Lady Zoie, Not Such a Lady Sometimes :(

by Deanne
(Broken Arrow, OK)

Zoie came to join our family after her original owners decided that they couldn't keep her due to a medical condition that made it impossible for them to physically control her.

When I first laid eyes on her I was in love, and not just because of their ice blue eyes and beautiful markings, but she looked at me in a way that I knew she was looking for me to help her out of a bad situation.

She's loved me and my family every minute of the day since then in return. Zoie had No training, I don't believe she had ever even been on a leash so I had my hands full, but she's a super smart girl and she's a pleaser so in no time she was graduating obedience level classes and now at three years old she has her canine good citizen certificate.

She trains in rally and advanced/competition obedience, has great house manners and even does some pretty cool tricks. Zoie's problem is with other dogs. Zoie started off having No dog skills but my other dogs, two border collies, a lab and Siberian husky, were patient with her, in part because she already towered over them lol. As she hit about a year old she attacked one of my border collies. It was horrible, she was determined to kill her. It was the worse red zone I'd ever witnessed. After that we were on high alert and nothing happened for about another four months and she attacked my husky. It seemed to be an extreme case of her being the fun police.

I think out of anxiety she was feeling from the dogs playing and chasing each other etc. she would want to shut it down and so she'd attack one of the dogs. The decision was made that she couldn't go out and play with the other dogs. We worked on training her and the other dogs to "settle" when together. Things went well, although I felt bad for restricting her I would have felt much worse making another trip to the hospital to staple and stitch up another one of my dogs.

It did eventually happen again, I think we had gotten a little lax after several months with no problems. so that was it I had to face the fact that I should re home her to a one dog family before she kills one of my dogs. It was heartbreaking but I found her the perfect home, and then I couldn't go through with it, not because of how sad I was but because I wasn't ready to give up, there had to be more we could do, and I felt I had to try harder.

I don't think a single person that knows Zoie really believed she would attack a dog in such force and determination, she's the friendliest dog, and seeks out attention from people, she's is perfectly trained and obedient, I don't think anyone understood the nightmare I felt like I was in, not even the trainers I train with. Anyways, I discussed Zoie's problem with everyone willing to give me their professional opinion, trainers, doctors, breeders, owners etc.

We made some additional changes to the house rules, I spent a lot of time doing training with her and another dog at the same time and really worked on keeping her focus on me, I toast line dinner with all five of my dogs lined up. I made sure to give her some Very supervised play time with one dog at a time. We went over a year without another incident, and then just this week, I saw her tense up and kept her attention on one of the girls because she had gotten a little choked up while eating and I knew in a blink of an eye she was going to go after her and I immediately yelled "leave it!" and stopped and she turned and looked at me.

By then of course I was on my feet heading for her, so I called her to come and she did. I praised her and told her "good girl, that's my girl" I felt so much relief seeing that I could stop her. If she'd actually gotten a hold of my other dog I still don't think any command would stop her.

Zoie is amazing and loving, and I can't imagine my life without her. I have four sons and a husband, guess who greets me at the door every day when I get home from work doing the full-body wag, it's my zoie. the kids are like "oh, hi mom. can i go to billy's house" lol, my zoie is like "mom give me a kiss, rub my ears, come let me sit in your lap" lol. When I have to be away over night I can't sleep cause Zoie isn't snuggled up with me, snoring, and sharing my pillow with me.

I joke about not having a good night sleep in over two years but I love having zoie to snuggle with, my husband not so happy about it, so he says anyways and yet he takes naps with her lol. She brings so much joy and laughs, all my dogs do. My other dogs love their attention but they are still more independent then Zoie. They all have their own fun with me, my border collies herd and do agility plus obedience and rally, my other two dogs are too old now and have no forced exercise so I let them walk me around as they make their way exploring.

I do whatever the dogs find fun, for instance Zoie loves swimming. she will run and with all four legs off the ground jump into the pond. if my son leaves his bathroom door open while he takes his bath zoie will go jump in the tub with him lol. Oh, I was going to mention this in case anyone else,s Danes do this. Zoie has her "babies" which are a stuffed lion, a duck and a monkey. She takes them to bed, she cleans them she is very concerned when someone else is handling her babies, she will even take them outside to potty with her. oh, she's also a cribber so she has her own pillow so if she decides to suck on it at least it isn't my pillow soaked in slobber.

Zoie is really loving with my youngest son, Riley who is eight. i think he is her favorite "baby". she's love on him and cleans him, I'm such he smells amazing to her, what eight yr old doesn't lol. she just has such a different demeanor with him though, it's always interesting to watch them interact. o.k. I've talked way too long, but I thought it important to talk about not just the great things about our danes, but what about when there's a big problem.

Hope Zoie's story will help in some way, thanks for reading :)