Zac was born on Anzac day 25th April 2004, hence his very imaginative name! My husband thought it would be fun to call him Ann, needless to say my husband’s dry humour was not accepted. Losing a dog and their memories live way past the short years they have with us.
Goodness me, did Zac have a pair of lungs on him! I am sure he could bark underwater and has now barked his way into heaven! What a challenge this very out there spunky sheltie was. My vet initially told me that Shelties were gentle retiring dogs, but not this sheltie!
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Gosh, I often thought, many times, that I had bitten off more than I could chew, and I know that there would be very few shelties out there to match Zac’s alpha attitude. I did hope at that time that I had learned from my mistakes with Zac and that Zac now forgives me from Doggie Heaven.
Like all our pets, Zac proved himself to be a very loyal animal and painfully followed me around the house to the day that horrible decision, most of us dread, but for the benefit of our pet’s comfort, this decision had to be made. You see Zac was riddled with cancer. The last vet that I chose to see about him, felt the primary cancer was in his bones and had spread to his lungs, his spine was disintegrating, and his kidneys were affected but never a complaint from Zac.
In the last four months of his life during his illness, he had so many cuddles that I think my other dogs wondered if I was still there for them. Like all animal lovers, I love my dogs to the very core of my heart, and during that time made up my mind that I would make it up to my other dogs as time as best I could after he had passed away.
During his short time as my companion, I had trained Zac to be a performance dog. Zac enjoyed learning the skills for us to enter Obedience Trials and during his last Obedience Trial that he was able to perform in, he was awarded Winner of Winners and earned full marks for his heeling work. He became ill a week following this particular Obedience Trial.
He also competed in an Endurance trial, where he had to stay beside a bike rider, on a leash, and trot for twenty kilometres. A friend of mine rode the bike beside him as my fitness levels at the time for bike-riding were very rusty.
He also was a keen competitor in the Agility ring and had lots of fun running through the tunnels and over the jumps. He just loved these courses and I had a real buzz running around with him.
He was also a very photogenic dog, so losing a dog and their memories can still be at hand when we look back on the photos we took.
Zac was my first competitive dog, and when I introduced other Sheltie puppies into the mix, he didn’t like this one bit.
My next Sheltie puppy was a female, when Zac was about 3 years old. Do you think he wanted her to stay? No, not one bit. I am sure he was disappointed when he realised this was not initially a sleepover with this new arrival, so he remained aloof for a couple of weeks.
Of course, it is better to go with the flow, so once he decided this companion was lots of fun, acceptance improved each day.
Over time I introduced two more puppies, so now Zac was the harem leader of three girls, and to his credit, he came to love them in his own way by showing the utmost patience with their antics and always wanting him to be their friend.
I am sure he secretly loved being their big brother, even though to an observer, this may not always have looked the case.
Zac was a young vibrant eight years old when I had to say goodbye to him, my heart wept, however, I do feel that it was a privilege that God entrusted me enough to learn how to train a dog to be a competitor and we both loved being a team together in these ring events.
It was such fun, and I still remember the days we spent running through the shallow waters at various beaches chasing the seagulls. Zac loved chasing seagulls, in fact, Zac just loved to have fun and be with you.
I still shed a tear over him, however, I am also so thankful that his breeder chose him to live with me.
Dogs are, definitely loving faithful friends, that love us no matter what, and losing a dog and their memories stay long after we have said our farewells!
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Until next time…
With Love, Success and Inspiration,
Robin Oliver
