Happy Birthday Zoe!

I know this is a totally lame crazy pet woman thing to do, but I wanted to wish my first dog that I've ever adopted as my child a Happy Five-Year-Old Birthday! It's sad actually, I hate celebrating my pets' birthdays because they have such short lives as it is that it devastates me to think that they're getting older. Poor Zoe may already be halfway through her life if we're lucky! We worry about her health because she's got the Dachshund legs, but a much thicker, larger body (she weighs just under 20 pounds) so she could easily have back problems, diabetes or some other health issue from this mismatche proportions as she gets older. To add to it, she is completely inactive, she rarely plays (she's more of a cuddler) and it's a pain to get her to walk for long periods at a time. Forget taking her on a run like we do with our other dogs. She'd rather lay on her back and be dragged through the grass. So the poor girl who loves food more than life itself (though Not more than sleeping) is on a strict diet for the rest of her life. To make matters worse, she's already getting gray on her chinny chin chin! She's only Five for gosh sakes! Though, when she was three and we took her to obedience training and she refused to do Anything, even for hamburger or hotdogs, everyone in the class told me, "Oh, but she's doing really well for such an old dog." SHE WAS 3-YEARS-OLD AT THE TIME! But that's my Zoe, and that's why we love her. The rare times she does run it's way too cute, her legs splay out all funny, she looks all frumpy bounding up from the ground. Though, when motivated (for example, by a friend's dog whom Zoe for some reason hated, probably because she wouldn't be submissive to my extremely dominant 18 pound dog. This dog was 60 pounds, by the way) Zoe can Fly! and I mean Fly! In the incident with the dog Zoe hated, whom we guessed was part greyhound by the way, Zoe chased this dog around our cabin and was going so fast that not only did she keep up with this greyhound mix while my other dogs couldn't (Sheltie and Mini Eskie) by she was literally flying through the air! I never saw her feet touch the ground! They were going so fast that I had to press myself up against the cabin because I was afraid the greyhound would break my knees, she was like a bullet racing by me, and then there would be Zoe right on her heels. Oh, what hatred will motivate my little Zoe to do.

Anyways, Happy Birthday my dear girl. I love your snuggly nose and how you'll dig it right into my, or any random person's, crotch. I love how you obsessively lick my, or any random person's, toes at any opportunity you can. When you snarl and growl at dogs you've just met during a walk, I'm so proud of my bold and dominant girl. And mostly, I am so warmed and touched by how you graciously lift your little head from your expensive pet bed to acknowledge my presence when I come home from a long, hard day of work. You don't make a fool out of yourself like the other dogs, jumping and barking excitedly. No, you act with complete grace and honor that any head of the household would act with. I love you Zo-Zo. Now can I have my allowance please?

Some more images of typical Zoe:

Yes, ironically though she hates all other activity, she does Love to swim. Rather my other two super active dogs are big babies and freak out when I throw them in the water. I mean, come on, they're dogs, they invented the doggy paddle! Chill out, jeez!

And here is my girl in one of her many many pet beds doing her most favorite thing in the world. Sleeping. Apparantly she's too sexy for the pet bed, too sexy, y-eah.