I’m sure I’ll be working on this entry for a while, but I want to get it all written down!

Okay, where to start, where to start. Well before we left to pick her up I had lunch with Den and then went to Petco (where I bought a few more little things, including food for her and a 30′ long line for her).

I picked Den up at work and we left. It was over an hour trip. I drove, Den napped. We pulled into the vetrinary clinic where the pick-up was, a half an hour early. We were told 7:00pm, but then later she said 6:30-7:00. Well we pulled in around 6:00. Den said we’d go get some food, but when I got out of the truck I heard barking… puppies. Puppies! There was a sign saying “Great Dog Rescue, around back,” so that’s where we went. Three ladies were working, and there were other people there - looked like two other families. A boxer was brought out to one family, who exclaimed that she was “the cutest”. I must disagree, but to each their own. Another family already had what looked like a collie mix young adult.

It was cold, so I ran back to the truck to grab my jacket, and the camera and leash. Gave Den the camera, begged him to hold it and takes some pictures. One of the ladies asked who we were there for, I told her Sarah (Zoe’s previous name). She got her envelope of paperwork (her medical history, etc) while another of the ladies got her from the back room. She was so so so adorable. She was just as the picture was, so small. And she was pretty darn scared. There were dogs all barking inside, there were people all over, there were the sounds of big trucks going past in the background. Her tail was tucked right under and she wanted to go back into the building, thank you very much!

Den wrote the check while I took Zoe. Then the lady took a picture of Den and me and Zoe. She already had a collar on, so we just snapped her new leash on her. She really didn’t want to be walking, though - she just wanted to be somewhere safe. We took her away from the other people and noise to the truck - she peed on the grass before I lifted her in.

The ride home started with her being antsy, she was just pacing around the back of the truck, looking nervous. Her tail was still pretty tucked in, but she’d wag it a little when we talked to her. She ended up laying down beside me against my leg (I was sitting in the back seat with her, Den drove). For the first half hour her head was whipping around left and right, trying to watch all the windows at once. Her ears would flick up every time a new sound was heard. But then the second half hour she put her head down and relaxed. I just held her and talked to her. Once, out of nowhere, she gave a “bark!” It was so funny, we both started laughing. Den said he is very glad that it’s not a yip, she actually has quite a low bark when she wants.

When we got home, Den and I had a plan: Den would go inside and get Zeeke, take him out back. Zeeke would be bound to be hyper, and that would frighten the heck out of Zoe, so Den needed to run him around for a little bit. Meanwhile, while he was out back, I’d let Zoe out of the truck so she could pee and walk around a little. Then Den would bring Zeeke out front for them to meet outside, on leash.

So that’s what we did. When Den brought Zeeke around front, Zoe tucked her tail and tried running, then hiding. Finally she just stood still, and Zeeke walked up and sniffed her all over. He greeted me, then went back to sniffing her. Zoe even wagged her (still tucked) tail a few times. After they seemed okay with each other, we brought them inside.

Well, they just got along great. Zoe climbed up onto the couch, and was much happier being able to look Zeeke in the eyes. She wagged her tail more, climbed all over us and the couch. Zeeke sniffed her a lot. On the floor, Zoe is a lot more subdued and nervous, but isn’t freaking out or anything. I have a few pictures of her actually walking underneath him. I put her crate together (well, put the top on the bottom), put the ruined quilt in it, and Zoe immediately took to it as a den of safety from the over-exuberant Zeeke.

I’m apparently a jungle-gym today. Sitting on the couch is not being conducive to writing, as Zoe keeps walking over me, back and forth, back and forth, and sometimes even just lays down on my lap. She is not the most coordinated dog, by the way. *lol* It’s adorable… she’s constantly tripping over her paws.

So anyways, after it was apparent that Zeeke and Zoe were going to get along fine, I sent Den out to the truck to get the bags and my purse and camera and everythign I’d left in there. While he was outside, Zeeke left the living room for whatever reason, to go into the bedroom. When he came back, Zoe jumped to her feet and wagged her tail furiously as if to say, “You came back!!”

So they have spent the past two hours socializing. Zeeke has been behaving so SO well. He’s acting like a big brother. It’s absolutely crazy. This nutcase of a dog, now that he has a little sister, has been laying on the floor watching her, following her around, etc. I fed them both; they swapped bowls. Neither really cared. Zeeke stood there and sniffed her belly as she was eating from his bowl.

So both of them, they’re fabulous. Zeeke was just laying on the floor watching her, while she was chewing on one of his rawhides. Zeeke finally got up and got another one of his, and laid back down at my feet to chew on it. She dropped hers. Zeeke took it. I took it back, gave it to Zoe. Zeeke got up, leaned over, and very nicely took it right out from between her paws. *snort*

The only thing Zoe doesn’t seem to like much is when Zeeke gets hyper and runs towards her. She ran, as far as she could, then turned and BARK! Zeeke stopped and blinked. LOL So I think she’ll be able to handle herself just fine when she needs to.

Oh yeah - we were going to keep the cat out of the fray, at least for today. But when I fed Zoe, I put Zeeke in his crate - not so she could in in peace, but so she didn’t steal all his food! She’s a little piggie. Well anyways, no sooner did I shut Zeeke’s crate than Joey jumped over the gate into the living room. And froze, staring at this little doggy-like imposter. Zoe stared back. Then she growled. Then she gave a bark! Joey didn’t move. After a while it became apparent that Zoe wasn’t going to jump off the couch, so Joey walked around the living room sniffing things. She continued to bark at him with her cute little puppy-bark. He ended up laying on the dining room table, just watching her as she watched him. I have the feeling it would have continued to progress, but Den let Zeeke out of his crate, and he came crashing in kind of breaking things up.

I must say how absolutely perfect her markings are. I was looking at her in the truck on the way home, and she’s just… wow. She has the white paws and tummy, white tip on the tail, white nose and almost a white stripe on the nose, and she even has the half-collar of white fur around her neck. Just like Oreo. It’s crazy. I only saw her head in the pictures before, and only had the slightest indication that her body was probably mostly brown (her sister’s was mostly white, which I didn’t really want). Her ears are the cutest little things! When she was playing with/chewing on a piece of rawhide, she was practically wrestling with it, tossing it in the air and shaking it around. And those big floppy ears would flop forward, flop backward, flop forward…. lol!! So damn cute.