Zoe

This is my parent's dog, Zoe, also known as The Zo-meister, or The-Naughtiest-Dog-In-The-World for short. We got Zoe the year after I graduated from college, when I was living back at home and working at my worst job ever which we won't go into because even now it will give me a headache just to think of it. The dog we had while I was growing up passed away in December, which was terribly sad for everyone. She, too, was an Airedale and we loved her dearly. Seeing as my family are all huge dog lovers, there wasn't much of a question about leaving the house without a dog to roam around in it for very long.

In February, after much research, we drove out to a farm in Missouri owned by an Airedale breeder. We jumped out of our car and gleefully searched the grounds for puppies. There were none. So we asked the breeder, "Where are all the puppies?" to which he replied, "OH PUPPIES!" and all of a sudden eleven tiny little Airedales with the most adorable faces you've ever seen came careening around the corner of the barn. They fell all over each other, rolled on their backs, bit each other (and us), and generally acted like they were very good at their job of being puppies. It was hard to pick one, but pick one we did, and that one ended up being Zoe.

The first night we had her, Zoe slept in a crate down in the laundry room while the rest of us were upstairs in our bedrooms. She cried and cried. Finally, in the middle of the night, I went down to the laundry room armed with pillows and blankets, and laid down next to one end of her crate. She immediately moved to that end of the crate and lay down as close as she could get to me and fell asleep. I continued to bond with her the rest of that year until I left for Chicago. Though I've been gone for nearly 7 years now and only return 2-3 times a year, Zoe has never forgotten me. As soon as I walk in that door, even if I've been gone longer than six months, she immediately starts crying and screaming, for lack of a better word. I've never heard sounds like that come out of a dog. She gets completely worked up and jumps on me (which kinda sucks considering she's over 90 pounds) and circles me over and over, her whole body shimmying from how hard she's wagging her tail. It's hilarious.

Though I've been gone for a long time now, I still consider her "my" dog in addition to Clara. I don't think Clara would like this very much (and we'll see how they fair when I bring Clara home for the first time at Christmas this year), but I can't help it. Zoe will always be "my girl" too.