Goofy Dog/Cat/Human/Bird

Our family pet, Zoe has been around a long time. Longer than either of our children. Longer, in fact than our marriage. Bryan and I got her from one of his professors while we were still in college and still had lots of time for a pet. She is undoubtedly the Best Dog in the World! Zoe has endured being the runt of a litter and the one nobody wanted. When Bryan and I went to pick out a puppy, there were only two left: a playful chocolate lab/dalmation and a small, but overweight black lab/dalmation. Some girls grabbed the chocolate one before we could. I think Bryan was ready to leave without a dog, but there was something about that fearful, pot-bellied, little dog that was endearing. I remember driving straight to Petsmart with our new puppy in my lap. Bryan and I almost dropped her off on the side of the road when we were introduced to her horrendous gas :) She was constantly shaking from fear and snorting and hiding those first couple of months. Zoe was certainly not Bryan's idea of a good hunting dog! It was during those days that we discovered Zoe thought she was a cat. She would bat at things with her paws just like a little kitty and she treated my roommate's cat like they were companions. Again, not a quality that Bryan enjoyed seeing displayed :) She endured being moved between our houses and then moved to other college houses and then to Oklahoma, which was probably her hay-day. We had a large backyard with a big covered patio and we lived across the street from a park with a lot of room to run and a creek. In Zoe's world, the only things that would make that more perfect would be unlimited food and someone to constantly throw a tennis ball. She even had a few hunting trips with Bryan and became quite adept at riding in the back of Bryan's truck. We spent so much time with her there were days she must have thought she was a human. That is, until November of 2002 when Addison was born. Zoe made the transition from human to dog without a hitch. One of my favorite memories of Zoe happened when Addi was about a week old. We let Zoe in the house often after Addi was born and one of those times I was sitting on the floor feeding her. Zoe walked over and as she turned to sit next to us, she gently tucked her baseball bat...I mean, tail between her legs. I knew then that Zoe would be wonderful with our children. We took her away from her haven and into a backyard the size of a shoebox that flooded with the first drops of rain. She allowed Addi to pull on every part of her that would be painful to have pulled. She would wait patiently while Addi dug in her food bowl. Zoe endured another move to a house where she could not roam the backyard all day. We finally put in a fence at this house about 9 months ago and she's been happier ever since. Today Addi and I took a "birdfeeder" (bagel smeared with peanut butter and sprinkled with bird seed) out to hang on a tree. What do you know!...Zoe thinks she's a bird also! I caught her trying to eat the "birdfeeder". She first tried to reach it by climbing up the tree with her front paws, but she was still about a foot shy. Then she tried to jump while she was on 2 legs...Goofy dog! That was quite a site, but I wasn't quick enough to get it on camera. Someone should tell her she isn't a real bird. A real bird would use its wings to fly up to the "birdfeeder" :) Incidentally, this is not the first time Zoe has tried/suceeded to eat birdseed. Last spring Addi wanted to feed birds. The seeds barely hit the ground before Zoe licked them up. Addi still gets frustrated when she thinks about that experience! Another time our neighbors, who own a bird, were taking care of Zoe in their backyard. They noticed she seemed to be extremely bloated and found that she had devoured almost the entire bag of birdseed they kept under their deck. Bryan and I wanted a dog, but we got so much more :) We are all so thankful for Zoe. The day is coming when Zoe's patience will be tested again by a curious and not so gentle toddler. I am confident she will be just as patient and gentle as she was the first time around.