Dogs of the past... Zoe

This intense little girl is Zoe. Named by my Mom, she was bred by Eve Marschark out of her NEBCA Champion Spin. After Kastle, I always knew I would go back to Eve for another puppy. But I had no idea what I was getting into with this little girl. I brought her home at 11 weeks of age and she walked into the place like she owned it. Full of confidence, she took over in days. This was a very serious puppy, who had no time for unstructured playtime. Everything needed to have a purpose as far as Zoe was concerned. She became a bit of a puzzle to me at first... She was nothing like Kastle, all full of fun and play. Here was a true working class girl who needed a real job. And luckily, I was able to find that for her.

At that time, I had a closer place to go herding and for lessons. I had known Alison for years prior as she had done obedience with her Border Collies at one time. But she fulfilled her dream of buying a working farm and having her sheep for her Border Collies to work. Alison and I were fast friends and I used to take both Kastle and Zoe there for lessons. Later on, I took them down to help out and learn practical work, not just trial prep. It was a wonderful time in the early morning fields, heavy with dew, with sheep on the hill and the dogs ready to go. Zoe was a workaholic... She loved every last minute of stock work.

Alison had several trials there and the first year, I ran Zoe in Novice/Novice, but worked the set out pens all weekend for the rest of the classes. During one afternoon, the threatening rain came as promised and as it pelted down, we moved the sheep into the pens to wait until it let up. The pens quickly filled with mud and soon, you couldn't tell what breed Zoe was as she did her job. Covered in mud and thoroughly enjoying herself, she ran along side a quad runner that had come up to bring us down the hill. The grin on her face said it all. This was what she was meant to do with her life. It took me 20 minutes to hose her off to even get her into the van and at the end of the weekend, she required 3 baths to get her clean. But she was happy...

She did enjoy one other activity and that was frisbee. Not on a competitive scale and not with a real frisbee, but with her favorite Gumabone frisbees with the bone on top. She would chase a frisbee endlessly, always bringing it back by the bone carried in the side of her mouth. If she had to flip it over, she would scoop it up, toss it right side up, then bring it back by the bone. There was no other type she would go after. We have one sitting on her shelf with her ashes.

Zoe was bred once to Kastle, which produced 4 beautiful puppies... 3 girls and 1 boy... Kelsey, Kaylee, Kali and Kap. We did not keep one as we had people on a waiting list for 2 years wanting puppies. We figured we would repeat the breeding at a later time, but that sadly did not happen. Not long after Zoe had the pups, she was diagnosed with Discoid Lupus. Luckily, it wasn't genetic in nature, so the puppies were fine. But Zoe was not... We did our best to keep her happy and healthy, but ultimately, complications set in. Zoe herded sheep for the last time 2 months before she died at the age of 13. She had lost most of her vision and had developed inoperable liver cancer, but she could tell where the sheep were and she could hear me as I talked to her to help her keep balance on them. It was such a precious moment in my life...

She was diagnosed with the liver cancer 17 months prior to that last herding outing. The vet gave her 6 months to live, but she showed everyone. She lived for 19 months after diagnosis. She died almost 7 weeks to the day when we lost Kastle. She seemed to give up after his death. And the day came for us to help her cross the Bridge. I miss her wry sense of humor, one that not everyone understood. I miss her work ethic and I miss her sweet kisses. But most of all, I just miss her. She taught me so much about the world of herding. For that I will always be in Zoe's debt. That'll do Zoe... That'll do...