda's Aussie Avi was the only dog in the house, and Linda was apprehensive about how Avi would handle sharing the house with Zoey; Avi was shaken at first, but Zoey won her over within two days. Zoey really liked playing with toys and ice cubes, and she would follow Avi around the house with her tail constantly wagging. Zoey was growing like a weed with Linda. When Linda first took Zoey in, she weighed 23 pounds. Three weeks later she weighed 32 pounds!
Joann had been wanting to get a dog since we got married in 1999. I had been resisting for two years (!!), not because I did not like dogs, but rather because I generally do not like big life changes. By the beginning of 2002, I had finally come around and Joann started to look in earnest for an available dog. Joann was interested in perhaps getting an Australian Shepherd puppy, and she actively monitored the Aussie-rescue web sites. Joann saw Zoey's mug shot and decided that she wanted to meet her.
Zoey's "mug shot" taken some time in the first two weeks of February 2002 at Linda's house.
Joann called Heidi, who was the Aussie-rescue representative, and on an evening in late February Heidi came to our house to interview us and to see if our house was an appropriate home for a dog. Normally, Heidi would have brought Zoey over to meet us, but because Zoey was in Seattle with Linda, Heidi decided to postpone the meeting until after the house inspection. Joann, I, and our house all managed to pass Heidi's dog-adoption tests, and Heidi called to arrange our first meeting with Zoey at the Marymoor dog park. When we met Zoey at Marymoor she had no interest in us. She was really cute and didn't mind us petting her, but we were not nearly as fun as the other dogs.
A few days later, we met Linda and Zoey at Greenlake in Seattle so that we could spend some time with Zoey without all the other dogs around. Similar to before, Zoey showed minimal interest in us and spent our walk lunging against the leash after birds along the bike path. About half way through our walk we decided that we wanted to keep Zoey. We told Linda that we intended to go through with the adoption; Heidi delivered Zoey to us at home that same evening.
Zoey on her first night at our house
Zoey weighed about 35 pounds when we first got her. Heidi told us that she was not likely to get much bigger, but Joann and I were skeptical given her enormous paws. Within the next year she gained another 30 pounds!
The first few evenings with Zoey were difficult because she kept us up at night whining in her crate. Things soon settled down at night, but it was clear that she really didn't like being in the crate. Within about a month we let her sleep wherever she wanted to, except that she was (and is) not allowed on our bed. We only crated her when we left her home alone, but within the next year, we for the most part stopped using the crate altogether.
Zoey at home after we had her for about three weeks.
Within a few weeks of getting Zoey, Joann and I enrolled her (and ourselves) in puppy training through Positive Dog Training in Woodinville, from which she graduated on March 29, 2002. Throughout the next year Zoey kept up the training, successfully graduating from Obedience 1 and Obedience 2. On December 19 she earned her Canine Good Citizen degree, which requires that dogs pass a number of tests that demonstrate obedience and good social behavior in a number of situations.
Zoey cooling off at the dog sitter's house, Summer 2002
We started doing agility training with Zoey in 2002, and we have continued this off and on ever since. Zoey loves to play on the equipment, but Joann and I have little desire to compete.
