Zoey 07-572

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9/21/07: Zoey is an 11 year old spayed female. She weighs nearly 80 pounds according to the humane society she came from. She will definitely be on a diet in attempt to re-find her girlish figure. She is medium colored, not very dark, but not blond, with a white face. She met my guys without even a growl even as my young guy put on an aerobic demonstration which included jumping over her (he can't fit under her) several times. Everyone is now settled in, young guy realizes he does not have a playmate in this foster dog. She's met the cat and realizes it's not worth the effort so is ignoring her as well. She is at my feet as I type. She was surrendered to the humane society by her owner, who could no longer keep her. He reports she can be home alone for a full workday and then some. She gets along with kids, other dogs, doesn't chew and likes to play. I'll report more as I get to know her, but my initial impression is that if you are looking for a nice senior, she just could be it.

At a Glance #07-572

Golden Retriever Born: September 1996
Female Weight not specified

Status: Deceased

Profile

9/21/07: Zoey is an 11 year old spayed female. She weighs nearly 80 pounds according to the humane society she came from. She will definitely be on a diet in attempt to re-find her girlish figure. She is medium colored, not very dark, but not blond, with a white face. She met my guys without even a growl even as my young guy put on an aerobic demonstration which included jumping over her (he can't fit under her) several times. Everyone is now settled in, young guy realizes he does not have a playmate in this foster dog. She's met the cat and realizes it's not worth the effort so is ignoring her as well. She is at my feet as I type. She was surrendered to the humane society by her owner, who could no longer keep her. He reports she can be home alone for a full workday and then some. She gets along with kids, other dogs, doesn't chew and likes to play. I'll report more as I get to know her, but my initial impression is that if you are looking for a nice senior, she just could be it.

Updates

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

 

Maren and I lost our Zoey on Monday. She left this world peacefully in our arms with a new stuffed duck toy given to her by Jane Nygaard.

Zoey was the sweetest old girl. She had slowed down quite a lot recently, but at 13 ½ we didn't hold that against her. Her lovely white facemask was quite endearing. She smiled ALL the time! She was so soft and fuzzy; no wonder we called her our little Zoey Bear.

Zoey loved her ear scratches which would elicit quite the groaning from our chubby little Z.B. If you scratched her under her chin, she would lean into the scratch and start thumping her back leg until she almost toppled over! The snow held a special attraction for Zoey. She loved nothing more than sitting out in a snow bank for hours. I think the cold felt good on her achy joints and her super thick coat. Besides, when she was outside, she was the queen of the neighborhood. Nothing evaded her watchful eyes or alert ears. (This is kind of strange as her eyes were very cloudy from old age and her hearing was, shall we say, selective at best.) We had’t seen a rabbit or a squirrel in our yard for some time!

Zoey developed a fast growing tumor and had suffered from arthritis. We were dedicated to spoiling her every single day and making sure that she never, ever had to suffer. I made a promise to Zoey the day I brought her home that I would love her, take care of her and make sure she would never suffer up to the very end. (I make this promise to all my dogs.) I told her this every night before she went to bed. I wish I could have had more time before I had to make good on that promise, but I loved her too much to wait too long.

Goodbye, Zoey Bear. We miss you!

Dan & Maren

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Happy Endings – Zoey 07-572

For the past several years I have proudly adopted senior golden retrievers from RAGOM.  Everyone I meet says that I am crazy for adopting a dog that won’t live long.  “Won’t you be heartbroken when it dies?”  Of course.  The death of any dog is heartbreaking.  But I would rather have an old dog die in a home where he is loved so I welcome the oldsters with open arms and promise them that I will take care of them for the rest of the lives to the very, very end.  Of course I was crushed when Isabeau 07-024 became the third RAGOM senior in two years to break my heart. She died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart tumor.  After mourning her for a couple of days, and hugging my Sally way too much, I looked at the RAGOM website and found Zoey.

Zoey-Zoey-Zoey (if you say her name three times she lights up!) was a big, fat sweetheart of a girl.  She still is. To be fair, Zoey has lost a lot of weight since she came in and even since we got her.  But she is still big and will probably stay that way.  Her arthritis is too bad for long walks so exercise comes in short spurts and she is already eating very small portions of food.  Oh well.  She is twelve and a half years old so we aren’t pushing her into a tough diet.  Because of her weight and her achy bones, she has the most adorable habit of hopping down the stairs.  Each step is one hop and one complete circle with her tail!  I smile every time I see this.

Zoey’s favorite pastime, besides taking naps, is to steal tennis balls from younger dogs!  She grabs the ball quickly and then will not give it up until there are more balls to steal.  She’s like the crotchety old neighbor lady who won’t give balls back to kids when they come into her yard!

Our Zoey Bear is slowing down a bit these days.  Her back end is really stiff and she struggles with stairs.  But she so loves us that she still comes up to our bedroom every night.  I have to lift her into the truck, and lately I’ve had to lift her down sometimes too.  She seems to live life on her own little schedule.  She loves going for car rides, but sometimes won’t come to the car when I call her because she is enjoying the sunshine, or the rain.  Some days she refuses to get out of the car, usually when I am running late, of course.  It’s not that she is uncomfortable getting out, but that she is perfectly content laying in the backseat and being chauffeured around the cities.

Zoey will continue to be her darling self for as long as she can.  In the meantime, she is busy acting as an object of worship for our new puppy, Leroy 08-486 (FKA Madison). He loves her and she puts up with him!  She is also busy going to schools with Jane Nygaard.  My other seniors did this too leaving very big paws for Zoey to fill.  She does this very well.  In a classroom, she will find the front row of kids and just plop herself down so that the petting may commence.

We love our Zoey Bear!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Zoey is doing well in foster care. She gets along great with everyone at my house. She attended the RAGOM picnic and was very social to everyone she met. We didn't get to do much of the walk as she started to slow down after a short ways and I was afraid she'd just sit down, so we turned around. She had a bath after the picnic as well as a brushing....she is very fuzzy....more brushings are in her near future. She eats pretty well, but hasn't figured out our mealtime...I think she must have been allowed to graze throughout the day...she doesn't quite get that she has about 10 seconds to eat or her foster brothers start staring at her with the evil eye. (they don't get to eat the food she doesn't finish, it just goes up on the counter for her next meal). She is pretty velcro and follows me from room to room. So far the only "issue" I've had with her is she just doesn't even try to jump into the back of my SUV, she just stands there....once in, she's just fine, she just doesn't get the concept of getting in. I get the impression she came from a slower paced household than mine is. My two goldens are both "field" goldens and are rather busy and high strung...neither adjective would describe Zoey. She fits into household nicely as we don't need any more activity than we have and she is a pleasant, easy change from what we are used to. This week we'll visit the vet and I'll have a complete update by the end of the week. I'll get more pictures too, so you can see what a cute, fuzzy bear of a dog she is.