Zoe had a big weekend. She traveled with us in the car for two hours to Wisconsin and was a great travel companion. My wife and I took turns sitting in the back seat with her, but for the most part she would sit nicely or lay down. We have included a picture of her curled up in the car during the adventure.

While in Wisconsin she met a bunch of new people. First, she met Grandma Rosie. We were worried 11 month old dog instincts may be to jump up on grandma, but she was well behaved considering all the new stimulants. Zoe was sniffing around at Grandma’s house and came upon a small dog statue, which scared her first until she realized the statue was not a real dog. She is really new to a lot of stuff so jumps back or is cautious to go or do something she isn’t quite sure about.
The next stop was at the in laws, where our nephews were also visiting. The nephews are 6, 5 and 1 years old. They were very excited to meet Zoe and she did great with them. She sniffed all of them, but did not jump on anyone. Zoe was very respectful around our 1 year old nephew, because if Noah was close to being under foot while she was on the way to something she would take over reactive steps to make sure she didn’t step on him.
At the end of the day trip we stopped at the Grandma Betty’s. Zoe was very well behaved there too, although was getting tired. She did get a little mischievous and did pull a few tissues out of the garbage can with full guilt written on her face. I think some of it was boredom and some she was just checking her “boundaries” at this new place. By the end of the evening at Grandma's she was sacked out, sleeping on Grandma’s floor. We had to practically carry her to the car since she was so tired to head back home. She slept in my lap the 2 hour ride home.
This morning when Zoe went outside she was sniffing around and a rabbit took off racing to the next yard. Zoe stood still and watch the rabbit hop away, but never barked, just curious. As soon as the rabbit was out of sight she went back to sniffing. She obviously had more important things to do then to bark at a rabbit. J
We have decided Zoe is pretty much the perfect dog. She does not shed very much, not like a Pure Bred Golden Retriever. She is smaller than a PBGR (35lbs i.e. borderline lap dog J). She does not bark very often, and loves to be with people, (she is the shadow for my wife and wants to know where she is at all times). She has been a joy to have around and brings a lot of smiles to us throughout the day.